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Forgive me if this has been presented previously. I am no web mogul and do not know how one would search precisely for information regarding this topic. Like attempting to seek information on your beloved greatgrandaunt Jenna Jameson, died 1903.

I am curious regarding any information on the photos of WS Burroughs. Photos made BY Burroughs, as differed from photos OF Burroughs, which of course are legion and quite easily found. It is known that Burroughs was at least an amateur photographic enthusiast, as references to cameras, photographs, and photographing are to be found throughout his work and his letters. The epilogue to Queer contains notable passages of Lee wandering around Panama City attempting to photograph a corrugated iron shack, a dark indian fisherman, a negro in a felt hat. Various passages from The Job report Burroughs' attempting to close down a cafe in London (excuse if I remember the details wrongly, I write from Buenos Aires and my current travelling library lacks this specific volume) by photographing it, recording street sounds, etc. A letter to Ginsberg dated 19 Feb 1955, thanking him for money sent, and detailing his being just about to pawn his camera. Other letters I cannot now locate make mention of desire to retain camera. Excerpt from intro to Paris Review interview, describing the state of Burroughs' St. Louis hotel room: "A Zeiss Ikon camera in a scuffed leather case lay on one of the twin beds beside a copy of Field and Stream." Some photographs are displayed in the City Lights published "The Burroughs File" stuck in between "chapters."

This all only to illustrate that Burroughs was, for all intents, at least somewhat of a photographer, if only one with the standard traveller's interest in photographing his surroundings as he journeys about. So much ado has been made over seemingly every other facet of Burroughs' life and output, yet I have not yet seen anything yet which has dealt with his photographic output. This listing, I do not know how old, for a sale of Burroughs' "early" photographs is the only thing I have seen: http://tinyurl.com/5vlt89y The photos (click the "assorted photos by WSB link, bottom left, also collages 1-7) indicate a fellow with an eye for composition and an at least fair handle on proper exposure, grasp of which comes only with care and interest and much practice.

I have seen, even recently, attention given to Ginsberg's photos. We have seen gallery exhibitions of Burroughs' shotgun paintings. Scrutiny has been given to every other manifestation of Burroughs' output, writings, cut-ups, paintings, motion films, audio experiments, miscellaneous media, etc., yet nothing on his photographs. Can anyone here suppose why this may be? If the world is interested in the photos of A. Ginsberg, certainly there would be interest in Burroughs' photographs as well.

Perhaps the photos have all gone missing. Perhaps the negatives did not survive the constant movings around. Perhaps they are buried beneath the heavy hands of some private collector refusing their being shared. Perhaps they have all been lost, or misplaced, and will surface in 100 years in an attic in Mexico, like Capa's Spanish war negatives. If anyone has read anything or knows anything regarding the photography of Burroughs, I am curious about it. He traveled much, mentioned photographing at least some, and it stands to reason he made an amount of pictures which would likely be, to those of we with an interest, absolutely fascinating.

Thank you for any information or discussion.

A few years ago at the RA i London there was a show featuring art work by Burroughs and work inspired by him.

One piece was a Damien Hirst cabinet with about 4 shelves. On each shelf laid out neatly was a selection of debris/ephemera from/of Burroughs. I seem to remember a door knob.

Also there was a tupperware box; poking out of this was the top third of an obviously 'at home with burroughs' type foto er 'family album' style if that makes sense.

Behind this there was a whole stack but by the nature of the arrangemnt impossible to study or even see.

There are plenty of photographs by Burroughs around but they haven't been published or circulated much. Maggs Rare Books has recently put out two catalogues containing London photographs by WSB. Check out these:

http://www.maggs.com/i/maggs/catalogues/BILLLONDON.pdf

http://www.maggs.com/i/maggs/catalogues/WSB2.pdf

Ginsberg's photographs have gotten a lot of publicity in part because he had a virtual portrait gallery of famous artists and writers in their primes. Also Ginsberg himself had started exhibiting his photographs and made a bit of a business out of it. In contrast, Burroughs seemed to take photographs related to his personal obsessions (for example boys and the number 23), thus his photos lack that paparazzi quality that makes Ginsberg's so salable. Also, to the best of my knowledge, Burroughs never exhibited his own photographs, except to the extent that they appeared in collages or cut-ups.

This is wonderful, I had not ever seen these London photos previously. I agree entirely regarding the Ginsberg photos holding more popular interest due to their subject matter and often extreme notation. Yet in these years where everything is given such intense scrutiny by at least some interested subset I am always surprised to find certain things seemingly forgotten. Burroughs' photos seem to become less interesting later on, when he was photographing doorways and staircases over and over again from every angle. But that is only my opinion, as his work in general becomes less interesting to me during that occultist Paris/London/NYC/E-meter/cut-up period of the 60's and 70's.

If there are any other outlets for samples of Burroughs photographs please let me know, especially of earlier years, the Mexico/South America/Tanger periods. I had never seen the photo of Burroughs and Marker which shows on the rear cover of the recent edition of Queer and was fascinated to see it. Likely most of these photos exist in library catalogues which are locked away from all but scholars and researchers with valid reasons toward access. But perhaps there are a few more I've not seen on the web, or collected in a book I've not yet heard of.

I expect that we'll eventually see an exhibit and catalogue of Burroughs' photographs. Meanwhile there's so much other stuff -- probably of greater importance -- to explore, publish, exhibit: the Gysin letters, for example, or a new edition of The Third Mind. In general I feel very optimistic that we'll be seeing plenty of previously unknown Burroughs material in the years to come. I've had the privilege of doing some research in the archive at the Berg here in New York, and it gets overwhelming. There is a ton of stuff in there -- including photographs.

I just noticed this in the inventory of Word Horde 2.0 over at Lopez Books:



http://lopezbooks.com/archive/wsb/inventory.html

I have no idea where that archive ended up. However, I have seen that private collectors have photos like those London ones.

Maggs and Co Books in London had a little show of Burroughs' photo's that Barry Miles put together about a year or two ago. I would have reported on it here at the time, but was going through a very difficult and busy patch work wise.

The photo's were mostly from Burrough's London years, including such intriguing things as those pictures you mention taking of the Soho cafe he disliked (due to the sloppy service he received I think it was) in order to somehow assist in casting a spell on it to get it closed down.

I'm pretty sure the pictures were being sold as affordable prints from the original negatives, so if you were really keen then you could get in touch with Maggs and Co about them. They would have made a nice book if collected together along with texts that that were relevant. I'm sure Miles would be on to that if it was commercially viable but I guess the interest is too slight.