This reader traces the history of a body of work which remains as vital and provocative as on its first release, and whose story tells us much about the workings of art, publishing, and the politics of dissemination. Editor Liz Jobey charts the history in a new essay drawing on interviews with Billingham and all the primary protagonists of the work’s emergence, including Michael Collins, Julian Germain, and Paul Graham.

This is followed by an extensive selection of conversations and essays from 1996 to the present day, by writers including Charlotte Cotton, Gordon Burn, Lynn Barber, and Jim Lewis.

This book coincides with the release of a new edition of Ray’s a Laugh restoring Billingham’s original vision for the book.