NY: Ace Books, 1953. First edition of William Burroughs' first book, written under the pseudonym 'William Lee'. Bound tête-bêche in wrappers with Maurice Helbrant's "Narcotic Agent". Publisher's note by Carl Solomon (not credited). 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..... More about Junkie

London: New English Library, 1969. Wrps. New front cover art depicts junkie's arm with hypo. SIGNED and inscribed by the author on the title page: "For Allen De Loach William Burroughs". A nice association as De Loach published Burroughs in his magazine Intrepid. Spine slightly faded, with a little flaking to spine edges; pages lightly browned, o/w a tight, Very Good plus copy. More about Junkie

London: Tandem, 1966. First p/b edition. Front cover art depicts a mainline shot with blood. Faint reading creases to spine; page edges slightly tanned; wrappers rubbed and lightly creased, o/w a tight, Very Good copy. More about Dead Fingers Talk

NY: Berkley Publishing Corp., 1958. First thus (originally published in 1904 as "Fumée d'opium"). Wrps. Translation by Samuel Putnam. Preface by Pierre Louys. Cover art by Robert Maguire features an erotic depiction of a naked blonde woman amidst the swirling smoke of an opium pipe. Farrère's classic collection of opium tales: "The world of BLACK OPIUM is a forbidden world where human bodies find themselves possessed and driven by desires which consume them in the flames of hot-blooded ecstasy... Here is a world of torture and torment, filled with the fantastically erotic shapes of the living nightmares of..... More about Black Opium

NY: Dell, 1941. First edition in book form (the story first appeared in Detective Fiction Weekly), published as Dell Book 11, priced at .10c. (and originally sold in vending machines). Wrps., unpaginated. Classic pulp cover art by Bill Fleming. "A cheap and evil girl sets a hopped-up killer against a city". Cheap paper browned, with water stains to lower right corners and two short tears to second leaf; surface creasing and associated rubbing to upper wrapper; o/w a Good copy of this noir classic. More about Marihuana

London: Pan (1961), second printing of the first UK p/b edition (1963). Front cover art depicts redhead with hands on hips, exposed midriff and side-zipped blue-green slacks against jazz combo background. Alexis Lykiard's ownership label to first leaf. Page edges slightly tanned, with corner dampstain to first few leaves; wrappers slightly rubbed and lightly creased; o/w Very Good with a tight, square spine. More about On The Road

London: Panther, 1962. First UK p/b edition. Front cover blurb: "An unashamed look at their weird lives... their wild loves... in a jazz-haunted, desire-tormented world". Cover art depicts barefoot redhead dancing to sax; back cover shows still from the movie. Faint reading creases to spine, o/w a tight, Very Good plus copy. More about The Subterraneans

London: Panther, 1960. First UK edition. Wrps. Front cover art depicts Maggie as a brunette in long black stockings. Page edges slightly tanned, o/w a tight, Near Fine copy. More about Maggie Cassidy

NY: Ace Books, 1954. First p/b edition (D-398), second issue (with .35c cover price). Cover art by Bernard Barton. "There's this Jane sitting on a park bench just waiting for someone to come along. She's got no home, no wedding ring, and this here baby in her arms. So, strictly for kicks… Mark Gillis latches on to this babe... Anyway, that's the beginning of that wild, mixed-up week-end" (blurb). Slight creasing to top right corner of upper wrapper; pages slightly tanned; o/w a tight, Very Good plus copy. More about Why I Am So Beat

NY: Original Novels, Inc., [February] 1952. First edition (digest-size p/b original). Classic cover art by Robert Schultz depicting blonde, hypo, etc. "Here is the revealing, shocking story of a thrill-seeking and wealthy young girl who, because of a driving desire to find love, falls into the abyss of shame… Willing to steal from her family, to pawn her jewels, to sell out to any man to keep herself supplied with the precious 'junk' pretty Connie Emerson… runs through the gamut of life at its sordid worst!" (blurb). Some light wear and rubbing to spine; scuff marks..... More about Beyond Desire

