Tag Archives: Sinclair Beiles

Loujon Press

Jon and Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb. Photographer unknown.

In the Fall of 1961, Jon and Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb published the first issue of their avant-garde poetry and prose magazine, The Outsider. Handset and letterpress printed, the journal straddled the line between traditional books and modern works of art, and the journal made an outsized impact on the literary world, shining a light on the talents of Beat Generation, Black Mountain and other avant-garde and counterculture poets, writers, and artists of the era.

In all, Loujon Press published three issues of The Outsider (one a double issue), and two books each by poet Charles Bukowski and novelist Henry Miller. These publications received at least as much praise for their quality as physical artifacts as they did for the poems and prose that made up their editorial matter. It seems like a small catalogue, but the remarkable artistry, craftsmanship, and pioneering spirit have earned the press a much larger place in history.

As art writer Nathan Martin commented, “Loujon operated during a particular moment in the history of artistic publishing in America … and remains a distinctive and compelling entity at the intersection of fine-press publishing, counterculture literature, and the French Quarter from which it emerged.”

Loujon Press Checklist:

1. The Outsider, Vol. 1, No. 1, edited by Jon Edgar Webb
New Orleans: Loujon Press, Fall 1961
First edition, side-stapled and bound into printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 6” x 9”, 101 pages, 3100 copies, letterpress printed with handset type on a C&P handpress by Jon and Louise Webb. Associate Editor: Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb; Advisory Editors: Marvin Bell, Margaret Randall, Jory Sherman, Edwin Morgan, Melville Hardiment, Sinclair Beiles; Consultant: Walter Lowenfels; illustrations: F. Salantrie.

Ephemera:
1. 1. 1. Prospectus. 5.75” x 17.75” sheet folded once to make four pages, lists contributors and includes order form.

Offprints:
1. 1. Corso, Gregory. “The American Way” [offprint of page 9] [1]
  2. Bukowski, Charles. “A Charles Bukowski Album” [offprint of pages 47-54] (Krumhansl 6)
  3. Miller, Henry. Letters To Lowenfels. [offprint of pages 63-66] [2] (Shifreen & Jackson A140)
  4. Burroughs, William S. Operation Soft Machine. [offprint of pages 73-77] [3]
  5. McClure, Michael. Spontaneous Hymn To Kundalini [offprint of page 46] [4]

Contents:
1. Edson, Russell. “Editorial” – 1:1, 3
2. Webb, Jon Edgar. “The Editor’s Bit: Public Square” – 1:1, 4
3. Beiles, Sinclair. “Metabolic C Movies” – 1:1, 5
4. Gordon, Stuart. “Metabolic C Movies” – 1:1, 5
5. Corso, Gregory. “The American Way” – 1:1, 9
6. Webb, Jr., Jon Edgar. “A Peek Over The Wall” – 1:1, 15
7. Giudici, Ann. untitled [“Be careful when you step…”] – 1:1, 17
8. Giudici, Ann. untitled [“I was a child…”] – 1:1, 17
9. Giudici, Ann. untitled [“Can you pause and stay…”] – 1:1, 18
10. Di Prima, Diane. “Lord Jim” – 1:1, 19
11. Grant, John. “On The Dot” – 1:1, 20
12. Haines, Paul. “…Had Spent Laughing” – 1:1, 23
13. Snyder, Gary. “Xrist” – 1:1, 24
14. Turnbull, Gael. “A Hill” – 1:1, 25
15. Olson, Charles. untitled [“Borne down by…”] – 1:1, 26
16. Dorn, Edward. “Like A Message On Sunday” – 1:1, 27
17. Ginsberg, Allen. “The End (to Kaddish)” – 1:1, 28
18. Orlovsky, Peter. “Snale Poem” – 1:1, 29
19. Hughes, Langston. “Doorknobs” – 1:1, 30
20. Martinez, Juan. “Work Song” – 1:1, 31
21. Sorrentino, Gilbert. “Ave Atque Vale” – 1:1, 35
22. Lowenfels, Walter. “Good-Bye Jargon, Elegy for a Small Press” – 1:1, 36
23. Lowenfels, Walter. “Welcome Home to Cubby” – 1:1, 37
24. Corman, Cid. “Post Mortem” – 1:1, 38
25. Corman, Cid. “Sempre D’amore” – 1:1, 38
26. Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. “Underwear” – 1:1, 39
27. Bremser, Ray. “On Prevalence” – 1:1, 42
28. Randall, Margaret. “Series of Seven” – 1:1, 43
29. Brand, Millen. “Swinging Off Swamp Creek” – 1:1, 44
30. Creeley, Robert. “The End of the Day” – 1:1, 45
31. Creeley, Robert. “Mind’s Heart” – 1:1, 45
32. Creeley, Robert. “The Bird” – 1:1, 45
33. McClure, Mike. “Spontaneous Hymn to Kundalini” – 1:1, 46
34. Bukowski, Charles. “Hooray Say The Roses” – 1:1, 48
35. Bukowski, Charles. “Pay Your Rent or Get Out” – 1:1, 48
36. Bukowski, Charles. “Shoes” – 1:1, 49
37. Bukowski, Charles. “I Am With the Roots of Flowers” – 1:1, 50
38. Bukowski, Charles. “Go With the Rockets & the Blondes” – 1:1, 51
39. Bukowski, Charles. “A Real Thing, a Good Woman” – 1:1, 51
40. Bukowski, Charles. “To a High Class Whore I Refused” – 1:1, 52
41. Bukowski, Charles. “Old Man, Dead in a Room” – 1:1, 52
42. Bukowski, Charles. “Love in a Back Room on the Row” – 1:1, 53
43. Bukowski, Charles. “Nothing Subtle” – 1:1, 53
44. Bukowski, Charles. “And Then: Age” – 1:1, 53
45. Sward, Robert. “Momma–, Mountain” – 1:1, 55
46. Ristau, Harland. “M’sippi Town” – 1:1, 56
47. Wilson, Colin. “Some Comments On The Beats & Angries” – 1:1, 57
48. Sherman, Jory. “Dear Liz” – 1:1, 60
49. Hedley, Leslie Woolf. “Naked In My Century” – 1:1, 62
50. Miller, Henry. “Letters To Lowenfels” – 1:1, 62
51. Jones, LeRoi. “The Southpaw” – 1:1, 67
52. Jones, LeRoi. “Bo Peep” – 1:1, 67
53. Jones, LeRoi. “X” – 1:1, 67
54. Jones, LeRoi. “Boswell” – 1:1, 68
55. Jones, LeRoi. “Dr. Jive” – 1:1, 68
56. Bell, Marvin. “Portrait of a Skeleton” – 1:1, 69
57. Bell, Marvin. “Winter Poem” – 1:1, 69
58. Epstein, Lester. “Demonstrate Your Culture…” – 1:1, 70
59. Epstein, Lester. “Moment” – 1:1, 71
60. Epstein, Lester. “Cold Coffee” – 1:1, 71
61. Zahn, Curtis. “Reprimand For A Compromised Love-Object” – 1:1, 72
62. Burroughs, William S. “Operation Soft Machine” – 1:1, 74
63. Kaja. “from: The Emerald City, For Gregory Corso” – 1:1, 78
64. Crews, Judson. “Rel Bore Speng Lule” – 1:1, 79
65. Crews, Judson. “Pastoral” – 1:1, 79
66. Thompson, Tracy. “Stranger” – 1:1, 79
67. Carroll, Paul. “What Did Your Face Look Like…” – 1:1, 80
68. Oden, G. C. “Lay Your Head Here” – 1:1, 81
69. May, James Boyer. “The Salutary Snare, for Colin Wilson” – 1:1, 82
70. Schleifer, Marc D. “Here & There, for Marian’s Show” – 1:1, 82
71. Pfisterer III, Frederick. “Dolorous Somewhere Behind” – 1:1, 83
72. Frumkin, Gene. “The Fat Pigeon” – 1:1, 84
73. Williams, Jonathan. “The Big House, For Sherwood Anderson” – 1:1, 84
74. Corrington, William. “Hard Man” – 1:1, 85
75. Boyle, Kay. “Print from a Lucite Block” – 1:1, 85
76. Blackburn, Paul. “Death Watch: Veille D’hiver” – 1:1, 86
77. Eshleman, Clayton. “Red Shoes (from Songs For Exile)” – 1:1, 86
78. Kupferberg, Tuli. “Great” – 1:1,87
79. Moraff, Barbara. “A Little Spur” – 1:1, 88
80. Abrams, Sam. “Bodies Only” – 1:1, 88
81. McGuire, Terence. “Mid-Morning” – 1:1, 88

