Fuck You Press Archive

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Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker

Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting

It was a good day when I finally got my hands on Fuck You Vol. 5/No. 7. Quite possibly the coolest, hippest magazine of the mimeo revolution (Fuck You epitomized the revolution as demonstrated by naming the Steve Clay book “A Secret Location on the Lower East Side”) and the most desirable piece in my collection with serious competition from Dead Fingers Talk, Floating Bear, Rhinozeros, and Time. They are all great pieces; all signed. The cover by Robert LaVigne (who discovered and drew Peter Orlovsky in the mid-1950’s before Allen Ginsberg came into the picture) of an infant demon is awesome. The Burroughs cut up “Fluck You, Fluck You, Fluck You” in three column newspaper layout is wonderful. But what makes Fuck You so wonderful is its construction. Literally on multi-colored construction paper (supposedly it would not be unusual to get a copy of the magazine with a footprint on it) scattered with freaky, turned-on hieroglyphics.

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 7The writing of the magazine is sometimes spectacular, yet uneven. Editor Ed Sanders claimed “I’ll publish anything.” The list of contributors is impressive. Charles Olson, Philip Whalen, Gregory Corso, Gary Snyder, W.H. Auden, Pound, Allen Ginsberg, Norman Mailer, Antonin Artaud, Robert Duncan. The editorial comments are priceless, especially the notes on contributors, the advertisements for a secretary, or the search for a literary assistant for Allen Ginsberg.

Here is a visual archive of materials from the Fuck You Press.

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Number 1 (Feb/April 1962)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Number 1
(Feb/April 1962)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Number 2 (May 1962 (??))

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Number 2
(May 1962 (??))


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Number 3, (June 1962)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Number 3
(June 1962)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Number 4, (Aug 1962)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Number 4
(Aug 1962)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 1 (Dec 1962)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 1
(Dec 1962)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 2 (Dec 1962)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 2
(Dec 1962)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 3 (May 1963)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 3
(May 1963)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 4 (1963)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 4
(1963)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 5 (Dec 1963)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 5
(Dec 1963)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 6 (April/May 1964)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 6
(April/May 1964)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 7 (Sept 1964)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 7
(Sept 1964)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 8 (1965)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 8
(1965)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 8 (Warhol cover) (1965)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 8 (Warhol cover)
(1965)


Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts, Volume 5, Number 9 (June 1965)

Fuck You, A Magazine of the Arts
Volume 5, Number 9
(June 1965)


Fuck You Press Publications

William S. Burroughs, Roosevelt After Inauguration (1964)

William S. Burroughs
Roosevelt After Inauguration
(1964)
I may be biased as a Burroughs collector, but Roosevelt After Inauguration is for me one of the most famous and desirable Fuck You Press items…


William S. Burroughs, Health Bulletin: APO-33, a Metabolic Regulator (1965)

William S. Burroughs
Health Bulletin: APO-33, a Metabolic Regulator
(1965)
Photo by Bradley Allen.


W.H. Auden
The Platonic Blow
(1965)


Carol Bergé
The Vancouver Report
(1964)


Lawrence Ferlinghetti
To Fuck Is to Love Again
(1965)


Claude Pelieu, Automatic Pilot, Fuck You Press, 1964

Claude Pélieu
Automatic Pilot
(1964)


Ezra Pound, The Cantos of Ezra Pound CX-CXVI (1967)

Ezra Pound
The Cantos of Ezra Pound CX-CXVI
(1967)


Ed Sanders, The Toe Queen Poems (1964)

Ed Sanders
The Toe Queen Poems
(1964)


Ed Sanders, Fuck God in the Ass

Ed Sanders
Fuck God in the Ass


Ed Sanders, Despair: Poems to Come Down By

Ed Sanders (Editor and contributor)
Despair: Poems to Come Down By
(1964)


Poems for Marilyn

Poems for Marilyn


A Valorium Edition of the Entire Extant Works of Thales
(1964)


Bugger: An Anthology (1964)

Bugger: An Anthology
(1964)


Harry Fainlight, Quote of the Week #1

Harry Fainlight
Quote of the Week #1
(1964)


Fuck You Press Catalogues, Newsletters, and Flyers

Fuck You Press News Flash

Fuck You Press News Flash


Fuck You Catalogue 1

Fuck You Catalogue 1


Fuck You Catalogue 2

Fuck You Catalogue 2


Fuck You Catalogue 3

Fuck You Catalogue 3
(Spring 1965)


Fuck You Catalogue 4

Fuck You Catalogue 4


Fuck You Catalogue 4.5

Fuck You Catalogue 4.5
(Image courtesy of Paul Rickert)


Fuck You Catalogue 5

Fuck You Catalogue 5


Fuck You Catalogue 6

Fuck You Catalogue 6


Fuck You Catalogue 7

Fuck You Catalogue 7


Fuck You Catalogue 8

Fuck You Catalogue 8


Ed Sanders, In Defense of Kiss and Screw

Ed Sanders
In Defense of Kiss and Screw
(1969)


Marijuana Newsletter No. 1

Marijuana Newsletter No. 1
(1965)


Marijuana Newsletter No. 2

Marijuana Newsletter No. 2
(1965)


Flyer

Flyer
The flyer advertises a reading by Herbert Huncke to take place at Le Metro Cafe in New York on 1 July 1964


Fugs Flyer

Fugs Flyer
(Image courtesy of Paul Rickert)


Fugs Flyer

Fugs Flyer


Fugs Flyer

Fugs Flyer


Fugs Cross-Country Caravan Flyer

Fugs Cross-Country Caravan Flyer


Fugs Bios

Fugs Bios


Related to Fuck You

Peace Eye

Peace Eye
Peace Eye was not actually published by Fuck You but by Frontier Press. However, it provides an interesting bridge between two great mimeo scenes — Fuck You Press headed by Ed Sanders in New York and Frontier Press in Buffalo.