NY: Pyramid Books, 1954. First p/b edition. Classic cover art by Julian Paul. A confessional account of heroin, morphine, cocaine, marijuana, and opium use in New York City: "Here is a true, uncensored account of a growing social problem - the story of one man's struggle to return from the pit of depravity" (back cover blurb). Tiny loss to head of spine panel; slight rubbing to spine edges and shallow crease to upper wrapper, o/w a tight, Very Good plus to Near Fine copy. More about I Was a Drug Addict

London: William Heinemann Ltd., 1961. First UK edition and the first edition in hardcover. Dw. design by August von Briesen. A more 'literary' version of Trocchi's novel, originally published under the pseudonym 'Francis Lengel' by Maurice Girodias's Olympia Press in 1954. Edges slightly spotted, o/w Very Good plus in dw., with slight soiling to flap extremities. Small ownership label of Alexis Lykiard to front free endpaper (Lykiard wrote the introduction to "Wholly Communion", in which he describes Trocchi as having "done a difficult job well" in compering the International Poetry Incarnation). More about YOUNG ADAM

Paris: The Traveller's Companion Series, 1962. First edition thus. Sage green wrps., 189pp. Trocchi's first novel, originally published in 1954 as "Helen and Desire" by the Olympia Press as volume 2 of its Atlantic Library Series, and the first written under his pseudonym 'Frances Lengel'. Minor lower left corner crease to back cover, o/w Near Fine. More about DESIRE AND HELEN (as Frances Lengel

Ed. Francis Hitching. Contains "The Junkie and the Novel" by (concrete poet/artist) Alan Riddell, a generally positive 2pp. feature on Alexander Trocchi, taking in his recent public spat with Hugh MacDiarmid in Edinburgh, commentary on "Young Adam" and "Cain's Book", news that he "is now working on a third novel, It's a Long, Long Way to Guadalahara", and ending with a quote from Trocchi: "Burroughs stunned himself out of existence. I can live with heroin." Also: British folk singer Maureen Martin (see also item #171); "The Trials of Henry Miller" (4pp.); Dr. Strangelove + interview with..... More about SCENE #21 (Soho, London: March 23, 1963

8vo. Stapled wrps. Contains "The Spontaneous University" (4pp.) by Alexander Trocchi, an extract from "The Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds" (the full version of which first appeared in the June 1963 issue of New Saltire magazine). Also: "Anarchism and the Cybernetics of Self-Organising Systems" by John D. McEwan; and "Beatnik as Anarchist?" by Ian Vine (5pp.). Very Good plus. More about ANARCHY #31 [Vol. 3, No. 9] (London: Freedom Press, September 1963

Broadsheet poster featuring texts by William Burroughs ("Martin's Folly"), Kenneth White, Alexander Trocchi and Antonin Artaud. Offset litho. 75.5x49.8cm. The first publication from Trocchi's Sigma Portfolio. An almost pristine, unfolded copy, and scarce thus, with just a single, tiny closed tear to upper edge and the barest of creasing to extremities. More about THE MOVING TIMES. London: Sigma Portfolio #1, nd. (c. late 1964

Trocchi's development of the thesis outlined in "The Invisible Insurrection of a Million Minds", including an explanation of the reasons behind the choice of the word 'sigma'. 3 foolscap sheets, mimeographed, printed on both sides, stapled at top corner. Very Good plus. More about SIGMA: A Tactical Blueprint. London: Sigma Portfolio #3, nd

RD Laing's important essay on psychotherapy, delivered at the Sixth International Congress for Psychotherapy in London, August 1964. 3 foolscap sheets, mimeographed, printed on both sides, stapled at top corner. Very Good. More about PRACTICE AND THEORY - THE PRESENT SITUATION. London: Project Sigma #6, nd. (1964

A critical report by Marcus Field on John Calder's inaugural Writers Night, held at Better Books in November 1964. Single foolscap sheet, mimeographed, printed recto only. Very Good plus. More about THE MOVING TIMES… special supplement. London: Sigma Portfolio #13, c. November 1964

A reprint of Kenneth White's paper, read by the author in December 1964 to the Jargon Group in Glasgow. Two foolscap sheets, mimeographed, printed on both sides, stapled at top corner. Near Fine. More about JARGON PAPER No. 1. London: Sigma Portfolio #23, c. December 1964

25.4x17.3cm. Satin finish. Probably printed in the late 1990s or early 2000s. Fine. More about An original b/w photograph by John Hopkins of Alexander Trocchi sitting at his desk in his flat...

