Minutes to Go by William Burroughs (8 results)

Paperback. Condition: Good. Paperback Octavo. wraps, 63 pp, cover lightly soiled and lightly frayed at the edges, especially at the ends of spine, top edge lightly soiled Standard shipping (no tracking or insurance) / Priority (with tracking) / Custom quote for large or heavy orders.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. No Jacket. 1st Edition. Two Cities Editions: Paris, 1960. First edition. Thin 8vo; 32 leaves. Early work by Burroughs. Contributions by Brion Gysin, Gregory Corso, and Sinclair Beiles. Signed by Burroughs on the title page. Perfect bound in stiff light blue pictorial wraps. Rear cover is a calligraph in white and blue by Brion Gysin. One of 1,000 copies published on April 13, 1960. There was also a printing of 10 copies on fine paper, numbered 1-10. Spine and edges of the front panel are toned. Very good. Rare signed in any condition. Ref: Maynard and Miles. Signed by Author(s).

63, [1] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. First edition, one of 1000 copies. First edition, one of 1000 copies. 63, [1] pp. 1 vols. 8vo. Poetry and cut-ups by William S. Burroughs, Brion Gysin, Sinclair Beiles, and Gregory Corso. A landmark of late twentieth century literary innovation. Burroughs' third book, inscribed by him on the title page, "For Bob Wilson, William Burroughs" and also inscribed by Gregory Corso. Maynard & Miles A3a Blue wrappers with calligraphy by Gysin. Spine faded near fine.

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. FIRST. A NEAR FINE FIRST IN AQUA WRAPS SIGNED AND INSCRIBED. Signed by Author(s).

Card Wrappers. Condition: Very Good. First Edition. 63pp + colophon. Gysin passes the scissors for Burroughs' first cut-ups in this seminal publication. Signed by both Brion Gysin & William Burroughs on title page. Front cover & spine just a touch rubbed & lightly faded. Some pages still unopened. Extremely uncommon to be signed by the godfathers of cut-up! Signed by Author(s). Book.

Soft cover. Condition: Good. Wrappers, rather worn and read, Burrough's third book. INSCRIBED by Burroughs, Beiles, and Gysin (Corso was there but may have been Corso and refused to sign) at the publication party to Gait Froge, the owner of the English Bookshop in Paris and the angel who put up the 500 to get the book published. Essentially the DEDICATION COPY. A museum piece. Details on request.

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. The text originated from various cut-ups, made by all four of these friends staying at the Beat Hotel in Paris in the late 50 s. Signed by Burroughs, Gysin and Beilis. The signed copies (of which this is one) were produced ad hoc at the night of the launch party at the English Bookshop in Paris, whilst Corso was in Munich finalizing the Beat Anthology he and Anselm Hollo were bringing out. (Copies with Corso s signature are a bit suspect.) Fading to cover as usual, though mystery why the fading goes from blue to grey-brown. Near fine otherwise.

First edition, first printing, signed on the title page by Brion Gysin, next to his printed name. This was the first book of cut-up poetry published by Burroughs, Gysin, and their collaborators: "the original manifesto and manual of the method" (Harris), and marks the first of Burroughs and Gysin's many collaborations. Burroughs and Gysin met at the Beat Hotel in Paris, in October 1959, where Burroughs was first introduced to Gysin's cut-up paintings, which influenced much of his later writing. By the time they had met, Gysin had already contributed the notorious marijuana fudge recipe to Alice B. Toklas's Cookbook, and the pair's time in Paris together was dominated by "mirror-gazing, scrying, trance and telepathy, all fuelled by a wide variety of mind-altering drugs" (Stevens, p. 50). It was from this febrile atmosphere that the present book emerged. Burroughs contributes eleven pieces to the volume, and Gysin five, including "First Cut-Ups" and the titular poem, "Minutes to Go". The cut-up technique later influenced some of the 20th century's most important artists, from the Beat Generation to David Bowie. Maynard & Miles A3a. Oliver Harris, "'Burroughs Is a Poet Too, Really': The Poetics of Minutes to Go", RealityStudio, available online; Matthew Levi Stevens, The Magical Universe of William S. Burroughs, 1999. Octavo. Original blue and white wrappers, rear wrapper designed by Gysin, lettering to spine in blue, to front white. Spine a little sunned, extending to front wrapper, extremities a touch rubbed, lower rear wrapper a little soiled with short closed tear, pale foxing to fore edge, a few marks to endpapers else internally fresh. A very good copy indeed.