March 2021 Auction Ends Thursday, March 25th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/25/2021
Hunter S. Thompson typed letter from 19 January 1966 regarding the funeral of Hell's Angels member Mother Miles, and also the upcoming publication of ''Hell's Angels: The Strange and Terrible Saga of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs''. Interesting letter to his friend Paul Semonin reads in part, ''Dear Fatjack -- You have obviously mastered a technique that I badly need, even if it means forging a few degrees. If you'll give me a few tips on the grant action, I'll steer you around the natural n***** pitfalls of first-book writing. I am now on 268 and feel nearly done, but I think Ballantine has already given up on making money with the paperback. My lateness has postponed their edition to 1967, which is too far away for me to believe in. Random is a different matter. I won't make a penny on the hardcover, but now that we're kind of nudging the reality of print a bit I'm getting a quiet boot out of it. Of course I still expect to be jerked down and violated at any moment...like maybe they'll cancel publication for no reason, or simply stop answering my letters...never again, no answer, dead blank, no mention of the book...
Now the Trib wants to put me on the Berkeley beat, at $75 per. F*** them. They changed my funeral from first person to third, which made for all kinds of strange awkward transitions. They cut at least one ball off of the original, which had a peculiar eloquence. It was a tired, personal, look-back kind of piece. I was really taken with the funeral. It was a gutty thing. They did plenty of showboating, but there was a hard dark tone in the thing...a blink of an eye between the escort bikes and the casket, you could see the death all around...not much like that night at the Silver Dollar...
My whole fiscal framework is collapsing. All insurance cancelled, ultimatum on the rent, guns lost in pawn, etc...the rotters get like sharks when they think you're staggering. I need some cash to bluff with. But that's an old story...I figure Ballantine will get desperate enough to get me east somethime [sic] soon, just to finish off the book...Dr. Bloor''. Thompson circles his sign-off name in black ballpoint, which he also uses to correct typos throughout. Two-page letter on one sheet of orange paper measures 8.5'' x 11''. Light dampstaining along edge and shallow folds, else near fine.
Hunter Thompson Letter From 1966 Regarding ''Hell's Angels'' -- ''...Of course I still expect to be jerked down and violated at any moment...like maybe they'll cancel publication for no reason...''
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