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A revised typescript draft, 1977-1978, of a poem entitled 'Crewe Blues' by John Tripp.
The draft has numerous manuscript revisions and annotations and has the typescript title 'British Rail Blues (The Junction of Despair)' crossed through and replaced with 'Crewe Blues' in ink. A heavily revised version of the poem (see NLW MS 24013D, f. 136) was published as 'Northern Railway Blues' in John Tripp, The Meaning of Apricot Sponge, ed. by Tony Curtis (Cardigan, 2010), pp. 162-163. The poem was apparently written after a Christmas visit by Tripp to his friend the philosopher Allen Phillips Griffiths in Coventry.

Literary papers of John Tripp, [1967]-[1975], comprising manuscript and typescript poetry (ff. 1-26, 28-116, 130-151, 166-171), short stories (ff. 117-118, 152-153) and scripts for radio plays (ff. 119-129, 154-165).
The poetry includes original manuscript and typescript working sheets (ff. 1-26), photocopies of published poems (ff. 166-171), fair typescript copies (typed by Fay Williams) and photocopies of original typescripts (typed by John Tripp) of poems, seventy-two mainly unpublished (ff. 28-100), and twenty-one published in The Meaning of Apricot Sponge: Selected writings of John Tripp, ed. by Tony Curtis (Cardigan, 2010) (ff. 130-151), and a series of twelve poems entitled 'Intervals of Heat', mainly unpublished (ff. 101-116). The short story 'Ferret and Weasel' (ff. 152-153) and the verse play for radio 'The Seed of Dismemberment' (ff. 154-165) were published in The Meaning of Apricot Sponge, while 'Confessions of an English Tutor' and 'Sketches from Provincial Love' (ff. 117-129) remain unpublished. Also included is a letter to Tripp from Meic Stephens, 9 September 1968 (f. 6 verso), and a draft letter from Tripp to John Stuart Williams, 2 April 1969 (f. 27). A list of the contents, compiled by the donor, [?2010], is also included (ff. i-v).