Ed Sanders, Poem from Jail

Ed Sanders
Poem from Jail
City Lights, San Francisco, 1963


Miscellaneous Items

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number One

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number Two (John Weiners)

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number Three

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number Four (Carol Berge)

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number Five (Michael McClure)

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number Six (Ed Sanders)

Phoenix Book Shop Check Number Seven (Gerald Malaga)

Herbert Huncke 80th Birthday Card

Written by Jed Birmingham and published by RealityStudio on 17 March 2006. Thanks to Jeff Nisbet for images and to Dan Laufer for the 1964 flyer advertising Herbert Huncke’s reading. Archive expanded and updated on 26 August 2009.
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Comments Total: 13
Colin
May 4 2007
9:06 pm

I found issue 5 volume 7 in the garbage of a university. It’s amazing! I’ve never read anything by Ginsberg or Burroughs and this seems like a good way to start.

cw
Jul 19 2007
5:36 am

Nice list

Michel
Jun 13 2008
8:18 am

Hi ! Can someone confirm me whether the fuck you Press “books”, such as Roosevelt After Inauguration, were staple bound or just free paper leaves ?

Thanks a lot!

jed
Jun 13 2008
10:58 am

Roosevelt after Inauguration was staple bound as were most of the Fuck You publications, but that said I have seen copies of Roosevelt that were collated but were never stapled. I have seen a couple issues of Fuck You Magazine that way as well. They were never stapled at all; not that the stapled were removed at a later date.

Lucy
Jul 22 2008
5:31 pm

Can anyone tell me which issue contained something by Antonin Artaud, which text it was, and who the translator was?

Jack Feldman
Feb 21 2009
7:17 pm

I have an issue of the magazine that has no volume or issue # on the cover, just “Fuck You, a magazine of the arts, June, 1965.” On the second page it says “Number 5, Volume 9, June/July 1965.” The front cover has different graphics on it from the one you show. Does anyone know what the discrepancy is about? Thanks!

jed
Feb 22 2009
9:00 am

Jack

As you can see with the comment about the stapling on Roosevelt, FY items were definitely put together differently. I have heard of different papers being used on various publications as well (like Platonic Blow for example or the colored vs uncolored covers for the pirated Cantos of Pound). So it is possible that different graphics were made as well. Maybe Sanders ran more copies of the text than the covers and had to make extra covers. If you can please scan it and we can add it to the archive as a possible variant.

Jack Feldman
Feb 23 2009
8:42 pm

Hi Jed,

Thanks very much for your reply. I’ve heard quite a few stories about the inconsistency of FY and other publications, including bad collating, upside down pages, and loads of other variants. You obviously are an expert, and I’m sure you’ve seen many. An interesting fact about this copy and the others in my collection is that they were Jackson Mac Low’s copies. They came directly from his estate, as did some other interesting stuff that I was lucky enough to get. I don’t have a scanner hooked up to my computer, but I will ask someone I know to help me with it, and I’ll send you what seem to be the “odd” pages in this issue. Thanks again for your theories of how this might have happened. I’ll be in touch soon.

Regards,
Jack

jed
Feb 24 2009
10:31 am

That is very interesting about Jackson Mac Low. If you care to share, what other type of material was in his estate? What type of little mags and books did he have/read? I have been meaning to get a copy of DOINGS for quite some time. Have you read that book?

Paul Rickert
Mar 26 2009
10:16 pm

To help complete your bibliography of Peace Eye bookstore, may I add that there was a catalog # 4 1/2 which featured Sazbo’s collection of books he used as collateral against a loan from Ed Sanders.
The cover of the catalog can be seen at this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bookstreet/3389151188/

Thanks.

Jed
Jun 29 2009
12:48 am

There is an Ed Sanders exhibit at The Arm in Brooklyn. Details: http://thearmnyc.com/news/2009/06/ed_sanders_show_at_the_arm

I hear there are paste-ups of the various Fuck You, a magazine of the arts issues as well as rare and virtually unseen ephemerial items. The opening in on July 10th.

andy Clifford
May 19 2010
8:02 pm

Just stumbled onto this site. I was living in Ed’s bookstore on 10th st across from Thompkins Sq Pk. Myself and my friend Groovy were putting together copies of “Peace Eye” and we were going to pass it out in The Bronx Zoo if Ed was convicted on obscenity charges. I was 16/17? and a run-away from Long Island at the time.

I actually still have a copy. Maaannnnnn..do I ever have stories from back then…

Gary
Aug 8 2010
9:29 pm

Any chance of getting a list of the contents of each issue? (Which issue(s) did Warhol contribute to (if any)?

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