I bought my first copy of the Olympia Press edition of William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch from eBay. I had no idea what I was doing. I had never seen a copy in person. I knew little about the principles of collecting. But I had the money and the itch so I overpaid for a copy…
Tag: Olympia Press
1963
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting This may not be exactly true, but permit me to float it out there anyway. I have a firm belief that anybody who owned a copy of the Olympia Press Naked Lunch from 1959 to 1962 was interesting. A person to sit down…
#13: The Olympia Naked Lunch
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting #13: The Olympia Press The Naked Lunch (1959). An Installment in Jed Birmingham’s series of the The Top 23 Most Interesting Burroughs Collectibles. I call my mom several times a week, not so much because I am dying to talk to her, but…
Dead Fingers Talk and Burroughs Proofs
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting A couple weeks ago the Wizard behind the curtain at RealityStudio sent me an email alerting me to a proof copy of Dead Fingers Talk offered by Ken Lopez. As Lopez’s catalog description makes clear, this is a highly desirable book. Try finding…
Simon Finch and a High-Priced Naked Lunch
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting A few weeks ago, I wrote about Brian Cassidy, a bookseller just beginning his journey in the book world, and about his offering of a high-end Burroughs letter. At the other end of the spectrum is British bookseller Simon Finch who stands at…
Burroughs Ephemera 1: Olympia Press Catalog
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. It seems everything I come across of late ties into the saga I’ve been documenting in the Bunker. The terminology involved in book collecting can be quite slippery. Even terms as basic as first edition…
Collecting the Olympia Edition of Naked Lunch
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting Also see Jed Birmingham’s “Top 23 Burroughs Collectibles #13: The Olympia Naked Lunch” and RealityStudio’s “Secrets of the Olympia Press Naked Lunch.” I received an email asking about advice in purchasing an Olympia Press Naked Lunch. It is pretty safe to say that…
Dead Fingers Talk
Reports from the Bibliographic Bunker Jed Birmingham on William S. Burroughs Collecting There were a couple of interesting signed books for sale on eBay last week that gets to the heart of what makes a particular book collectible. A 1963 John Calder Dead Fingers Talk sold for about $160 (ebay, PDF) and a Grove Ticket…