WHITE STUFF - NO.5 (SEPTEMBER / OCTOBER, 1977)

London: S.i., 1977. First Edition. Fifth issue of Scottish writer and musician Sandy Robertson's Patti Smith fanzine, the name being derived from lyrics to Smith's song "Ain't It Strange." Alternately billed as "a rock n roll magazine for the modern world / teen aesthetes / young existentialists / the new romanticism / international heroes," White Stuff was dedicated to covering Smith's work, with coverage of concerts, lyrics, poetry, and interests, while offering coverage of the US and UK punk scene, surrealism, and literature. At a time when virtually every punk zine in the UK fell into the "black & white, fucked-up & photocopied" mold, Robertson was one of the few who managed to design a fanzine that was nothing short of a visual delight. In Neil Taylor's Rough Trade: Document and Eyewitness (2011), Robertson recalls the following regarding production: "By the time I came around to do my fanzine White Stuff, a couple of the early ones were already out. I didn't bother to look at them. I just figured that they would all be more or less the same thing and that I had to do something different. So I thought I'd write a fanzine about Patti Smith - and about the kind of things that I thought would be of interest to her." Contents feature an article by Frank W. Letchford on the art of Austin Osman Spare, 'Notes on Holiday Inn' by Smith, and a fans' notes on Smith, The Rolling Stones, and Rimbaud. Quarto (29.5cm); pale yellow stock, with text and illustrations offset printed in black (rectos only), stapled at upper left corner; 13pp; illus. Light wear, with a few tiny creases at upper left corner; Near Fine.