2. The Outsider, Vol. 1, No. 2, edited by Jon Edgar Webb
New Orleans: Loujon Press, Summer 1962
First edition, side-stapled and bound into printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 6” x 9”, 112 pages, 3100 copies, letterpress printed on a 8″ x 12″ C&P new series motorized press by Jon and Louise Webb. Associate Editor: Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb; illustrations: Ben Tibbs, Frank Salantrie, Malcolm Paul Newman.

Offprints:
1. 1. Burroughs, William S. Wilt Caught In Time. [offprint of pages 3-4] [4]
  2. Miller, Henry. The Henry Miller To Lowenfels Letters. [offprint of pages 73-80] 2 (Shifreen & Jackson A140)

Contents:
1. Burroughs, William S. “Wilt Caught In Time” – 1:2, 3
2. Masters, R. E. L. “Editorial” – 1:2, 5
3. Webb, Jon Edgar. “The Editor’s Bit” – 1:2, 6
4. Bukowski, Charles. “Sick Leave” – 1:2, 7
5. Johnson, Kay. “from: The Fourth Hour” – 1:2, 8
6. Oppenheimer, Joel. “A Long Way” – 1:2, 10
7. Oppenheimer, Joel. “The Present” – 1:2, 11
8. Nemerov, Howard. “The Iron Characters” – 1:2, 13
9. Edson, Russell. “There Was” – 1:2, 14
10. Eigner, Larry. untitled [“the sky cross the desert…”] – 1:2, 15
11. Eigner, Larry. untitled [“visiting yesterday…”] – 1:2, 16
12. Eigner, Larry. untitled [“An easy death…”] – 1:2, 17
13. Eigner, Larry. untitled [“all these cripples…”] – 1:2, 18
14. Eigner, Larry. untitled [“that’s odd…”] – 1:2, 19
15. Dorn, Edward. “The Argument Is” – 1:2, 20
16. Corso, Gregory. “Poems From Berlin, First Week’s
17. Impression” – 1:2, 21
18. Bremser, Ray. “On The Nature” – 1:2, 24
19. Mayes, Richard. “Lament” – 1:2, 28
20. Johnson, Kay. “Poems From Paris” – 1:2, 29
21. Frumkin, Gene. “The Poet On His Lunch Hour” – 1:2, 34
22. Morgan, Edwin. “Jean Genet: A Legend, To Be Legible” – 1:2, 35
23. Hollo, Anselm. “They Fatted The Calf” – 1:2, 40
24. Stoloff, Carolyn. “Something Diseased” – 1:2, 42
25. Jacobson, David B. “Lecture” – 1:2, 42
26. Bukowski, Charles. “To A Lady Who Believes Me Dead” – 1:2, 43
27. Johnson, Kay. “Quick, Someone’s Coming” – 1:2, 44
28. Webb, Jon Edgar. “Suddenly Over” – 1:2, 45
29. Major, Clarence. “Dream In Ruins” – 1:2, 45
30. Field, Edward. “Ah, Linger A While, Thou Art So Fair” – 1:2, 46
31. Mason, Mason Jordan. “Mysterious As Any Woman Be” – 1:2, 47
32. Hazard, Geoffrey. “The Dubliner” – 1:2, 47
33. Moraff, Barbara. “Dear Solomon” – 1:2, 48
34. Musial, Frank. “Room” – 1:2, 48
35. Giudici, Ann. “Remember?” – 1:2, 49
36. Oden, G. C. “Low Calvary” – 1:2, 49
37. Bell, Marvin. “Pipecleaner, For Thin Dorothy” – 1:2, 50
38. Kaja. “from: The Emerald City, For Gregory Corso” – 1:2, 50
39. Genet, Jean. “from: Le Pecheur Du Suquet” – 1:2, 52
40. Purdy, A. W. “Love Poem” – 1:2, 53
41. Madaio, Louise. “The Wine Is Red (from Black Olives)” – 1:2, 55
42. McGrath, Thomas. “from: Letter To An Imaginary Friend” – 1:2, 59
43. Corrington, William. “Surreal For Lorca” – 1:2, 61
44. Williams, Jonathan. “The Anchorite” – 1:2, 62
45. Lowenfels, Walter. “Editorial” – 1:2, 64
46. Lamantia, [Philip]. “Last Days Of San Francisco” – 1:2, 66
47. Kerouac, Jack. “Sept. 19, 1961 Poem” – 1:2, 68
48. Margoshes, Dave. “Denise Levertov” – 1:2, 71
49. Margolis, William J. “from: The Mendicant Notebook, Vi (For Maxine)” – 1:2, 72
50. Miller, Henry. “The Henry Miller To Lowenfels Letters” – 1:2, 73
51. Finlay, Ian Hamilton. “Art Student” – 1:2, 81
52. Tagliabue, John. “Now And Then In The Fluorescence A Slight Jerking Motion” – 1:2, 82
53. Tagliabue, John. “’I Got Important Contacts’ Willy Loman Says” – 1:2, 82
54. Tagliabue, John. “Side Show / U.S.A.” – 1:2, 83
55. Tagliabue, John. “Those Mysterious Events That Stir Us” – 1:2, 83
56. Tagliabue, John. “Tall Blonde Girl And Ballet Dancer – 1:2, 83
57. Patchen, Kenneth. “letter to the editor and untitled paintings” – 1:2, 84
58. Micheline, Jack. “Street Call New Orleans” – 1:2, 94
59. Allen, Richard B. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 97
60. Borenstein, Larry. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 103
61. Jaffee, Allan & Sandra. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 103
62. Russell, Bill. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 104
63. Hentoff, Nat. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 104
64. Wilson, John S. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 107
65. Sperling, Jr., Godfrey. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 107
66. Hobson, Wilder. “Oldest of the Living Old” – 1:2, 107
67. Giudici, Ann. “Didn’t He Ramble, For Steve Angrum” – 1:2, 111

3. The Outsider, Volume 1, Number 3, edited by Jon Edgar Webb
New Orleans: Loujon Press, Spring 1963
First edition, side-stapled and bound into printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 6” x 9”, 138 pages, 2100 copies, letterpress printed by Jon and Louise Webb. . Associate Editor: Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb; illustrations: Jackson Hensley, Ben Tibbs, Frank Salantrie.