Ed./pub. Bob Guccione. Contains a 7pp. transcript of a symposium on "the changing British moral climate", with participants Alexander Trocchi, Laura del Rivo, Colin Wilson, Alan Sillitoe, Stuart Holroyd, and Bill Hopkins. Also: a brief review of Roland Kirk at Ronnie Scott's; "Paris, My Paris" by Wolf Mankowitz; Gerald Kersh; Julian Huxley (on human evolution); Allen Edwardes (on erotic freedom); Dr. Alex Comfort ("On Subliminal Self-Advertising"); "Penthouse People", incl. hairdressers Raphael & Leonard, television producer Philip Saville (married to playwright Jane Arden), and Dudley Moore. Minor wear at spine, o/w a Near Fine copy of the premiere issue. More about PENTHOUSE Vol. 1, No. 1 (London: Penthouse Publications Ltd., March 1965

Sm. folio. Newsprint. Contains "Why Drugs?" by Alexander Trocchi, a 2pp. article in defence of the use of marijuana and heroin (it follows "The Drug Danger: A Need for Facts" by TCN Gibbens, written in the wake of the death of Joshua Macmillan. Also: Rory McEwen on Bob Dylan; cover art by Barry Fantoni. Together with: i) THE LISTENER Vol. LXXIII, No. 1887 (London: May 27, 1965). Contains "Drugs as Escapism", a (sympathetic) response to Trocchi's article by Rev. Bruce Kenrick of the Iona Community. ii) NEW SOCIETY No. 166 (London: December 2, 1965). Contains a...... More about NEW SOCIETY Vol. 5, No. 138 (London: May 20, 1965

20.3x25.4cm. Photographer's printed caption label to verso, dated 1999. The image shows the event's compere Alexander Trocchi speaking to a journalist, alongside Allen Ginsberg (looking to the camera), together with Adrian Mitchell, Anselm Hollo, Michael Horovitz, Harry Fainlight, Ernst Jandl, John Esam, Marcus Field, and in the background, Barbara Rubin, who is filming the proceedings. Fine. More about An original glossy b/w photograph by John Hopkins of the Albert Hall Poetry Reading's main...

Broadsheet double-sided offset lithograph, folded once to make 4pp. 58.4x91.4cm. (unfolded). SIGNED in red by Trocchi at his contribution. The 'International Poetry At The Royal Albert Hall London' issue of Topolski's long-running Chronicle, featuring his charcoal drawings of many of the participants, several poems reproduced in holograph facsimile in blue and red inks, and a text by Alexander Trocchi, "What Happened At The Royal Albert Hall?". Though stating "Not all the poems reproduced here were recited at the Albert Hall", the broadsheet prints holograph manuscript poems by Allen Ginsberg, Harry Fainlight, Michael Horovitz, Pete Brown..... More about TOPOLSKI'S CHRONICLE Vol. XIII, Nos. 5-6 (London: 1965

London: Lorrimer Films Ltd., (April) 1966. New edition, issued to coincide with the film's world premiére at the Academy Cinema in London. Wrps., 72pp. SIGNED on the title page by Lawrence Ferlinghetti (pictured reading at the event on the front cover photo). Contents almost identical to the first edition, with the additional preliminary quote, "Tonite let's all make love in London", a line from Allen Ginsberg's poem "Who Be Kind To" later used by Whitehead as the title for his film on Swinging London. Wrappers slightly rubbed at extremities, o/w Very Good plus. More about Wholly Communion. The film by Peter Whitehead

