Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker

Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting

For more information about C Press, see Jed Birmingham’s articles on Time, Ted Berrigan, and Don’t Ever Get Famous.

Andy Warhol provided the cover for issue four of C: A Journal of the Arts. Edwin Denby and Gerard Malanga appear on the silk-screened cover. The cover is reprinted in Reva Wolf’s book on Warhol along with a discussion of the politics and gossip behind this image. Issue 4, like the Mad Motherfucker Issue of Fuck You with the Couch cover, is tough to get a hold of. Ars Libris sold a copy awhile back in a small, incomplete run of Cs. Expect to pay in the four figures if you ever get the opportunity.

Complete runs of C: A Journal of Poetry are elusive. The Fales Library possesses a C Journal archive but lacks a complete run. Syracuse University also holds a number of Berrigan’s papers including dummies for C Journal, yet they lack a complete run. The Berg Collection at the New York Public Library has about half of the issues. The Library’s Rare Book Division houses the editor’s (Berrigan’s) file of the mimeo. The NYPL possesses a complete run but they don’t know it. According to Secret Location on the Lower East Side, Issue 12 is missing from this collection.

Based on an email I received from Ron Padgett, Berrigan never published a twelveth issue of C: A Journal of Poetry. As evidenced by the text in Issue 11, he intended to publish one but the project never saw completion. Again according to Padgett, Berrigan viewed C Comics #1 as essentially the 12th issue. There is no indication as to Berrigan’s reasoning in this bibliographic detail.

Burroughs appears in Issue 9 and Issue 10 of C Journal. Fuck You Press issued Roosevelt After Inauguration in January of 1964. Ed Sanders included Burroughs in Fuck You, a Magazine of the Arts No. 5 Vol 7 in the summer of that year. Berrigan first published Burroughs in the summer of 1964. At the time, Burroughs still resided in Tangier, but given the flurry of mimeo activity Burroughs could see that the Lower East Side in New York City was the place to be. Burroughs saw this for himself during brief visits in 1963/1964. In C Journal 9, Burroughs contributed two pieces: “Giver of the Winds Is My Name” and “Intersection Shifts and Scanning from Literary Days by Tom Veitch.” Literary Days was published by C Press and I would guess that Berrigan sent Burroughs a copy for his review. As is common in the 1960s, Burroughs responded with a cut-up. In “Giver of the Winds Is My Name,” Burroughs incorporated Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time. See my column on da levy and Burroughs for a brief discussion of this appearance.

In C Journal 10, Burroughs contributed “Fits of Nerves with a Fix.” According to the Maynard and Miles’ Burroughs bibliography, this issue hit the streets on February 14, 1965, St. Valentine’s Day. For the artists and writers of the Lower East Side, Burroughs must have been on their mind as he gave a famous reading at the American Theatre of Poets on that date. The C Press Time also appeared in 1965.

Burrroughs’ work in C Journal is listed as prose, but these pieces can be considered examples of Burroughs the poet. “Fits of Nerves with a Fix” reminds me of the work in Floating Bear 24 (“Spain and 42st,” “Dead Whistle Stop Already End,” and “Where Flesh Circulates.”) The look of the work on the page is especially similar. “Giver of the Winds Is My Name” also has the look of a poem in a way that differs from the block text and newspaper formats of other cut-ups from the period. This would suggest that Burroughs’ influence on the Second Generation New York School and even First Generation members like John Ashbery, stemmed not just from Naked Lunch and the cut-up novels, but also from the lesser known and underappreciated Minutes to Go and The Exterminator. These two books can be considered books of poetry for the lack of a better categorization and the work therein has similarities to the work in C Journal.

C: A Journal of the Arts

C Journal 1

C Journal 2

C Journal 3

C Journal 4
front

(Thanks to Dan Laufer for the scan.)

C Journal 4
back

(Thanks to Dan Laufer for the scan.)