Offprints:
1. 1. Miller, Henry. The Henry Miller To Lowenfels Letters. [offprint of pages 79-85] [5]

Contents:
1. Webb, Jon Edgar. “Editorial: The Editor’s Bit” – 1:3, 0
  Patchen, Miriam. “Letters to the editors” – 1:3, 2
  Patchen, Kenneth. “Editorial” – 1:3, 3
  Johnson, Kay. “The White Room” – 1:3, 7
  Snyder, Gary. “Some Square Comes” – 1:3, 15
  Snyder, Gary. “Madly Whirling Downhill” – 1:3, 15
  Kearns, Lionel. “Stress-Axis Poems” – 1:3, 16
  Creeley, Robert. “More On Kearns” – 1:3, 20
  Woolf, Douglas. “Visitation” – 1:3, 22
  McClure, Michael. ” -Three Mad Sonnets (from 13 Mad Sonnets)” – 1:3, 29
  Sward, Robert. “Donna Is Her Name” – 1:3, 31
  Sward, Robert. “Museum” – 1:3, 32
  Sward, Robert. “Mr Attis & Lady C” – 1:3, 31
  Burroughs, William. “Take It To Cut City – U.S.A.” – 1:3, 35
  Boyd, Sue Abbott. “Journey” – 1:3, 40
  Boyd, Sue Abbott. “The Following Morning” – 1:3, 40
  Weeks, Robert Lewis. “Grand Opening” – 1:3, 41
  Layton, Irving. “On Re-Reading The Beats” – 1:3, 42
  Genet, Jean. “A Colloquy (from Le Pecheur Du Suquet)” – 1:3, 44
  Fisher, Roy. “Chirico” – 1:3, 46
  Fisher, Roy. “Something Unmade” – 1:3, 47
  Webb, Jon Edgar. “The Girl There” – 1:3, 49
  Wakowski, Diane. “The First Day” – 1:3, 54
  Norse, Harold. “The Pine Cone” 1:3, 55
  Solomon, Carl. “The Madman In The Looking Glass” – 1:3, 56
  Cuscaden, R. R. “Charles Bukowski: Poet In A Ruined Landscape” – 1:3, 62
  Corrington, William. “Charles Bukowski: Three Poems” – 1:3, 66
  Bukowski, Charles. “The Tragedy Of The Leaves” – 1:3, 67
  Bukowski, Charles. “The Priest And The Matador” – 1:3, 68
  Bukowski, Charles. “Old Man, Dead In A Room” – 1:3, 71
  Bukowski, Charles. “The House” – 1:3, 72
  Bukowski, Charles. “Event” – 1:3, 73
  Bukowski, Charles. “Dinner, Rain & Transport” – 1:3, 74
  Bukowski, Charles. “Letters to the editors” – 1:3, 77
  Miller, Henry. “The Henry Miller Lowenfels Letters” – 1:3, 79
  Eigner, Larry. “Then:” – 1:3, 86
  Corrington, William. “Communion (from Prayers For Mass In The Vernacular)” – 1:3, 87
  Jouffroy, Alain. “Fatherland” – 1:3, 88
  Hollo, Anselm. “Thalidomide” – 1:3, 90
  Moraff, Barbara. “Two For Syd” – 1:3, 97
  Motley, Willard. “The Burial” – 1:3, 98
  Miller, Raeburn. “The Drowned Boy” – 1:3, 101
  Rubin, Larry. “Etiquette For Americans” – 1:3, 102
  Neish, Alex. “Review: Naked Lunch” – 1:3, 104
  Charters, Samuel B. “Jazz In New Orleans: 1899 To 1957” – 1:3, 109
  Borenstein, E. L. “Jazz In New Orleans: 1957 To 1963” – 1:3, 117

4. Bukowski, Charles. It Catches My Heart In Its Hands / New & Selected Poems 1955-1963
New Orleans: Loujon Press, October 1963
First edition, sewn signatures in printed wraparound jacket, designed and printed by Jon Edgar Webb and Louise Webb, introduction by William Corrington, illustration by Frank Salantrie, dedicated to “Gypsy Lou” Webb, 7.5” x 10”, 102 pages, 777 copies, letterpress printed, published as Gypsy Lou Series #1.
(Dorbin A5)

Ephemera:
1. 1. Publication announcement: 5” x 10.25”, with Miller quote (Shifreen & Jackson B145)

Contents:
1. “The Tragedy Of The Leaves”, “I Cannot Stand Tears”, “Shoes”, “A Real Thing, A Good Woman”, “To The Whore Who Took My Poems”, “Worm”, “The State Of World Affairs From A 3rd Floor Window”, “The Japanese Wife”, “For Marilyn M.”, “The Life Of Borodin”, “Winter Comes In A Lot Of Places In August”, “No Charge”, “Truth’s A Hell Of A Word”, “The Sun Wields Mercy”, “A Literary Romance”, “Reprieve And Admixture”, “Conversation In A Cheap Room”, “Letter From The North”, “Okay, But Later”, “A Minor Impulse To Complain”, “The Dog”, “Nothing Subtle”, “The Twins”, “The Day It Rained At The Los Angeles County Museum”, “2 P.M. Beer”, “Hooray Say The Roses”, “The Sunday Artist”, “Old Poet”, “To A High Class Whore I Refused”, “Dinner, Rain And Transport”, “Poem For These 4”, “Regard Me”, “I Am With The Roots Of Flowers”, “The Race”, “Vegas”, “Pay Your Rent Or Get Out”, “Love Is A Piece Of Paper Torn To Bits”, “The House”, “I Wait In The White Rain”, “The Kings Are Gone”, “It Is Not Much”, “Side Of The Sun”, “The Talkers”, “A Pleasant Afternoon In Bed”, “9 Rings”, “Blasted”, “A Song For Sadists With A Place To Sit Down”, “The Priest And The Matador”, “Love And Fame And Death”, “My Father”, “People Come Thru…”, “The Gift”, “The Bird”, “The Singular Self”, “Counsel”, “The Ox”, “Wrong Number”, “Sundays Kill More Men Than Bombs”, “A Farewell Thing While Breathing”, “A Rat Rises”, “A 350 Dollar Horse And A Hundred Dollar Whore”, “Bull”, “I Write This Upon The Last Drink’s Hammer”, “The Virgins Of Christmas”, “I Think Of Hemingway”, “Old Man, Dead In A Room”

5. Bukowski, Charles. Crucifix In A Deathhand / New Poems 1963-65
New York: Lyle Stuart, April 1965
First edition, sewn signatures in printed wraparound jacket, designed and printed by Jon Edgar Webb and Louise Webb, etchings by Noel Rockmore, dedicated to Marina Louise Bukowski, 8.5” x 12.25”, 102 pages, 3100 copies, letterpress printed, published as Gypsy Lou Series #2.
(Dorbin A6)

Ephemera:
1. 1. Publication announcement: 5.25” x 10”, with Miller quote (Shifreen & Jackson B164)
  2. Order form: 5” x 8.25”