Np. (Kettering, Northants): Hathor Films, 1995, VHS video (b/w, 33 mins.). Peter Whitehead's original self-released VHS cassette (title on label misspelled 'Holy'). Whitehead shot his film of the International Poetry Incarnation on 16mm film, later blowing it up to 35mm. The sound recording was taken from the poet's microphone and added during editing when the original synchronised sound was found to be of poor quality. Fine. More about Wholly Communion: The Film by Peter Whitehead

8pp. leaflet, stapled. Donald Nicholson-Smith's English translation of this important text on the 1965 Watts rebellion in Los Angeles, its title chosen by Debord to evoke Gibbon's "The Decline and the Fall". It was distributed in England by Alexander Trocchi (and in the USA by the Rebel Worker group), and conceived as a supplement to Internationale Situationniste #10. The back page prints an English translation of a collective text by Debord, Raoul Vaneigem and Mustapha Khayati, originally intended as an appendix to another advance supplement to IS #10. It seems likely that William Burroughs read a copy..... More about The Decline and the Fall of the 'Spectacular' Commodity-Economy. Paris: SI, (dated)...

Eleven foolscap sheets of pink paper, stapled at top left corner. Approx. 40 holograph amendments by the author to lower right corners of the first three sheets (where carbon worn or missing). Sent by Trocchi to Bill Levy at International Times, c. 1967. The article, untitled here but later titled "Problems and Pseudoproblems concerning Dangerous Drugs", sets out Trocchi's critical response to the findings and decisions taken by the Brain Committee (named after its chairman Sir Russell Brain), an interdepartmental committee instituted by the British government in 1958 that delivered reports in 1961 and 1965. In..... More about An 11pp. typescript (carbon) of Alexander Trocchi's essay concerning the Brain Committee,...

Tabloid newspaper format. 12pp. Ed. Tom McGrath. Alexander Trocchi contributes a two-column article on Project Sigma on page 2, and gives the newspaper's Southampton Row address as its new office. Also: interviews with Dick Gregory and The Paul Butterfield Blues Band; Takis by Kenneth Coutts-Smith; Alex Gross on Berlin's beatniks; 'Seedy Bee' by Jeff Nuttall; ad. for Pink Floyd at the Roundhouse; more. Tear to leading edge at old centre fold and some overall wear, o/w Very Good. More about THE INTERNATIONAL TIMES #4 (London: November 28, 1966

N. Hollywood, CA: Brandon House, 1967. First edition thus. Wrps., 208pp. Introduction by Jack Hirschman (6pp.), with a 2pp. postscript by Alexander Trocchi (Brian Kirby, a friend of Hirschman's and an editor at Brandon House, persuaded Trocchi to write short texts for these new American editions). Light surface creasing to upper wrapper, o/w Near Fine. More about HELEN AND DESIRE

Tabloid newspaper format. 20pp. Ed. Bill Levy. Alexander Trocchi contributes "lessons fr boys&girls school leaving X cert., question 1" (see item #65 above), printed alongside a photograph by Malcolm Hart (uncredited) of It girl Penny. Also: Courtney Tulloch on the Notting Hill Festival; "So Who Owns Death T.V.?", Walter Bowart's report from America; John Michell on ley lines; "Acid Burned a Hole in my Genes" by Joel Meltz; "The Acid Report: Chemical, Sociological & Legal Aspects of LSD" (centrespread); Kevin Ayers' "Song for International Times"; John Peel column; Ted Joans on Hieronymus Bosch; correspondence on Aleister..... More about THE INTERNATIONAL TIMES #19 (London: October 5, 1967

The second issue (not stated). Ed. James Tyson. Contains "The Hen's Convention or thoughts of bare-man Lao" (2pp.) by Alexander Trocchi, part of the "MOB" (short for 'My Own Business') column he co-edited with William Burroughs that first appeared in the launch issue of July 1970 and continued in the September issue. Also: "Sex on the NHS: A new look at legalized brothels or prostitution on prescription"; "The Uranus Generation" (5pp.); "Sex Mags" (6pp.), featuring a discussion of Curious, Jeremy, and the underground press, including Oz and the recent Schoolkids issue; an erotic poem by Maureen..... More about CONTACT: The International Communications Magazine (Westbourne Grove, London: August 1970

London: Calder & Boyars, 1972. First edition. Trocchi's only collection of poetry. William Burroughs contributes "Introduction: 'Alex Trocchi Cosmonaut of Inner Space' ", a text originally intended for the "Long Book", an unpublished (and largely unwritten) novel Trocchi had first pledged to John Calder in the mid-'60s. Fine in Near Fine, price-clipped dw. More about MAN AT LEISURE

Another print of the same image as above, with no border. 14.8x22.4cm. Photographer's stamp to verso. Fine. More about An original b/w photograph by Harold Chapman of Alexander Trocchi and Sally Child, taken in...