C Journal 5

C Journal 6

C Journal 7

C Journal 8

C Journal 9

C Journal 10

C Journal 11

C Journal 12

C Journal 13

Michael Brownstein
Behind the Wheel (aka C Journal 14)

C Press

Ted Berrigan
The Sonnets
C Press, 1964

Tom Veitch
Literary Days
C Press, 1964

Ron Padgett
In Advance of the Broken Arm
C Press, 1964 (First Edition)

Ron Padgett
In Advance of the Broken Arm
C Press, 1965 (Second Edition)

Kenward Elmslie
Power Plant Poems
C Press, 1967

Elio Schneeman
In February I Think (front)
C Press, 1978

Elio Schneeman
In February I Think (back)
C Press, 1978

Steve Carey
The Lily of St Mark’s
C Press, 1978

Boke Press (Edited by Joe Brainard)

C Comic 1

C Comic 2

Ted Berrigan
Living with Chris
Boke Press, 1965

Ron Padgett and Joe Brainard
100,000 Fleeing Hilda
Boke Press, 1967

New York: “C” Press 1965, Maynard & Miles A11a. A signed hardcover issue lettered A-J each accompanied by a manuscript page from Burroughs and a drawing by Brion Gysin. Illustrated with four calligrams by Gysin. The top half of the cover appears to be an issue of Time magazine and features portraits of Nehru and Mao, reproduced as a part of a collage by WSB. Indeed, the November 30, 1962 issue of Time magazine, with the title “India’s Lost Illusions,” was apparently chosen by Burroughs for parody because that issue includes a savage review of Naked Lunch, as well as Burroughs’ other Olympia Press works, in which Burroughs and other Beat writers are put down as frauds.

_____ limited edition of 100 numbered copies signed by Burroughs and Brion Gysin, in wraps as issued.

_____ trade edition of 886 copies, bound in wraps.

Sussex, England: Urgency Press Rip-Off 1972, a piracy of the “C” Press edition by Roy Pennington, limited to 495 copies and scarce. Pennington estimates that only about 100 copies were actually distributed, legal-size mimeographed sheets stapled together. Maynard & Miles A11b.

Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker

Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting

Like Skyline Books, Beat Books and a handful of others, Ken Lopez consistently offers show stopping material. I worked in a used and rare bookstore for a couple years, and few and far between were the days that high quality 20th century literature passed through the door. When I leaf through his catalog or scroll through his website, the question that pops into my head is: where does he get this stuff? Case in point is a recent Burroughs item that was available from Lopez Booksellers on Abebooks.

The Ticket That Exploded. Paris: Olympia (1962). First Edition. The correct first edition, published in paperback in Paris five years prior to the U.S. edition. Issued in Maurice Girodias’ “Traveller”s Companion” series — a line of paperbacks that was largely dominated by softcore and hardcore pornography that could not be sold at all in the U.S. at that time — few copies migrated to the U.S. until well after Burroughs’ popularity here was established and the landmark censorship cases of the early 1960s (including that of Naked Lunch) had been settled in favor of increased permissiveness in printed matter. This copy is inscribed by Burroughs to Ted Berrigan: “For Ted Berrigan / Pearl Harbor Bombed Dec 7, 1942 / come 11 / William S. Burroughs / Dec 11, 1964, S.D./ N.Y.” An excellent association copy: while Burroughs was generous with signing books, true association copies seldom show up on the market. In this case, not only is the association a good one, but the inscription, with its “7 come 11″ reference to shooting craps, is also particularly good. A little musty; near fine in a near fine, lightly foxed dust jacket. In custom three quarter leather clamshell case made by Peter Geraty.

Clearly, this is a highly prized item. The piece fits right into my collection and in fact would have pride of place in a special collection or research facility specializing in modern literature. It is that important for reasons I will touch on later. Curious, I dug deeper and found that UCLA has the same or a similar book as part of the Allan Kurtzman Beat Collection. Kurtzman, former president at Neutrogena and Max Factor, was a well known book collector. Did more than one association copy of Ticket That Exploded exist? If not, how did the book find its way to Lopez? Was it stolen? Was it lost? Lost and stolen books are a tremendous problem at libraries of all levels. In my experience, the Library of Congress suffers from a near epidemic in this area. If I look for 10 books on a certain topic, I consider myself lucky to get half of them. The books are just misplaced, stolen, or in transit. Did the UCLA library secretly sell some of its special collection holdings, a practice not unheard of as reported by Nicholson Baker in The Double Fold? What’s the story? I emailed Ken Lopez about Burroughs / Berrigan copy at UCLA. He expressed his concern and immediately set about looking into the matter.