Contents:
1. “Sound Down the Street”, “I Think of Mice Cooling It”, “Butterfly”, “Sing to Gods or Kangaroos”, “View from the Screen”, “Not with Boldness”, “Crucifix in a Deathhand”, “When the Berry Bush Dies I’ll Swim Down the Green River with My Hair on Fire”, “Mother and Son”, “Sunflower”, “Grass”, “Fuzz”, “Seahorse”, “A Report upon the Consumption of Myself”, “No Lady Godiva”, “The Workers”, “Beans with Garlic”, “Mama”, “Machineguns, Towers and Timeclocks”, “Good Morning, Brother, How Are You?”, “Something for the Touts, the Nuns, the Grocery Clerks and You”, “The Loss, The Loss, The Loss”, “Sway with Me”, “Lack of Almost Everything”, “No Argument”, “No. 6”, “This”, “Don’t Come Round but if You Do”, “Startled Into Life like Fire”, “Stew”, “Qp”, “Lilies in My Brain”, “Itch, Come and Gone”, “I Am Dead but I Know the Dead Are Not Like This”, “Swept Away in Orangepeel And Whistle Yowl”, “At the End of Feet The Blackbird Walks”, “Let Them Go”, “Like a Violet in the Snow”, “All I Ask Is a Faint Chance”, “Letter from Too Far”, “See this Flower!”, “Pansies”, “I Was Born to Hustle Roses Down the Avenues of the Dead”, “Farewell, Foolish Objects”, “Man in the Sun”, “I Kneel”, “The Swans Walk my Brain in April it Rains”, “The Girls on Sunset Blvd.”, “Woman”, “Confession for those Who Do Not Breathe at Funerals”, “Like All The Years Wasted”, “They, all of Them, Know”, “A Nice Day”.

6. Miller, Henry. Order And Chaos Chez Hans Reichel
Tucson: Loujon Press, December 1966
First edition, perfect bound in printed wraparound jacket in printed slipcase, leather editions bound by the Schuberth Bookbindery of San Francisco, introductory statement by Karl Shapiro, introduction by Lawrence Durrell, photograph of Miller by Ina Paulandre tipped in, 9” x 9.75”, 87 pages, 1425 copies, letterpress printed, published as Gypsy Lou Series #3.
(Shifreen & Jackson A157a-g)

Variant Issues:
1. 1. Crimson Oasis limited issue: 26 lettered copies signed, quarter leather binding (Shifreen & Jackson A157a)
  2. Blue Oasis limited issue: 99 copies signed, quarter leather binding (Shifreen & Jackson A157b)
  3. Cork issue: 1399 copies (Shifreen & Jackson A157c)
  4. Orange Oasis limited issue: 3 copies (Shifreen & Jackson A157d)
  5. Black Oasis limited issue: 11 copies lettered using letters to spell HENRY MILLER, quarter leather binding, bound in postcard from Miller to Jon Webb (Shifreen & Jackson A157e)
  6. Green Oasis limited issue: 11 copies lettered using letters to spell HENRY MILLER, quarter leather binding (Shifreen & Jackson A157f)
  7. Cork issue: 26 lettered copies (Shifreen & Jackson A157g)

Ephemera:
1. 1. Publication announcement: 20” x 26” featuring a photograph of Miller and his bicycle (Shifreen & Jackson B181)
  2. Award announcement: 8.5” x 10”, printed in brown ink, TDC [Type Director’s Club] awards for typography, type direction, and design (see Shifreen & Jackson A157c)
  3. Award announcement: 8.5” x 9”, same as above but printed in blue ink and with slightly different text

7. The Outsider, Vol. 2, No. 4/5, edited by Jon Edgar Webb
New Orleans: Loujon Press, Winter 1968-69
First edition, issued in both wrappers and hardcover in printed dust-wrapper and photo-illustrated paper wrappers, 7.25” x 10.25”, 200 pages, 500 copies. Associate Editor: Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb, illustrations: Ben Tibbs, Frank Salantrie, Kelsie Harder. Laid into this edition is “a sprig of flora from within a mile of Geronimo’s grave”, picked by Gypsy Lou and sealed in wax paper with letterpress printed partial wrap-around band.

Ephemera:
1. 1. Order form: 5” x 8.25”

