“New Rose” Poster

Black-and-white personality poster for The Damned, featuring the band portrait used on the sleeve of "New Rose" — issued by Stiff Records on 22 October 1976 as the first British punk single ever pressed, beating the Sex Pistols' "Anarchy in the U.K." to market by a month. The design is by Chris Morton, Stiff's first art director; the photograph is by Alan Ballard.

The poster was never sold commercially. Produced in a small and unrepeated print run, copies were sent by Stiff exclusively to early purchasers of "New Rose" who mailed in for them — reaching only the most devoted early adopters of British punk.

LITERATURE:

Krivine, Andrew. Too Fast To Live, Too Young To Die: Punk and Post-Punk Graphics. London: Pavilion Books, 2020, p. 125

PROVENANCE:

Too Fast To Live Collection