I quoted the description above in full because it gets to the heart of several topics that keep coming to the surface in the Bunker: association copies, signed vs. inscribed, the value of true bookmen and catalog descriptions. I was grateful for the little extras Lopez put in this entry such as the rarity of Burroughs association copies as well as the paucity of meaningful inscriptions. The inscription shows a playful side to Burroughs, but what caught my attention was the fact that he misdated the year of the Pearl Harbor bombing. In my experience, Burroughs wrote thoughtful inscriptions to those he knew personally as would be expected. The Nelson Lyon sale provided several great inscriptions. Burroughs also rewarded collectors presenting him with a hard to find item like a little known magazine appearance. Copies of Junkie in many cases were signed “William Burroughs for William Lee.” He also liked to call autograph seekers Johnsons, a reference to the Johnson family in Jack Black’s You Can’t Win. I have seen the inscription “From one Johnson to another” more than once. By and large, Burroughs signed willingly and often. One result of such generosity is a workman-like, assembly line attitude to getting the signatures out without frills.

This copy of Ticket That Exploded is an exception and deserves extra attention. The Ohio State Burroughs archive possesses correspondence involving Burroughs and Berrigan from 1964-1970, so the two men were in contact before the inscription. Once again, the second volume of Burroughs correspondence would be a godsend. It is not surprising that Berrigan and Burroughs started corresponding in 1964. Berrigan’s monumental The Sonnets was self-published in that year by C Press and on November 8, 1964 Grove issued Nova Express, Burroughs’ first straight-to-hardcover title. The literary techniques underpinning both books are similar. Berrigan’s 72 page bombshell utilized the cut-up technique to explode the sonnet form. The use of the cut-up probably had less to do with Burroughs and more to do with first-generation New Yorkers Kenneth Koch and John Ashbery. Yet the work of Burroughs was definitely recognized as simpatico. As I have mentioned, Burroughs appeared in the Collaboration Issue of Locus Solus in 1961. That magazine featured a brief selection from Minutes to Go. Ron Silliman’s blog from December 18th of last year talks about the history of the cut-up and its use by the New York School of Poets. The Sonnets followed Nova Express into the Grove canon in a second edition in 1967.

It should be noted that Burroughs traveled briefly to New York in 1963. As Daniel Kane details in All Poets Welcome, his book on the Lower East Side Poetry Scene, Burroughs’ arrival was a huge deal in underground circles, the return of a conquering hero. Briefly, Kane tells of the excitement and illegal activity that Burroughs’s presence at a Le Café Metro reading created. Possibly Berrigan and Burroughs met during this 1963 visit.

In addition, Berrigan’s C Press provided a potential outlet for Burroughs’ increasingly radical cut-up experiments. I have written about the publishing relationship between Burroughs and Ted Berrigan in my discussion of Time issued by Berrigan’s legendary C Press in 1965. During that year, Berrigan also published Burroughs in the mimeo pages of C Journal. Like 1981, 1965 is a monumental year for Burroughs. For roughly one year, Burroughs returned to the United States and set up shop in New York City. Thanks to the assistance and generosity of Robert Bank, I have been able to construct an incomplete but informative paper trail of Burroughs’ travels for some of this year. See the sister column for a chronology of Burroughs in New York City. Bank has an incredibly detailed and important collection of material relating to Jeff Nuttall. Included in this material are several envelopes and postcards from Burroughs to Nuttall from late 1964-1965. I have noted that postcards were a favored form of correspondence.

Burroughs writes Nuttall from Tangiers stating that his boat is leaving for New York on November 30, 1964. Burroughs arrived on December 8th. In literally a couple of days, Burroughs found himself in the thick of the Lower East Side underground networking with Berrigan. Based on their previous correspondence, Burroughs found it important to meet Berrigan and work on the publishing plan of action. Or possibly Berrigan rushed to greet Burroughs to New York City. I have been unable to find any details regarding this inscription such as whose book it was, where it was signed, did Burroughs and Berrigan meet on this day, etc.

