Stu is the rarest and most acclaimed book ever published around the Rolling Stones. It was the result of two years’ of collaboration by the private press Out-Take, with over 100 text and photographic contributors. The volume with 432 pages and 85,000 words was privately published and subscribed for. It had no ISBN which meant that it was never available from high street or online bookstores. The edition of 950 copies hand-bound in leather has only ever been available direct from the publisher, Out-Take Limited.
Each copy of the book includes an accompanying signed and numbered edition screen-print of Stu which was especially drawn for this tribute set by Ronnie Wood - each hand numbered - 1 to 950.
There are 80 text contributors in including, for the only time ever in print, all the members of the Rolling Stones, who reveal Ian Stewart through over 25 hours of interviews. As a co-founder of the band, as well as playing on many of the most famous songs in the rock n’ roll catalogue, Stu was more than just the “Sixth Stone” For as Keith Richards states in his Foreword “There have been arguments about this ever since we started and it goes on, but in my opinion whose band is it? It’s Ian Stewart’s band. The Rolling Stones are Ian Stewart’s band. He was the first one there at the beginning.” Whilst Mick Jagger maintains that “Whichever way you want to put it into words, you feel that you are still playing his music and his influence is very strong”.
Alongside the text are many previously Un-published photographs by some of the world’s leading music photographers including Gered Mankowitz, Ethan Russell and Dominique Tarle. For Tarle (with whom Publisher Will Nash worked with extensively on his own book Exile) —“To me it’s the best book I’ve read about the Rolling Stones.” Whilst for Gered Mankowitz (another photographer with whom Nash has produced books with) “Nothing you have ever read or seen about the Rolling Stones will be complete without this extraordinary and beautiful volume.” Additionally some photos include those taken by Stu himself an accomplished amateur photographer. Some of his images of the band were used in the early Rolling Stones fan magazine; apart from that, his work is almost entirely unpublished. In addition memorabilia owned by Stu form a major part of the visual content including his diary from 1962.
The response from purchasers of the book was always ecstatic as it was from the Contributors - Keith Richards regularly referring to it as “The Bible”.
A small number of copies of the book are still available for purchase at this time and no truly committed Rolling Stones fan and collector can afford not to have this book as a cornerstone of any Stones collection. (To aid any purchase — instalment plans are available)
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Stu (the book ) - what's the deal ? (Read 833 times)
