Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Over the years, the history of William Burroughs’ rendezvous with Tangier has taken on elements of the folk tale. Like the 1001 Arabian Nights, there is an initial framing story, i.e. the exiled Burroughs fleeing his past arrives in Tangier to find an…
Tag: Jeff Nuttall
William S. Burroughs and J.G. Ballard
An In-Depth Account Drawing on Interviews, Correspondence, and Unpublished Documents “I got a Christmas card from Burroughs,” J.G. Ballard told an interviewer in 1986.1 It should not have been much of a surprise: he had known William S. Burroughs for about twenty years; he had recently published an enthusiastic review of Burroughs’ essay collection, The…
Archive of Charles Plymell’s The Last Times
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting The Last Times was an underground newspaper published in San Francisco in 1967 by poet and printer Charles Plymell. It contained works by William S. Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Charles Bukowski, Robert Crumb, Carl Weissner, Claude Pélieu, Mary Beach, Antonin Artaud, and others. Issue…
Correspondence
Letter from William Burroughs to Carl Weissner 30 April 1965 Correspondence with Charles Bukowski Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner 16 October 1976 This letter appeared at auction on ebay in August 2009. Letter from Charles Bukowski to Carl Weissner 15 Jan 1979 This letter appeared at auction on ebay. Letter from Charles Bukowski…
Carl Weissner in My Own Mag
My Own Mag 12, Page 5 Carl Weissner, “Interior,” May 1965 My Own Mag 13, Page 2 Carl Weissner, “Mailbag Cuttings Re Meeting Suggested in Mag 12,” August 1965 My Own Mag 14, Page 3 Carl Weissner, [Correspondence,] December 1965 My Own Mag 14, Page 10 Carl Weissner, “The Moving Times,” December 1965 My Own…
Harold Norse Correspondence
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Harold Norse passed away in June 2009 in San Francisco at the age of 92. For certain “lucky” artists or writers, one of the quirks of old age is that the longer you live the more relevant you become. The critical establishment can…
Bulletin from Nothing (Issue 2)
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Bulletin from Nothing 2Front cover Bulletin from Nothing 2Front Endpaper Bulletin from Nothing 2Front Endpaper Bulletin from Nothing 2William Burroughs Bulletin from Nothing 2William Burroughs Bulletin from Nothing 2William Burroughs Bulletin from Nothing 2William Burroughs Bulletin from Nothing 2Roxie Powell and Claude Pélieu…
Bulletin from Nothing (Issue 1)
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Bulletin from Nothing 1Front cover Bulletin from Nothing 1Endpaper Bulletin from Nothing 1Claude Pelieu Bulletin from Nothing 1Claude Pelieu Bulletin from Nothing 1Claude Pelieu Bulletin from Nothing 1Mary Beach Bulletin from Nothing 1Claude Pelieu Bulletin from Nothing 1Claude Pelieu Bulletin from Nothing 1Jeff…
Bulletin from Nothing
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting None of us obsessed with William Burroughs are fascinated by the same writer. Like the agent / addict’s face in Philip K. Dick’s A Scanner Darkly, our impressions of Burroughs are constantly in flux. When I first fell under Burroughs’ spell, I wanted…
Yay!: A Moving Times Supplement (An In-Depth Examination of My Own Mag)
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting In 1963, the Times Literary Supplement announced the arrival of Dead Fingers Talk with a cry of Ugh! Later that year, Burroughs received the first issue of My Own Mag and responded with a resounding, Yes! In Jeff Nuttall, Burroughs found a fellow…
D.A. Levy and William S. Burroughs
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting A Secret Location on the Lower East Side is one of my bibles, but the failure to document the Cleveland mimeo scene in any detail seems a major hole. Granted Clay and Phillips’ book could not cover everything, and Cleveland was briefly mentioned…
Eric Mottram and The Algebra of Need
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting In 1992, I attended King’s College in London for two terms as part of a study abroad program. I knew next to nothing about the school, and if I remember correctly, I chose it, because it was located on the Strand and seemed…
Islwyn Watkins Interviewed by David Moore
Recollections of Jeff Nuttall, Bob Cobbing, My Own Mag, Writers’ Forum, Group H & STigma in early 1960s London by David Moore DM: Please would you tell us a little about yourself and how you came to meet Jeff Nuttall? IW: I was born and educated in south Wales and, in September 1959, moved to…
Recollections of Jeff Nuttall and the Production of My Own Mag
by Michael Bartholomew I met Jeff Nuttall round about 1960, when I was 18 years old. I lived in north London and was a member of the Barnet branch of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Jeff was also a member. He was maybe 10 years older than I was. He had a wife and family,…
The My Own Mag Community
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Little magazines are expressions of and monuments to a thriving creative community. Looking through the pages of My Own Mag brings this fact home. The magazine expanded in size and scope from its first four-page issue into a newsletter for an international avant-garde….
The Evolution of the Cut-Up Technique in My Own Mag
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting In late 1963, Jeff Nuttall sent William Burroughs the first issue of My Own Mag. In an editorial note on the cover, Nuttall writes tongue firmly in cheek, My Own Mag “will appear every now and then… will be devoted to creations of…
My Own Mag: A Bibliographic Nightmare
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting My Own Mag is a bibliographic nightmare. There is no general consensus on the correct order of the first eight issues of the seventeen issue run. This might be by design. Nuttall, like Ed Sanders, possessed a devilish air and a flair for…
My Own Mag
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting In the introduction to the bibliography of his work prepared by Joe Maynard and Barry Miles, William Burroughs spoke about how the “little mags” were a lifeline for him at a time when he had very few hopes for publishing his work. One…