14.7x21.5cm. Photographer's stamp and brief ink caption by the photographer to verso. Fine. More about An original b/w photograph by Harold Chapman of Alexander Trocchi, taken in Trocchi's...

Detroit: Artists' Workshop Press, September/ December 1965 (actually c. February 1966). Edited with an introduction by John Sinclair for the Wayne State University Artists' Society (Sinclair attended graduate school at Wayne State University, and wrote his thesis on "Naked Lunch", before dropping out in autumn 1965). 4to. Card wrps., 15 mimeographed sheets, stapled. Cover photograph of Magdalene Sinclair on the WSU campus in 1965 by Robin Eichele. Includes contributions by George Tysh, Allen Van Newkirk, Dave Sinclair, Jerry Younkins, Jerry Butler, Richard Covert, John Sinclair, Roy Polhamuns, Henry Malone, and Robin Eichele. The sixth volume in the..... More about FREE POEMS AMONG FRIENDS Vol. 1

Detroit: Artists' Workshop Press, Winter 1965/66. Ed. John Sinclair. 4to. Card wrps., mimeographed sheets, stapled. 98pp. Prospectus announcing the magazine whe're and this issue and an order form for both laid in, as issued. Front cover depicts John Dana, Charles Moore and Stanley Cowell in concert from a photograph by Magdalene Sinclair. Two-colour back cover designed by Jerry Younkins to resemble a United States flag with dollar signs, skulls and cross-bones in place of stars (some copies have a table of contents printed instead after the press ran out of the flag covers). The first section, edited by..... More about WORK/3

Tabloid newspaper format (28pp.). Ed. Allen Van Newkirk and John Sinclair (the latter resigned after the first issue following an editorial dispute). Produced by the revolutionary poet and radical Allen Van Newkirk and incorporating Change, Guerrilla was intended as a monthly newspaper of contemporary culture, but only two issues were published (it subsequently changed to a broadside format and its title was altered to Guerrilla: The Free Newspaper of the Streets). The first issue, printed in an edition of 5000 copies and featuring art and layout by Gary Grimshaw, includes contributions from Diane di Prima; Michael McClure;..... More about GUERRILLA - A Monthly Newspaper of Contemporary Kulchur #1 & 2 (all published). Detroit:...

Original handbill designed by Gary Grimshaw announcing the Russ Gibb-promoted Rising Eye Dance-Concert & Light Show at the Grande Ballroom, Detroit, May 19-20, 1967, featuring Scott Richard Case, December's Children, Thyme, and Odds & Ends. 28x21.5cm. SIGNED by Gary Grimshaw. Features ancient Egyptian motif with an Eye of Horus, snake/bird, etc. Printed in purple on thin white stock. Fine. More about RISING EYE DANCE-CONCERT & LIGHT SHOW

Ed. Mike Aldrich. 4to. 24 mimeographed typescript sheets, printed rectos only on different colour paper stocks, alternated with dittoed duplicated sheets in aniline purple. Stapled at top corner. Subtitled Incense Terah, International Edition. Aldrich founded the first college chapter of LEMAR (Legalise Marijuana) at SUNY-Buffalo in 1967, and it appears he produced Incense as an outpost of Trans-Love Energies Unlimited, the "total cooperative tribal living and working commune" recently founded in Detroit by John Sinclair, Leni Sinclair and Gary Grimshaw (Trans-Love was the successor to the Artists' Workshop and produced rock concerts, light shows, books, pamphlets, posters, and..... More about INCENSE #13 (Buffalo, NY: Trans-Love Energies Unlimited Commune, September 1967

