"A William Burroughs Birthday Book" (1994)

Brighton, England: Temple Press Ltd. (chapbook), 1994.
8.25" x 5.75", 44 pages, stapled wraps, 

A stapled book edited by Paul Cecil prepared for the 80th birthday of William S. Burroughs, as celebrated at the Phoenix Gallery, Brighton. Likely a second printing, as the first printing did not have P-Orridge's "Splinter Test" bound in, and was loosely included; additionally, the first printing omits the Psychic Cross on the cover, and the mention of "Splinter Test". Still uncommon. 

Note that it is common to see some of the "Pistol Poems" in this book attributed online to William S. Burroughs. I have reason to question this, as Burroughs is not listed as a contributor to this book, is not included in the Biographical Notes at the end of the book, and is not directly attributed to these poems within the book. Even RealityStudio cites this Birthday Book as the source of attribution, which doesn't make any sense to me. I personally believe that these were created for Burroughs as a gift in this Birthday Book, and so far, I have not found any real evidence that they were indeed produced by him. This is made even more odd by the fact that "Pistol Poem No. 1" is the same as "Junk Is No Good Baby", which is clearly a work by Brion Gysin.

Shoaf II.339. Schottlaender v4.G17.

Contents: 

• Paul Cecil: 
• introduction
• "Nothing Is True. Everything Is Permuted: The Last Words of Hassan i Sabbah" (essay)
• Simon Strong: "William Burroughs: A Biological Mistake" (essay)
• Genesis P-Orridge: "Splinter Test: Implications Ov Cut-Ups & Samples as Quantum Memes" (essay)
• Caspar Williams: "Bill Explains Aesthetics" (comic)
• Brion Gysin: 
• "THEY: An Extract from The Process" (prose, selected by Catherine Lupton)
• "Pistol Poem No. 1" [actually: "Junk Is No Good Baby"] (permutation poem)
• Robert Hill: "A Cool and Savage Number" (prose)
• Marco Polo: "The Temple of the Assassins" (journal entry)
• Naomi Riches: "After the Fact (extracts)" (prose)
• unstated (Robert Hill?): 
• "Will I Am" (permutation)
• "Sawn-Off Shotgun Poem No. 1" (permutation)
• "Pistol Poem No. 2" (permutation)
• "Pistol Poem No. 3" (permutation)

External Links: 

• Unoriginal Sins: an example of the 1st printing