This brings up another interesting aspect of this copy of Ticket That Exploded: how it documents Burroughs actively networking within the literary and art scene of New York City. Often one hears of Allen Ginsberg’s all encompassing rolodex of connections and his championing of the other less active Beats, but this inscription shows Burroughs punching his own ticket into the avant garde. Burroughs’ arrival in New York in 1963 and his stay in 1965 bring up some interesting questions regarding whether Burroughs served as the catalyst in forming a creative scene or whether he was an explorer searching for fully formed scenes to stimulate his creativity. Did Burroughs’ stay signal that New York had arrived as a center of counterculture activity or did Burroughs’ presence provide the creative flame that brought the pot to a boil? I think the answer is not a simple either / or.

Burroughs’ move to Tangier in 1954 is an interesting case study. By all accounts, Burroughs went to Tangier because of the fiction of Paul Bowles. Bowles and his circle of expatriates created a scene that appealed to Burroughs. As Ted Morgan’s biography shows, Burroughs very much wanted to be included in the creative and social life of Tangier. Yet as he grew acclimated to Tangiers and made it his own, Burroughs becomes the beacon that draws creative visitors and thrill-seeking tourists. In 1957, Ginsberg, Kerouac, Peter Orlovsky, and Alan Ansen all traveled to Tangiers drawn by the magnetism of the developing Naked Lunch and the scene described by Burroughs in his work and letters. This is even more noticeable during the psychedelic summer of 1961 when once again Ansen, Corso, Ginsberg, Orlovsky circled like satellites around Burroughs’ sun. In the famous group photo documenting this visit, Bowles, the original influence, sits at the Beats’ feet albeit center stage. By the late 1960s and onward, Tangier was associated with Burroughs as much if not more than Bowles.

I view Burroughs much like a shark. He needed constant movement and unlimited creative sustenance. He inspired awe, and as Oliver Harris writes, fascination in hip and squares alike. The popular conception portrays him as a loner, el hombre invisible lurking in the shadows or sitting alone strung out staring at his shoe. Although I am tempted to stretch the metaphor of the shark to paint him as a solitary creature, the facts prove otherwise. Burroughs needed to be a part of larger artistic communities and he was an active member of them. As Burroughs required an audience to create (see Harris again), he actively sought outlets for his work. Throughout his life Burroughs was on the move searching for stimulus to feed his addiction to writing as much as to feed or escape from his addiction to drugs.

New York City, South America, Mexico City, Tangier, Paris, London, Lawrence. In all these locations, something special existed to draw him there, but the pot boiled with his arrival. Soon after, the media arrived with reporters and photographers to document the scene and announce it to the mainstream. Tangiers 1957. Paris 1959. As Burroughs created his masterpiece and solidified his mythic stature, Paris and Tangier exploded into the post-WWII counterculture map. For example, Life and Mademoiselle chronicled the Beat Hotel. These cities became tourist attractions for those seeking the intellectually exotic, the culturally decadent, and the socially permissive. In these cases, Burroughs plays a more active role in creating a community. Tangier and Beat Hotel Paris existed before Burroughs but they assumed their full identity with his presence.

Freak New York of the Lower East Side. Swinging London. Punk New York. With the publication of Naked Lunch and the proliferation of his myth, Burroughs less actively helped create a community but instead validated and inspired it. Burroughs in turn fed off the energy and attention of younger artists. Burroughs’ presence in a brewing underground scene about to pop elevated it to the next level while bestowing it a history and legitimacy. Whether coincidence or not, Burroughs’ entrance into the scene was followed shortly after by reporters and cameras. News stories on Freak / Hippie New York flooded the media in the mid-1960s culminating in the Ed Sanders’ cover of Life in 1967. Burroughs passed through Gatwick in late 1965, and 1966 proved the height of hip London. Punk arose as a cultural force in the mid 1970s and its birth in New York (possibly with Patti Smith’s Piss Factory / Hey Joe LP) coincided with Burroughs’ move from London in late 1973. Cynically, it could be argued that Burroughs signaled a community’s death knell as overexposure, commercialization, and assimilation by the mainstream culture were sure to follow. By that time, Burroughs would be off to the next emerging hotspot.