Contents:
1. Kaprow, Allan. “Moving, A Happening” – 2:4/5, 0
  Goodger-Hill, Trevor. “Editorial” – 2:4/5, 1
  Plymell, Charles. “In Kansas” – 2:4/5, 2
  Taylor, David. “Panda” – 2:4/5, 3
  Edson, Russell. “The Toy Maker” – 2:4/5, 19
  Edson, Russell. “The Cult” – 2:4/5, 19
  Perchik, Simon. untitled [“He Wants To Know…”] – 2:4/5, 20
  Perchik, Simon. untitled [“The Kids Were First…”] – 2:4/5, 20
  Major, Clarence. “Weak Dynamite” – 2:4/5, 22
  Wantling, William. “That Night” – 2:4/5, 24
  Bartlett, Elizabeth. “The Walnut Tree” – 2:4/5, 26
  Greenberg, Alvin. “Taking A Stand” – 2:4/5, 27
  Severy, Bruce. “How We Do Things” – 2:4/5, 28
  Severy, Bruce. “Mud” – 2:4/5, 28
  Severy, Bruce. “From 400 Yards” – 2:4/5, 28
  Goodger-Hill, Trevor. “A Personal History” – 2:4/5, 30
  Creighton, John. “Green Hides, Lines To A Pale Lady” – 2:4/5, 32
  Eigner, Larry. untitled [“March The Route…”] – 2:4/5, 35
  Eigner, Larry. untitled [“The Great American Ballot-Box…”] – 2:4/5, 36
  Bukowski, Charles. “Kaakaa & Other Imolations” – 2:4/5, 37
  Bukowski, Charles. “Beef Tongue, for J.T.” – 2:4/5, 39
  Bukowski, Charles. “Like A Flyswatter” – 2:4/5, 41
  Bukowski, Charles. “The Last Round” – 2:4/5, 42
  Di Prima, Diane. “From: Spring and Autumn Annals: A Celebration for Freddie” – 2:4/5, 45
  Levertov, Denise. “Late June 1968” – 2:4/5, 51
  Levertov, Denise. “Not to Have” – 2:4/5, 51
  Durrell, Lawrence. “?” – 2:4/5, 52
  Mccord, Howard. “Descent into Birth” – 2:4/5, 53
  Meltzer, David. “This is a Nation of Keepers Who Had No Time to Become Gods” – 2:4/5, 54
  Cooperman, Stanley. “New York: February, 1968” – 2:4/5, 55
  Cooperman, Stanley. “Cappelbaum’s Halloween” – 2:4/5, 56
  Katz, Steve. “One Kind of Tune” – 2:4/5, 58
  Katz, Steve. “& A More Similar Tune” – 2:4/5, 58
  Randall, Margaret. “Erongaricuaro, for My Friends at the Molino” – 2:4/5, 59
  Wright, Jay. “Pastel” – 2:4/5, 60
  Morris, Richard. “Foreword to Keslie Artwork” – 2:4/5, 61
  Harder, Kelsie. untitled [“Cartoons”] – 2:4/5, 61
  Hamburger, Michael. “Travelling” – 2:4/5, 77
  Stoloff, Carolyn. “Wind and the Earth” – 2:4/5, 79
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“It Came on Me…”] – 2:4/5, 80
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“An Old House…”] – 2:4/5, 80
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Oh It Wasn’t So Much…”] – 2:4/5, 81
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Too Many Years Pass…”] – 2:4/5, 82
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Leaving This Clumsy Town…”] – 2:4/5, 82
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Could I Believe…”] – 2:4/5, 83
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Heaped Between The Letters The Postcards…”] – 2:4/5, 83
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“The Madness Is Power And What…”] – 2:4/5, 83
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“I Spoke To Jenny…”] – 2:4/5, 84
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Legendary Men In The Forest…”] – 2:4/5, 84
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“And When They Killed Him…”] – 2:4/5, 84
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Finding New Bones…”] – 2:4/5, 85
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Some Jerk With Baltic-Brained…”] – 2:4/5, 86
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“This Tender Minute…”] – 2:4/5, 86
  Grapes, Marcus J. untitled [“Some Of Us…”] – 2:4/5, 87
  Haines, John. “Under The Barracks” – 2:4/5, 88
  Haines, John. “In The Styrofoam Mountains” – 2:4/5, 88
  Haines, John. “From The Rooftops” – 2:4/5, 89
  Kelly, Robert. “Landing Cod (From The Common Shore)” – 2:4/5, 90
  Gast, David K. “Teresa” – 2:4/5, 93
  Patchen, Miriam. untitled [“Letter To The Editors”] – 2:4/5, 94
  Sandberg, David. untitled [“Please Do Not Ring Or Knock…”] – 2:4/5, 96
  Thomas, Norman. untitled [“If You Visit Patchen…”] – 2:4/5, 97
  Antoninus, Brother. untitled [“Word Of The Outsider’s Homage…”] – 2:4/5, 98
  Ginsberg, Allen. untitled [“I Met Kenneth Patchen At City Lights…”] – 2:4/5, 99
  May, James Boyer. untitled [“Kenneth Patchen’s Physical Presence…”] – 2:4/5, 100
  Norse, Harold. untitled [“He Is Part Of Youth…”] – 2:4/5, 105
  Brand, Millen. untitled [“I Used To Know Kenneth In The Village…”] – 2:4/5, 106
  Macdiarmid, Hugh. untitled [“I Have Been To The United States…”] – 2:4/5, 108
  Glover, David. untitled [“I Recall The First Thing I Ever Read…”] – 2:4/5, 109
  Rexroth, Kenneth. untitled [“Kenneth Patchen Is One Of…”] – 2:4/5, 112
  Corrington, John William. untitled [“I Still Remember…”] – 2:4/5, 113
  Porter, Bern. untitled [“Kenneth’s Monumental…”] – 2:4/5, 116
  Detro, Gene. “Interview: Patchen Interviewed” – 2:4/5, 117
  Ferlinghetti, Lawrence. untitled [“Kenneth Patchen & E.E. Cummings…”] – 2:4/5, 129
  Yates, Peter. untitled [“Know Him, This Man…”] – 2:4/5, 129
  Meltzer, David. untitled [“Here Is A Man Speaking…”] – 2:4/5, 130
  Young, Lafe. untitled [“Now, Nostalgically, I Realize…”] – 2:4/5, 131
  Conroy, Jack. untitled [“Since My Friend Webb…”] – 2:4/5, 132
  Eckman, Frederick. untitled [“A Decade Ago In A Review…”] – 2:4/5, 133
  Miller, Henry. untitled [“The First Thing One Would Remark…”] – 2:4/5, 134
  Blazek, Douglas. “A Few Small Things” – 2:4/5, 138
  Enslin, Ted. untitled [“As If It Were My Eye…”] – 2:4/5, 139
  Purdy, Al. “The Jackhammer Syndrome” – 2:4/5, 140
  Shelton, Richard. “The Crossing” – 2:4/5, 142
  Shelton, Richard. “& The Scars Will Be Covered” – 2:4/5, 143
  Wild, Peter. “Engine” – 2:4/5, 144
  Wild, Peter. “Snake Skin” – 2:4/5, 144
  Wild, Peter. “Saturday Afternoon On Sugar Loaf Mtn” – 2:4/5, 145
  Miller, Brown. “The Dark Oval” – 2:4/5, 146
  Duberstein, Helen. “Joke” – 2:4/5, 147
  Flaherty, Douglas. “Mrs. Godkin’s Son” – 2:4/5, 148
  Wilson, Keith. “All The Vanished Faces” – 2:4/5, 149
  Wilson, Keith. “The Wind Dragon in Spring” – 2:4/5, 150
  Holland, Barbara A. “Dust-Devil Man” – 2:4/5, 151
  Fowler, Gene. “The Natural History of Woman” – 2:4/5, 152
  Frumkin, Gene. “Poem for Childhood” – 2:4/5, 157
  levy, d.a. “For The Pigs, Rats & Adorable other Beasts of Saintly Cleveland, O” – 2:4/5, 157a
  Merton, Thomas. “Tibud Maclay” – 2:4/5, 158
  Bly, Robert. “Blown-Up German Fortifications Near Collioure” – 2:4/5, 159
  Norse, Harold. “Return to Pompeii” – 2:4/5, 160
  Gardien, Kent. “Poem Based on a List by Luis Bunel” – 2:4/5, 161
  Higgins, Dick. “Four Degrees” – 2:4/5, 164
  Antin, David. “Sociology” – 2:4/5, 166
  Hollo, Anselm. “Bouzouki Music” – 2:4/5, 168
  Krauss, Ruth. “Drunk Boat” – 2:4/5, 169
  Kryss, T.L. “Circus” – 2:4/5, 170
  Kryss, T.L. “The Withered Lemming of the River” – 2:4/5, 170
  Dowden, George. “Morning Song for My Girl by the Sea” – 2:4/5, 171
  Brown, Michael. “The Seventh Month” – 2:4/5, 172
  Kandel, Lenore. “Muir Beach Mythology / September” – 2:4/5, 173
  Perchik, Simon. “Four Photo-Poems” – 2:4/5, 174
  Shustak, Larence. untitled photography – 2:4/5, 175
  Knowles, Allison. “Journal of the Identical Lunch” – 2:4/5, 182
  Williams, Emmett. untitled [“North is this Way…”] – 2:4/5, 184
  Mac Low, Jackson. untitled [“Peace of Resembling…”] – 2:4/5, 186
  Johnson, Kay. “The Emerald City, For Gregory Corso” – 2:4/5, 188
  Cocteau, Jean. “Creation Before Life” – 2:4/5, 190
  Johnson, Ray. “Face Collage” – 2:4/5, 192
  Hansen, Al. “Gat” – 2:4/5, 193

8. Miller, Henry. INSOMNIA OR THE DEVIL AT LARGE
Albuquerque, Loujon Press, 1970
First edition, portfolio case with photo-illustrated sliding lid and housing 12 printed reproductions of Miller watercolors and a spiral bound book, 7 separate issues planned but far fewer were reportedly produced, published as Gypsy Lou Series #4.
(Shifreen & Jackson A175a-h)

Variant Issues:
1. 1. Issue A: 12 copies, with 12 prints plus an original watercolor and book all signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175a)
  2. Issue B: 26 lettered copies, with 12 prints inscribed to the buyer and the book signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175b)
  3. Issue C: 192 copies [planned but likely that no more than 10 were published], with 12 prints and the book signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175c)
  4. Issue D: 192 copies [planned but likely that no more than 10 were published], with 9 of 12 prints and the book signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175d)
  5. Issue E: 192 copies [planned but likely that no more than 10 were published], with 6 of 12 prints and the book signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175e)
  6. Issue F: 192 copies [planned but likely that no more than 65 were published], with 3 of 12 prints and the book signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175f)
  7. Issue G: 192 copies [planned but later increased to 385], with 12 prints unsigned and the book signed by Miller (Shifreen & Jackson A175g)
  8. Economy Issue: 199 copies, with 12 prints and the book without the box (Shifreen & Jackson A175h)

Ephemera:
1. 1. Publication announcement: 19” x 25” (Shifreen & Jackson B213)

Notes:
[1] Though not present in Robert Wilson’s Corso bibliography, this offprint has been examined.
[2] According to a Ken Lopez catalog entry, his copy of the Miller offprint is seven unbound leaves printed on both sides from volumes 1 and 2 of The Outsider and published in a set of 200 in 1963. However, Shifreen & Jackson describe the sets as 13 unbound leaves printed on rectos only.
[3] Listed in Michael McClure’s own online bibliography and confirmed by Denise Enck of Empty Mirror Books, though not present in any printed bibliography to date.
[4] First reference to the Burroughs offprints appear in Jon Edgar Webb: The Editor’s Bit and Obit by Nicky Drumbolis and are further discussed in Signatures, also by Nicky Drumbolis. Subsequent research turns up no extant copies and in later correspondence with Drumbolis, he adds, “In my Signatures study, I infer that the Burroughs piece ‘Operation Soft Machine/Cut’ may have been issued, based on layout; acknowledging further, that no copy had been recorded by Maynard and Miles.”
[5] While the existence of this offprint and another containing the full set of Miller letters from the first 3 issues of The Outsider are noted in Jon Edgar Webb: The Editor’s Bit and Obit, no evidence of these offprints has been identified.

