Trending

Hunter S. Thompson

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

£60

Illustrated by Ralph Steadman

Introduced By David Mamet

Hunter S. Thompson’s acid-laced counterculture classic, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, is given the ultimate collector’s makeover in this 50th anniversary Folio Society edition featuring Ralph Steadman’s original illustrations and an exclusive introduction by David Mamet.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

£60
Book Details
 
Presentation Box & BindingBound in printed and blocked cloth
Printed, soft-touch laminated slipcase
Metallic endpapers
Dimensions9½ inches x 6¼ inches
FontSet in Electra with Alternate Gothic as display
Pages232 pages
AuthorHunter S. Thompson
Illustrated byRalph Steadman
Illustration26 full-colour illustrations integrated throughout the text, including 5 double-page spreads
Publication Date17/05/2022
Editor's Notes
 
With their rental car packed full of psychedelic drugs, Hunter S. Thompson and his attorney, the Samoan, embark on the greatest narcotics-fuelled road trip in journalistic history. Sent to cover the Mint 400 race in Las Vegas, the pair ditch the story to find the dark side of the American dream … while doped up on a heady cocktail of booze, pills and powder. As reality and fantasy are blurred beyond recognition, their chemical encounters with the city’s reprobates become increasingly weird and darkly comic. The 50th anniversary of publication is the backdrop for this collector’s edition and it is a psychedelic showcase of Thompson’s hallucinatory ‘memoir’. Every one of Ralph Steadman’s iconic and grotesquely compelling original illustrations has been carefully coloured by Neil Gower, with Steadman’s approval, while David Mamet’s exclusive new introduction completes this unique edition.

About the Illustrator

Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman is an illustrator who has been described as ‘Britain’s foremost post-war satirist’ by Will Self. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for >Punch, Private Eye, Rolling Stone and other major publications of the 1960s, producing satirical cartoons and caricatures. He is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, whose books and articles he often illustrated; but he has also worked with a number of other leading writers, including Ted Hughes and Roald Dahl, and provided album artwork for bands and musicians including The Who and Frank Zappa. He has won numerous awards over several decades, including Illustrator of the Year from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was one of the first winners of the Francis Williams Award (now the V&A Illustration Awards) for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1972. As well as illustration he has ranged widely as a writer, lyricist and musician.

1 of 6

About the Illustrator

Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman is an illustrator who has been described as ‘Britain’s foremost post-war satirist’ by Will Self. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for >Punch, Private Eye, Rolling Stone and other major publications of the 1960s, producing satirical cartoons and caricatures. He is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, whose books and articles he often illustrated; but he has also worked with a number of other leading writers, including Ted Hughes and Roald Dahl, and provided album artwork for bands and musicians including The Who and Frank Zappa. He has won numerous awards over several decades, including Illustrator of the Year from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was one of the first winners of the Francis Williams Award (now the V&A Illustration Awards) for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1972. As well as illustration he has ranged widely as a writer, lyricist and musician.

2 of 6

About the Illustrator

Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman is an illustrator who has been described as ‘Britain’s foremost post-war satirist’ by Will Self. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for >Punch, Private Eye, Rolling Stone and other major publications of the 1960s, producing satirical cartoons and caricatures. He is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, whose books and articles he often illustrated; but he has also worked with a number of other leading writers, including Ted Hughes and Roald Dahl, and provided album artwork for bands and musicians including The Who and Frank Zappa. He has won numerous awards over several decades, including Illustrator of the Year from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was one of the first winners of the Francis Williams Award (now the V&A Illustration Awards) for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1972. As well as illustration he has ranged widely as a writer, lyricist and musician.

3 of 6

About the Illustrator

Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman is an illustrator who has been described as ‘Britain’s foremost post-war satirist’ by Will Self. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for >Punch, Private Eye, Rolling Stone and other major publications of the 1960s, producing satirical cartoons and caricatures. He is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, whose books and articles he often illustrated; but he has also worked with a number of other leading writers, including Ted Hughes and Roald Dahl, and provided album artwork for bands and musicians including The Who and Frank Zappa. He has won numerous awards over several decades, including Illustrator of the Year from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was one of the first winners of the Francis Williams Award (now the V&A Illustration Awards) for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1972. As well as illustration he has ranged widely as a writer, lyricist and musician.

4 of 6

About the Illustrator

Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman is an illustrator who has been described as ‘Britain’s foremost post-war satirist’ by Will Self. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for >Punch, Private Eye, Rolling Stone and other major publications of the 1960s, producing satirical cartoons and caricatures. He is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, whose books and articles he often illustrated; but he has also worked with a number of other leading writers, including Ted Hughes and Roald Dahl, and provided album artwork for bands and musicians including The Who and Frank Zappa. He has won numerous awards over several decades, including Illustrator of the Year from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was one of the first winners of the Francis Williams Award (now the V&A Illustration Awards) for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1972. As well as illustration he has ranged widely as a writer, lyricist and musician.

5 of 6

About the Illustrator

Ralph Steadman

Ralph Steadman is an illustrator who has been described as ‘Britain’s foremost post-war satirist’ by Will Self. After studying at the London College of Printing he worked for >Punch, Private Eye, Rolling Stone and other major publications of the 1960s, producing satirical cartoons and caricatures. He is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, whose books and articles he often illustrated; but he has also worked with a number of other leading writers, including Ted Hughes and Roald Dahl, and provided album artwork for bands and musicians including The Who and Frank Zappa. He has won numerous awards over several decades, including Illustrator of the Year from the American Institute of Graphic Arts, and was one of the first winners of the Francis Williams Award (now the V&A Illustration Awards) for Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland in 1972. As well as illustration he has ranged widely as a writer, lyricist and musician.

6 of 6

Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005) was one of America’s leading counterculture writers of the twentieth century and a key figure in the experimental ‘gonzo’ school of journalism, which he founded. Raised in Louisville, Kentucky, he worked for the United States Air Force and as a journalist before his first book, Hell’s Angels (1967), based on time spent riding with the motorcycle group, brought him to popular attention. Growing increasingly disillusioned with the death of the sixties dream in a bitterly divided United States, Thompson wrote Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (1972). He continued to write in the coming decades, for Rolling Stone and other outlets, and was active as a sports journalist until his death. He also became well known for advocating the right to bear arms and the legalisation of drugs. Thompson died in 2005.

David Mamet was born in Chicago in 1947 and is one of America’s leading contemporary playwrights and screenwriters. His most acclaimed works include the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Glengarry Glen Ross and the Tony Award-winning Speed-the-Plow. His highest-grossing film is Heist, which he wrote and directed; his other film credits include House of Games, The Verdict, Hannibal and The Untouchables. He contributes cartoons to the Huffington Post and is also an essayist on politics and culture. He has written several novels as well as non-fiction books including On Directing Film, The Secret Knowledge and The Wicked Son.