"WE WERE SOMEWHERE AROUND BARSTOW ON THE EDGE OF THE DESERT WHEN THE DRUGS BEGAN TO TAKE HOLD": FIRST EDITION OF FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS

THOMPSON, Hunter S. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. New York: Random House, (1971). Octavo, original half black cloth, original dust jacket. $1500.

First edition of Thompson's landmark picaresque journey into the American dream.

"Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas… cemented Thompson's place as a singular presence in American journalism or, as he once called himself, 'a connoisseur of edge work" (New York Times). With in-text illustrations by Ralph Steadman, Thompson's second book, the embodiment of Gonzo journalism, "is a custom-crafted study of paranoia, a spew from the 1960s and—in all its hysteria, insolence, insult, and rot—a desperate and important book, a wired nightmare, the funniest piece of American prose since Naked Lunch" (Books of the Century, 278-80). In 1998, Terry Gilliam directed the film version, starring Johnny Depp.

Book very fresh, trace of creasing to dust jacket flaps. A bright near-fine copy.