References consulted

Dorbin, Sanford. A Bibliography of Charles Bukowski
Los Angeles: Black Sparrow Press, 1969

Drumbolis, Nicky. Jon Edgar Webb: The Editor’s Bit & Obit
Toronto: ECS, 1993

Drumbolis, Nicky. Signatures
Toronto: Letters, n.d.

Krumhansl, Aaron. A Descriptive Bibliography of The Primary Publications of Charles Bukowski
Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1999

Maynard, Joe and Barry Miles. William S. Burroughs: A Bibliography, 1953-73
Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1978

Shifreen, Lawrence J. and Roger Jackson. Henry Miller: A Bibliography of Primary Sources
Ann Arbor: Roger Jackson, 1993

Wilson, Robert. A Bibliography of Works By Gregory Corso 1954-1965
New York: The Phoenix Bookshop, 1966

little magazines

The Outsider and Loujon Press

July 19, 2022 jason

The Outsider, No. 1, edited by Jon and Louise Webb. New Orleans, Fall 1961.

In the Fall of 1961, Jon and Louise “Gypsy Lou” Webb published the first issue of their avant-garde poetry and prose magazine, The Outsider. Hand-set and letterpress printed, the journal straddled the line between traditional books and modern works of art, and the journal made an outsized impact on the literary world, shining a light on the talents of Beat Generation, Black Mountain and other avant-garde and counterculture poets, writers, and artists of the era…

>>> further reading >>>

William S. Burroughs – Books, Pamphlets, and Broadsides

>> return to WILLIAM S. BURROUGHS main page >>

SECTION A:
This index includes books, pamphlets, and broadsides (excluding foreign language translations, interviews and some miscellaneous prose) from 1957 to 1973: roughly the period of time covered by the Maynard and Miles Bibliography (ref. M&M).

1. Lee, William. JUNKIE
a. First edition:
New York: Ace Books Inc., 1953
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 4.25” x 6.5”, 320 pages, bound back to back with Maurice Helbrant’s Narcotic Agent. Publisher’s note by Carl Solomon (not credited).
(M&M A1a) *

William Burroughs’ first book, written under the pseudonym ‘William Lee’ (his mother’s maiden name).

According to Beatbooks catalog #92: Ace Books was owned by Carl Solomon’s uncle, A.A. Wyn, a connection made by Allen Ginsberg who was acting as Burroughs’s agent at the time. The publication of Nelson Algren’s novel The Man With The Golden Arm in 1949 inspired a trend for books about junkies, many of them mass-market paperbacks sold in newsagents rather than bookshops, and with commercial success in mind Wyn agreed to publish Burroughs. Though written in a noir-ish hard-boiled style, Junkie is autobiographical (the “Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict”), and lacks the kind of plot that readers of the genre attracted by Al Rossi’s lurid cover art might have expected.

Burroughs’s picaresque and frequently humorous narrative, with its hip talk and junkie jargon, is also told from the detached point of view of the hipster-addict, a neutrality which Wyn sought to counter-balance by yoking it to a reprint of Helbrant’s 1941 account of his “War Against the Dope Menace”. Burroughs was initially appalled at this appendage, but his motivation for writing Junkie was, as he later wrote, money and recognition, though neither were forthcoming at first as the book was largely ignored at the time of publication. More significantly, by mixing an orthodox narrative of drug experiences with occasional forays into set-pieces, or routines, Junkie also paved the way for Naked Lunch.

b. First UK edition:
London: Digit Books, 1957
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 4.5” x 7.25”, 160 pages.
(M&M A1b) *

According to Beatbooks catalog #92: First UK edition, and the first edition of Junkie as a separate item. Front cover art by Al Rossi, based on his earlier artwork for Ace Books. His sensational back cover art depicts a blonde with hypo and rolled-down stocking, and it was probably this, at least in part, that provoked the British censors to suppress the book after publication and order all the remaining copies to be pulped.

2. Burroughs, William. LETTER FROM A MASTER ADDICT TO DANGEROUS DRUGS
a. First edition:
Shrewsbury: British Journal of Addiction, 1957
Side-stapled sheets, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 13 pages, 50 copies.
(see M&M C1) *

An offprint of the Burroughs article appearing in the January 1957 issue of British Journal of Addiction (Vol. 53, No. 2) edited by John Yerbury Dent (M&M C1). This is Burroughs’ first appearance in print under his own name.

3. Burroughs, William S. THE NAKED LUNCH
a. First edition:
Paris: Olympia Press, July 1959
Sewn signatures bound in printed wrappers in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 4.5″ x 7″, 232 pages, 5000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Burroughs. Issued as No. 76 in the Traveller’s Companion Series. Preliminary issue with price on lower wrapper not canceled with over-stamp.
(M&M A2a)

According to Beatbooks catalog #89: Price on lower wrapper not canceled (copies distributed following the revaluation of the Franc in January 1960 had the printed price stamped over).

b. First US edition, revised:
New York City: Grove Press, 1962
Hardcover in paper and cloth-bound boards with gilt-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8″, 256 pages, 3500 copies. Printed prospectus issued.
(M&M A2b)

The contents of this edition differ from the Olympia first edition. This Grove Press edition includes as the Introduction, “Deposition: Testimony Concerning a Sickness” [first published in Evergreen Review, Vol. 4, No. 11 (January-February 1960) (M&M C12)] and, as the Appendix,“Letter from a Master Addict to Dangerous Drugs” [first published in The British Journal of Addiction, Vol. 53, No. 2 (January 1957) (M&M C1)].

According to BeatBooks catalog #20, publication of this edition triggered obscenity trials in Los Angeles and Boston.

4. Burroughs, William S. EXCERPT FROM PANTAPON ROSE
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Wallace Berman, 1959
Broadside, 4″ x 5″, letterpress printed by Wallace Berman.
(see M&M C11)

This broadside is laid into Semina, No. 4, edited by Wallace Berman (M&M C11).

