Burroughs, William S. | The Soft Machine, inscribed by Allen Ginsberg - photo 1
Burroughs, William S. | The Soft Machine, inscribed by Allen Ginsberg - photo 2
Burroughs, William S. | The Soft Machine, inscribed by Allen Ginsberg - photo 3

Burroughs, William S. | The Soft Machine, inscribed by Allen Ginsberg

Lot 5
08.12.2023 12:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 1 143
AuctioneerSotheby´s
Event locationUSA, New York
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1105442
Lot 5 | Burroughs, William S. | The Soft Machine, inscribed by Allen Ginsberg
Estimate value
$ 800 – 1 200
Burroughs, William S.
The Soft Machine. New York: Grove Press, 1967

Small 8vo. Original wrappers. Fine, in black cloth chemise and slipcase.

Inscribed by fellow Beat Allen Ginsberg, “For Ed White This book follows Naked Lunch in chronology Allen Ginsberg.”

This is the first Evergreen paperback edition. An intriguing association given that it was the manuscript for Interzone that Ginsberg had retained from Burroughs that was added (along with other material) to what became the Grove edition of Naked Lunch. The Grove edition was how most readers encountered the work and with Ginsberg’s input it represented a very different and much improved text than the Olympia Press edition. While the The Soft Machine did follow Naked Lunch, it is also the first book of Burroughs’ Nova Trilogy — a radical experiment in subverting usual narrative structures that influenced Bowie and Cyberpunk authors.

“An absolutely devastating ridicule of all that is false, primitive and vicious in current American life.” (Terry Southern)
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