Burroughs' copy of Exterminator!

New York City: Viking (1st, quarter-leather, inscribed, presentation), 1973.

William S. Burroughs' own copy of Exterminator!, specially bound in quarter-leather by the publisher as a gift on the occasion of his first book with them. As far as I am aware, the only copy bound in this manner. With a loose sheet noting "With Greetings of the Season and Good Wishes for the New Year – The Viking Press" inserted inside.

The inscription is to Bob Jackson, who purchased the great archive compiled by Burroughs, Gysin and Miles – known as the 'Vaduz Archive" – from Roberto Altmann, who had purchased it from Burroughs and Gysin, brokered by Richard Aaron (Am Here Books), in 1973. The archive now is in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library.

Maynard and Miles notes in the entry for Exterminator! that "In WSB's collection there is a leather–bound (half-morocco, gold-stamped), gilt-topped copy. It is not known how many other such deluxe copies exist." Shoaf notes that "a copy bound in quarter-leather with gilt-edged paper exists in the Burroughs Archive. Having examined this book, the author notes that laid into the copy is a printed note 'Compliments of Viking Press.' Exterminator! being Burroughs' first book for Viking, it is reasonable to assume that it is a one-off specially bound copy given to Burroughs by the publisher as a memento and not part of any series or special issue."

in October of 2018, before Eric Shoaf passed away, I had the opportunity to discuss the book with him. In email he noted:

I have personally examined and handled the book and I can tell you that it is quite authentic and, as I write in my book, most likely the only one.

The circumstances of my handling the book are this: I was working at Brown University in Providence, RI and discovered they had some rather interesting Burroughs items, including the 1 of 10 special copies of 'Minutes to Go' and some handwritten letters. I discussed putting up an exhibit on Burroughs and a colleague mentioned we want to get the guy who gave the letters interested. I asked his name, Bob Jackson and his son is a Brown grad. It took a little while to put it together. Robert Jackson, who bought the complete Burroughs archive originally sold to Roberto Altmann in 1973, and now owns it has a connection to Brown? Yes! A lot happened after that, which culminated for me in an all-expenses-paid trip to Cleveland to visit Bob Jackson and view the archive. This was in 1999. Looking around at the Burroughs books on the shelves, I spied the leather bound 'Exterminator' and looked it over carefully. It had a card inside on which was printed 'Compliments of Viking Press' so my belief is that this was a gift from the publisher to Burroughs, a true one-off. The book was the first Burroughs publication for Viking.

Jackson was an interesting fellow, successful attorney, and a big book collector. He had a lot more than just Burroughs. The amazing thing about the archive, which I saw it at his house, was that it was all still in the original packing boxes from 1973 and even Jackson had opened less than half of them. It was all just sitting on the floor of a spare bedroom in Jackson's rather large house. He let me bring a couple of the scrap books (those assembled by Burroughs, each unique, and irreplaceable) back to Brown for the exhibit. He also provided some of the funds for the exhibit catalog I did, and I also ended up organizing a weekend symposium about Burroughs where we had a number of scholars attend and gace presentations and Bob Jackson flew in to speak. This would have been fall of 2000.

This copy of Exterminator! was acquired from Ken Lopez, Bookseller, who acquired it from Bob Jackson, who acquired it directly from William S. Burroughs. 

Note that here may very well be a second copy of the quarter-leather-bound Exterminator! that Burroughs also had in possession: at the Arizona State Archives, William Seward Burroughs Papers, in Box 22, there is a note of "Burroughs' own author's copy of Exterminator!, cited by Maynard and Miles in their notes to entry A23a in the Burroughs bibliography, bound in the original three-quarter leather, is present in this collection. Preserved in slipcase with morocco label." The item in Shoaf's bibliography is certainly my copy, but as Maynard & Miles notes, there may be -- and there certainly seem to be -- more than one "deluxe" copy.

Maynard & Miles A23.a
Shoaf I.23
Schottlaender A27.a

External Links:

• RealityStudio: The Greatest Burroughs Collectors: #2: Robert Jackson
• RealityStudio: Burroughs Literary Archive
• New York Public Library: The William S. Burroughs papers