5. Burroughs, William and Brion Gysin. THE EXTERMINATOR
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Auerhahn Press, 1960
Sewn signatures bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 64 pages, 1000 copies, letterpress printed, designed and printed by Dave L. Haselwood and James F. McIlroy. Illustrated by Brion Gysin. Printed announcement issued.
(M&M A4a)

The first collection of cut-ups, containing material that Burroughs and Gysin completed before Minutes To Go was published.

b. First edition, second printing:
San Francisco: Dave Haselwood Books, 1967
Sewn signatures bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 6″ x 9″, 51 pages, 1000 copies. Illustrated by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A4b)

6. Burroughs, William, Sinclair Beiles, Gregory Corso, and Brion Gysin. MINUTES TO GO
a. First edition:
Paris: Two Cities Editions, April 1960
Sewn signatures bound in illustrated wrappers, 5.25″ x 8.25″, 64 pages, 1000 copies. Cover design by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A3a)

This is the second collection of cut-ups to be published.

b. First US edition:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts & Documents, 1968
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.25″ x 8.5″, 66 pages, 1000 copies, distributed by City Lights Books.
(M&M A3b)

This edition is a facsimile of the first edition but for the addition of a Claude Pelieu collage.

7. Burroughs, William. THE SOFT MACHINE
a. First edition:
Paris: The Olympia Press, June 1961
Sewn signatures bound in printed wrappers in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 4.25″ x 7″, 184 pages, 5000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A5a) *

b. First US edition, revised:
New York City: Grove Press, 1966
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with silver-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8″, 184 pages, 18,000 copies. Cover art by Burroughs. Author photo by Charles Henri Ford.
(M&M A5b) *

According to Beat Books catalog #48: Burroughs completely rewrote the text for this edition, partly as a response to criticisms that the first edition had been difficult to read.

According to Am Here catalog #3: This constitutes the revised expanded edition advertised but never published by Olympia.

8. Burroughs, William. THE TICKET THAT EXPLODED
a. First edition:
Paris: Olympia Press, December 1962
Sewn signatures bound in printed wrappers in printed and photo-illustrated dust jacket, 4.25″ x 6.75″, 184 pages, 5000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Ian Sommerville. Illustrated by Brion Gysin.
(M&M A6a)

b. First US edition, revised:
New York City: Grove Press, June 1967
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with black-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.25″ x 8″, 218 pages, 10,000 copies. Dust jacket designed by Kuhlman Associates. Author photo by Martha Rocher.
(M&M A6b) *

The Grove Press edition is a second version, a rearrangement of the first Olympia text with additions and expansions, plus “The Invisible Generation”, a piece incorporating two earlier articles from International Times (see M&M C157 and C162).

9. Burroughs, William. DEAD FINGERS TALK
a. First edition:
London: John Calder in association with Olympia Press, November 1963
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with gilt-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.25″ x 8″, 220 pages, 4000 copies. Cover photos by Ian Sommerville.
(M&M A7a)

Contains sections from The Naked Lunch, The Soft Machine, and The Ticket That Exploded along with some previously unpublished material.

10. Burroughs, William. and Allen Ginsberg. THE YAGE LETTERS
a. First edition:
San Francisco: City Lights Books, November 1963
Sewn signatures bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 5″ x 7.25″, 68 pages, 3000 copies, letterpress printed at Villiers Publications.
(M&M A8a) *

According to Beatbooks catalog #89: An “early epistolary novel” by Burroughs, “detailing picaresque incidents of search for telepathic-hallucinogenic-mind-expanding drug Yage” (back cover blurb). The letters date from 1953 and record Burroughs’ journeys through the Amazon jungle. Includes two drawings by Allen Ginsberg and his letters to Burroughs from 1960.

11. Burroughs, William S. ROOSEVELT AFTER INAUGURATION
a. First edition:
New York: Fuck You Press, January 1964
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 4.25″ x 5.5″, 24 pages, 500 copies, mimeograph printed by Ed Sanders. Illustrated by Allen Ginsberg.
(M&M A9a)

According to Beatbooks catalog #89: The routine, created by Burroughs and Kells Elvins while students at Harvard and originally intended for inclusion in “The Yage Letters”, was censored by the English printers, and subsequently printed in Floating Bear No. 9 (M&M C33), resulting in its editor LeRoi Jones being jailed.

12. Burroughs, William. THE COLDSPRING NEWS
a. First edition:
Flint: Fenian Head Centre Press, March 1964
Broadside,7.25″ x 12.5″.
(see M&M C124)

This broadside also appears folded and bound into The Spero, Vol. 1, No. 1 edited by Douglas and Kathy Casement (Fenian Head Centre Press, 1965) with the addition of a copyright notice at the bottom. (M&M C124)

13. Burroughs, William S. PRY YOURSELF LOOSE AND LISTEN
a. First edition:
Tangier: Ira Cohen, Spring 1964
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5″ x 8″, 14 pages.
(see M&M C68-C71)

An offprint collecting all the Burroughs appearances in Gnaoua, No. 1, edited by Ira Cohen.

14. Burroughs, William S. NOVA EXPRESS
a. First edition:
New York City: Grove Press, November 1964
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with black-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 190 pages, 10,000 copies, printed at The Book Press. Foreword Note by Burroughs. Cover design by Roy Kuhlman. Author photograph by Martha Rocher.
(M&M A10a)

According to Burroughs’ Foreword Note: The section called “This Horrible Case” was written in collaboration with Mr. Ian Sommerville, a mathematician—Mr. Sommerville also contributed the technical notes in the section called “Chinese Laundry”—An extension of Brion Gysin’ cut-up method which I call the fold-in method has been used in this book which is consequently a composite of many writers living and dead.

15. Burroughs, William. VALENTINE’S DAY READING
a. First edition:
New York: American Theatre for Poets, February 1965
Side-stapled in printed cover sheet, 8.5″ x 11″, 14 pages, mimeograph printed.
(M&M F12)

Includes “Transcript of Dutch Schultz’s Last Words” and the first column from The Coldspring News, “On The Back Porch of his Farm”.

16. Burroughs, William. TIME
a. First edition:
New York: “C” Press, 1965
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 32 pages, 1000 copies (886 in a trade edition; 100 numbered and signed; 10 lettered A-J, hardbound, with original manuscript page by Burroughs and original drawing by Gysin, signed; and four hardcover numbered copies hors commerce). Cover art by Burroughs. Illustrated by Brion Gysin. Edited by Ted Berrigan, Ron Padgett, and Joe Brainard.
(M&M A11a)

b. Pirate edition:
London: Urgency Press Rip-Off, May 1972
Top-stapled with printed cover sheet, 8″ x 13″, 32 pages, 45 copies. Edited by Roy Pennington. Published on the occasion of the Bickershaw Festival.
(M&M A11b)

17. Burroughs, William S. WILT CAUGHT IN TIME
a. First edition:
New Orleans: Loujon Press, c.1965
Broadside, 6″ x 9″, letterpress printed by Jon Edgar Webb and Gypsy Lou Webb.
(see M&M C46)

An offprint of the Burroughs contribution to The Outsider, No. 2, edited by Jon Edgar Webb and Gypsy Lou Webb (M&M C46).

According to Jeff Weddle in “The Loujon Press: An Historical Analysis”: Burroughs’ submission for issue two originally bore the title, “Cuts from ‘Word Line’ William Burroughs for Hassan i Sabbah.” The piece was done using Burroughs’ distinctive, jumbled, “cut-up” technique and had no easily discernible narrative flow or quickly grasped meaning. Perhaps for these reasons, Webb heavily edited and re-titled the piece, casting it as a poem in The Outsider number two. Burroughs’ manuscript bears a notation, again in Webb’s hand, stating that the piece was “condensed and rearranged into “wilt caught in time,” the title under which it appeared in the magazine. While Webb’s version of Burroughs’ piece bears little resemblance to the author’s original submission, no record has been uncovered showing Burroughs’ response to Webb’s heavy editing of his work.