Ed. Dave Sinclair and Tom Mitchell. 4to. Card wrps., mimeographed sheets, stapled. 94pp. + 6pp. double-page fold-out insert + 8p. insert. "Front cover of Trans-Love Energies in action by Magdalene Sinclair" (the MC5 on stage at the Grande Ballroom); back cover design by Gary Grimshaw. Contributors to this final issue include Robert Kelly; Clayton Eshleman; Jim Burns; Robin Eichele; George Bowering; George Tysh; Lee Harwood; Allen Van Newkirk; Andrei Codrescu; David Gitin; Ron Caplan (fold-out); Jim Semark; Larry Eigner; Ron Levine; Michele Clark; Joan Miller; Janet Fox; Wes Magee; Jack Hirschman; John Sinclair; and the editors... More about WORK/5. Detroit: Artists' Workshop Press/Trans-Love Energies, May 1968

First printing (of three), with 'Place Stamp Here' stamp to verso upper right corner. No poster is known to exist for this gig. Illustration of a grinning skull with the words 'Kiss Me' in the eye sockets, printed in pink and brown. Mentions upcoming gigs by the MC5, Frost, and the Stooges. Fine. More about Original postcard featuring artwork by Donnie Dope announcing the Grateful Dead at the Grande...

SIGNED by Gary Grimshaw. 28x21.6cm. Printed in deep pink on white stock. Illustrated. Cary Loren (Destroy All Monsters) has described Gary Grimshaw as "a crucial element whose artistic creations supplied the backbone of the Trans-Love/Grande Ballroom experience." Faint crease to lower left corner, o/w Near Fine. More about MOTOR CITY ROCK & ROLL! Original handbill designed by Gary Grimshaw announcing 'Motor...

17.1x10.9cm. Verso prints two illustrated ads. in blue ink, one for a local record shop and the other for local underground paper Fifth Estate. The list of performers billed include Arthur Brown (or) Tim Leary, Frost, The Amboy Dukes, The Bonzo Dog Band, The Stooges, Pink Floyd, Savage Grace, Kim Fowley, Alice Cooper, Satan (himself), Bob Seger, SRS, Früt, and The Pleasure Seekers (featuring Suzi Quatro, younger sister of promoter Mike Quatro). At least four of the acts were never under contract for the event, however, and were falsely advertised by Mike Quatro - Arthur Brown..... More about BLACK MAGIC & ROCK & ROLL. Original postcard with multi-colour psychedelic artwork by...

28x21.5cm. Printed in black on yellow/orange stock, illustrated with a line drawing of Leary. Noticeable creasing to left side and lower left corner, o/w Near Fine. More about Original handbill for a 'Free John Sinclair' benefit to be held in Ann Arbor, Michigan,...

Tabloid newspaper format. 16pp. Front cover image of Janis Joplin. Contents include news of court hearings for the White Panther Three (John Sinclair, Pun Plamondon and Jack Forrest); the problem of heroin ("Death drugs are weapons in the hands of the pigs"); the fifth communication from the Weather Underground; report from a White Panther demonstration at the Capitol building in Lansing; more. Old central horizontal fold, o/w Very Good plus. More about ANN ARBOR ARGUS - White Panther Community News Service #31 (Ann Arbor, MI: October 15, 1970

32.4x24.7cm. SIGNED by Gary Grimshaw. Features a central photo-illustration of Sinclair flanked by two marijuana leaves. Printed in red and green on mustard-colour thin card stock. Fine. More about FREE JOHN NOW! Large handbill designed by Gary Grimshaw announcing a benefit concert for John...

33x24.7cm. SIGNED by Gary Grimshaw. Features a cartoon illustration of a stoned hippie with speech bubble: "Ten years for smoke ain't no joke!". Printed in red and purple on white stock. Minor creasing to lower corners, o/w Fine. More about A BENEFIT FOR THE JOHN SINCLAIR FREEDOM FUND! Large handbill designed by Gary Grimshaw announcing...