Of course, Burroughs received as much as he gave. Naked Lunch and the cut-up trilogy would not have been possible without the physical and creative environment provided by Tangier and Paris. Tangier infuses Naked Lunch in sight, sound and smell. The Beat Hotel and its inhabitants provided the impetus for the cut-up. The publishers of the Lower East Side encouraged Burroughs to go as far out on the cut-up edge as he dared. Ed Sanders assured all that he would publish anything. In London, Burroughs encountered and eventually challenged the institutions of Scientology. Books like The Wild Boys drew on the youth cult of Swinging London. Michael Butterworth of Savoy Books captures the influence of Burroughs on experimental science fiction as well as showing Burroughs in networking mode.

The general ‘atmosphere’ of New Worlds was imbued with Burroughs. Burroughs was living in London in the 60s, of course. Not only did J.G. Ballard promote him in the magazine, Michael Moorcock also did. Michael was one of the main supporting contributors to the ‘Ugh!’ correspondence in the TLS (Times Literary Supplement), and on his travels made a habit of bringing Maurice Girodias titles into the UK before they were available here. He and Charles Platt promoted authors like myself (Michael wrote about me in an introduction that I “sprang full-grown from the head of William Burroughs”!). He even wrote an experimental science fiction novel called The Deep Fix, with a character called Seward and a dedication reading “To William Burroughs, for obvious reasons.” Then there were the New World parties, at least two of which were attended by Burroughs. These could be ‘star’-studded events. At a celebrated one William was introduced to Arthur C. Clarke. The influence was reciprocated. Burroughs wrote the introduction to the US edition of Ballard’s Atrocity Exhibition, as you will know. There must have been other cross-overs. To me, one of the younger writers, thoroughly corrupted by cut-ups and unable to read linear prose, and used to having work rejected, the magazine seemed to be tailor-made to fit, and appeared just at the right moment. (From a personal communication to RealityStudio.)

Michael Moorcock, who along with Anthony Burgess defended Burroughs against the British literary establishment in the now famous “Ugh! Correspondence,” also recalls Burroughs in London. Moorcock notes that, though the writers centered around New Worlds may have been fascinated by Burroughs, the influence worked the other way too.

Bill wrote to me quite early on after I’d taken over New Worlds (my first editorial and Ballard’s first feature for New Worlds were about Burroughs as I think you can see from the cover of the first of my issues, which I believe is online) asking if Barry Bayley (the less well-known member of the triumvirate who essentially created ‘my’ New Worlds) would mind if he used the idea of “The Patch” — humanity as a virus — and Barry of course was delighted, later writing several brilliant stories in homage, including “The Four-Colour Problem,” which is still available in the US edition of New Worlds: An Anthology which also gives some of the details of our association with Bill. We were also instrumental in bringing Bill Butler and Bill Burroughs together. I think Bill published Burroughs, too.

I remember the first time I met Bill (maybe Ballard was there, too) and noticed how he was scanning a newspaper ACROSS the columns, rather than down. I remember being delighted that he actually read like that. (From a personal communication to RealityStudio.)

The science fiction elements of Wild Boys and shorter pieces of that period as well as his fascination with the work and thought of L. Ron Hubbard drew from the developing science fiction renaissance in the city. Burroughs’ earlier works like Nova Express inspired newly emerging talents and imaginations. In 1965, Burroughs was interviewed in SF Horizon. The science fiction community and Burroughs cross-fertilized.

In New York, Burroughs got a new start and fought the doldrums to begin on his late work: Cities of the Red Night. In Lawrence, Burroughs confronted the mythic Midwest and West, his childhood, nostalgia, and death away from the celebrity hustle and bustle surrounded by friends who looked past his reputation. The results were his late forays in art and the final trilogy.

Clearly, the inscribed Ticket That Exploded offered by Ken Lopez, no matter where it came from, tells an interesting story. Part bribe, part invitation, part correspondence, part contract, part gift. The exchange between Burroughs and Berrigan captures Burroughs’ relationship to the avant-garde community in New York in all its facets. Burroughs as myth, as hero, as father figure, as peer, as struggling experimentalist, as lightening rod, as catalyst, as voracious shark. Critics have commented on the nature of Berrigan’s literary ambition, but Burroughs proves just as aggressive in furthering his writing and seeing it distributed and consumed. In the mid 1950s, he may have seemed like a man howling in the wilderness, but by the 1960s he was a man about town, sought after and seeking in equal measure.

Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker

Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting

Recently, I received an email asking me about a copy of Time, a limited edition collage piece published by C Press. According to its copyright page, Time was published in 1965 in 1000 copies. 886 copies comprised the trade edition. These copies were unnumbered and unsigned. 100 copies were signed by Burroughs and Gysin. 10 copies numbered A-J were hard bound and contained a manuscript page of Burroughs and an original colored drawing by Gysin. 4 more were hors commerce. (This French term literally translates as “before business.”) An hors commerce print was used as the color key and printing guide that the printer would use to insure consistency of the print run. These pieces are usually printer’s proofs that are not for sale and are often used for promotional purposes. Ports of Entry: William Burroughs and the Arts provides images from the Joseph Zinnato collection which included an extensive archive of Time. Stephen J. Gertz wrote a great article detailing his experience with the Zinnato collection including a description of the Time archive. I have encountered several descriptions of copies of Time, signed and unsigned.

Burroughs and Gysin signed the book together, as called for in the limited edition of 100 numbered copies. In isolated cases, Ted Berrigan, the editor, signed as well. My copy is signed by Burroughs, Gysin, and Berrigan. Berrigan inscribed the copy to Roger Richards, a Beat friend and patron. He was particularly close with Gregory Corso, who lived with Richards during his later years. I have never seen one of the 10 lettered copies. UCLA possesses a copy (D) in its rare book room.

According to Ports of Entry, “Burroughs created his own version of Time magazine, including a Time cover of November 30, 1962, collaged over by Burroughs with a reproduction of a drawing, four drawings by Gysin, and twenty-six pages of typescript comprised of cut up texts and various photographs serving as news items. One of the pages is from an article on Red China from Time of September 13, 1963, and is collaged with a columnal typescript and an irrelevant illustration from the ‘Modern Living’ section of the magazine. A full-page advertisement for Johns-Manville products is casually inserted amid all these text; its title: Filtering.” The “Fliday Newsmagazine,” “Proclaim Present Time Over,” “File Flicker Tape” are some of the texts. The November 30, 1962 issue of Time was chosen, because the magazine reviewed the Grove Press edition of Naked Lunch in an article entitled “King of the YADS” (Young American Disaffiliates). The looming face of Mao symbolizing the threat of Red China adds an aura of nuclear disaster.

Time, along with Burroughs’ contributions to My Own Mag, is a stellar example of Burroughs’ attempts to merge the collage technique of art with the cut up technique of literature. Time is the fullest expression of Burroughs’ experimentation with the newspaper and magazine format that is part parody and part critique as well as an expression of a new format and form capable of expressing a greater truth than fiction or journalism separately. Time goes to the heart of Burroughs’ distrust of the mass media manipulation of image and news. Many think of Burroughs the visual artist as a flowering of his later years, but as his scrapbooks and pieces like Time attest, Burroughs delved into the visual arts early in his creative life. Elements of surrealism, the collage and assemblage art of Rauschenberg or Wallace Berman and his circle, Pop Art, and Mail Art are all present in Time.

All this is an introduction to the question I received. Basically, the collector wanted to know if he possessed one of the 100 signed copies of Time. He sent me an image of his copyright page with the Burroughs signature in pencil. Attached is his scan. The issue number is written incorrectly and is not stamped. In addition, only Burroughs signed the copy and not Gysin. Both Burroughs and Gysin signed the 100 copies. See my copy. What I think happened is that the collector received one of the unsigned, unnumbered 886 copies that somebody, not Burroughs, then numbered and signed with Burroughs’ name. The signature looks suspect especially the William. See my webpage for examples of Burroughs signature over time. I have never seen Burroughs sign in pencil, particularly Time. The numbering of the signature is flat out wrong. Why would Burroughs number his signature if he happened to sign this copy at a later date? The person who signed it obviously saw Burroughs’ signature before but could not reproduce the numbering of one of the true 100 copies.

Time was bootlegged in 1972 by Roy Pennington as an Urgency Press Rip Off. According to Maynard & Miles, Pennington published the bootleg for the Bickershaw Festival. The bootleg was not staple-bound like this forged copy, but stapled at the top. I have never seen the bootleg, so if anybody has a copy please send an image and description.

Time Archive

Time Bootleg