Sven Berlin's 1946 prescription for 100 benzedrine tablets -...

Hammer

£50

Sven Berlin's 1946 prescription for 100 benzedrine tablets - dispensed by T C Leddra, The Rexall Pharmacy, St Ives, Cornwall. Together with Svens National Registration Card, dated 1950, full address The Tower, The Island, St Ives, Cornwall and Sven's Army 'Free Leave Travel' pass for travel to Northfield Military Psychiatric Hospital. Benzedrine tablets or 'whites' are mentioned a few times in The Coat of Many Colours, Sven would regularly share his prescription with close friends such as W S Graham and Bryan Wynter. 'I was in the Tower absorbing the shock when Bryan Wynter dropped in for some benzedrine', W S Graham wrote to Sven around the time he was writing Nightfishing '''...try and round up a good team of whites!'' This meant, could I (Sven) send him some benzedrine tablets, which I had introduced to him during this time, and of course he loved them. They were such a help in his state of poverty and the accompanying despair. I had a prescription from a doctor who treated me for depression after the war and I was able to get a new supply every week.'