18. Burroughs, William S. HEALTH BULLETIN: APO-33
a. First edition:
New York: Fuck You Press, 1965
Side-stapled sheets with printed and illustrated cover, 8.5″ x 11″, 54 pages, 10-20 copies, mimeograph printed by Ed Sanders.
(M&M A12a) *

According to Sanders “maybe as many as ten or twenty” copies were distributed before he halted publication due to Burroughs’ dissatisfaction with the copy he’d received.

b. Second edition:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts, & Documents, 1966
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 11″, 24 pages, 3000 copies.
(M&M A12b)

This printing is a photo-offset reproduction of Burroughs’ manuscript and scrapbook pages, featuring the three-column cut-up style, compiled by Mary Beach and Claude Pélieu.

19. Burroughs, William S. THE INVISIBLE GENERATION
a. First edition:
London: Project Sigma, December 1966
Broadside, 11.5″ x 17″, 1000 copies, offset printed.
(see M&M C159)

This item was not given a Sigma index number and no evidence exists to show distribution except by International Times itself which provided the offprints. Reprinted from International Times, No. 3 (November 1966) (M&M C157).

20. Burroughs, William S. THE INVISIBLE GENERATION (continued)
a. First edition:
London: Lovebooks Ltd, December 1966
Broadside, 22.5″ x 30.25″, 200 copies, silk-screened, designed by Michael English so that part of the card could be cut out and assembled to make a word-machine. Published as International Times, No. 5.5.
(see M&M C160) *

21. Burroughs, William S., Claude Pélieu, and Carl Weissner. SO WHO OWNS DEATH TV?
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts, & Documents, 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 5.5″, 12 pages, 3000 copies; there was a variant issue of 200 copies on black paper printed in silver ink.
(M&M A13a)

b. Second edition, expanded:
San Francisco: Beach Books, Texts, & Documents, 1967
Saddle-stapled in printed wrappers, 8.5″ x 5.5″, 20 pages, 3000 copies. This expanded edition includes photo-collages by Jean-Jacques Lebel and Liam O’Gallagher.
(M&M A13b)

22. Burroughs, William S. SCIENTOLOGY REVISITED
a. First edition:
New York: Scientology East, c.1968
Saddle-stapled in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.5″ x 8.5″, 8 pages.
(not in M&M) *

Reprinted from Mayfair, Vol. 3, No. 1 (January 1968) (M&M C187)

23. Burroughs, William S. THE DEAD STAR
a. First edition:
San Francisco: Nova Broadcast Press, November 1969
Broadside (8″ x 26.75″), folded and stapled into printed wrappers, 4.74″ x 8″, 2000 copies. Edited by Jan Herman. Published as Nova Broadcast, No. 5
(M&M A14a)

The first US publication of a piece done in Burroughs’ familiar scrapbook, photo-collage 3-column newspaper style, originally published in Jeff Nuttall’s My Own Mag ‘Dutch Schultz’ issue.

24. Burroughs, William S. THE LAST WORDS OF DUTCH SCHULTZ
a. First edition:
London: Cape Goliard Press, May 1970
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with red-stamped spine in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 6.25″ x 9.75″, 88 pages. Cover art and illustrations by R.B. Kitaj.
(M&M 17a) *

A film-script inspired by the official transcript of the last words of mobster Dutch Schultz, recorded by a police stenographer as he lay dying in hospital.

25. Burroughs, William S. ALI’S SMILE
a. First edition:
Brighton: Unicorn Books, October 1971
Hardcover in buckram-bound boards with gilt-stamped cover, 6.25″ x 8″, 44 pages, 99 copies numbered and signed, printed by Richard Moseley at Graphic Workshop. Issued in a carton which also contains a 12-inch LP record of Burroughs reading the second draft of the text.
(M&M A19a, G6) *

b. First edition, second printing:
Gottingen: Expanded Media Editions, October 1973
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 5.75″ x 7.5″, 40 pages. Bilingual edition with German text translated by Carl Weissner. Photographs of the author by Udo Breger. Published as Expanded Media Editions, No. 12.
(M&M D28)

26. Burroughs, William S. THE WILD BOYS: A BOOK OF THE DEAD
a. First edition:
New York: Grove Press, 1971
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with gilt-stamped spine and blind-stamped front cover in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.5″ x 8.25″, 184 pages.
(M&M A20a) *

27. Burroughs, William S. ELECTRONIC REVOLUTION 1970-71
a. First edition:
Cambridge: Blackmoor Head Press, October 1971
Perfect-bound in printed and illustrated wrappers, 8″ x 10.25″, 76 pages, 500 copies. Printed for Henri Chopin and his Collection OU by Ian Ormiston at the Blackmoor Head Press. Cover art by Brion Gysin. Text in English and French; French translation by Jean Chopin. Published as Collection OU, No. 2.
(M&M A21a)

28. Burroughs, William S., Brion Gysin, and Ian Sommerville. LET THE MICE IN, edited by Jan Herman
a. First edition:
West Glover, Vt.: Something Else Press, February 1973
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with silver-stamped spine and front cover in printed dust jacket, 6.25″ x 9.25″, 74 pages, 500 copies (plus 1000 copies in wrappers), designed and printed by Graham Mackintosh at Noel Young Press in Santa Barbara.
(M&M A22a-b)

Includes texts and cut-ups by Burroughs (“The Invisible Generation”, “Word Authority More Habit Forming Than Heroin”, and “Parenthetically 7 Hertz”), and Ian Sommerville, plus several sepia photographs of the authors, the Dream Machine, etc.

29. Burroughs, William S. EXTERMINATOR! A NOVEL
a. First edition:
New York: Viking Press, August 1973
Hardcover in cloth-bound boards with white-stamped spine and black-stamped front cover in printed and illustrated dust jacket, 5.25″ x 8″, 170 pages, 7500 copies.
(M&M A23a) *

Note: A collection of short routines and other material, mostly from The Wild Boys.

30. Burroughs, William S. WHITE SUBWAY
a. First edition:
London: Aloes Books, September 1973
Perfect-bound in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 6.25″ x 8.25″, 74 pages, 1000 copies (25 of which are numbered and signed).
(M&M A24a)

A collection of various pieces, its title taken from a section of The Soft Machine, including cut-up and three-column style texts (“Who Is the 3rd…?”, “The Last Post Danger Ahead”, and “From a Distant Hand Lifted”), originally published in little literary magazines such as Gnaoua, Spero, Underground Telegram, Kulchur, Arcade, Lines, Bulletin from Nothing, and Birmingham Bulletin. Also includes a piece by Alan Ansen, and Paul Bowles’s essay, “Burroughs In Tangier”.

31. Burroughs, William S. MAYFAIR ACADAMY SERIES MORE OR LESS, edited by Roy Pennington
a. First edition:
Brighton: Urgency Press Rip-Off, 1973
Saddle-stapled in printed and photo-illustrated wrappers, 5″ x 8.25″, 104 pages, 650 pages. Printed on different colour papers, stapled and trimmed at the press operated by Bill Butler’s partner, Mike Hughes, above the Unicorn bookshop in Brighton.
(M&M A25a)

Note: Reprints ten of the Burroughs ‘Academy Bulletins’ from Mayfair magazine (there were 21 in the series all together), along with other articles he wrote for them, together with an essay on Burroughs “originally presented as an M.A. thesis in Philosophy” by the book’s publisher, Roy Pennington.

…

[* not in archive]

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William S. Burroughs – Books, Pamphlets, and Broadsides

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