Unicorn Ali's Smile, Hors Commerce to Claude Pélieu and Mary Beach

Brighton, England: Unicorn Books (book, signed/numbered), 1971

One of the nine Hors Commerce copies of the Unicorn Books (Bill Butler) production of William S. Burroughs' Ali's Smile, out of a total edition of 99 copies – . The colophon page has an error: "numbers 1 to 99 are hors commerce" -- numbers 91 through 99 are the hors commerce copies. Printed by Richard Moseley.

A rare book, originally to be released in a slipcase along with an LP by Burroughs. A number of the LPs were damaged prior to distribution, having been placed upon a heater, which warped many of the copies. Some few number of separate LP copies were additionally acquired by Udo Breger (Expanded Media Editions) -- the existence of separate LPs is noted in the advertising details at the back of EME #12. I contacted Udo about this and his response was:

"I visited Bill Butler at his Brighton address between Christmas and New Year's 1972/'73, stayed overnight and took along a number of Ali's Smile records - I believe it was 6 copies".

I have located approximately 25 copies of the LP so far in my research out of roughly 50 books located, which points to the truth of the suggestion that about half of the LPs were damaged. As probabilities might suggest, this copy is without the LP (or slipcase).

This however being one of the Hors Commerce copies, is rarer than the LPs (or the slipcases). This copy is signed to Claude Pélieu and Mary Beach, friends and collaborators: "For Claude and Mary – All the Best at Christmas, William Burroughs". This copy, as I assume the other Hors Commerce copies are, is not numbered. I state this as an assumption since I have not yet located another Hors Commerce copy in private or institutional hands.

This copy came from Ken Lopez Books, as consignment from the collection of Greg Trueblood. In conversation with Greg about its provenance prior to his ownership, he stated:

"I acquired it from Book Harbor in Fullerton California. I was in on a Thursday chatting with the owner and he mentioned that he had a Burroughs collection that he was going to be putting out on Saturday. I told him I'd be very interested in it and asked if I could come in early Saturday morning before he opened, and have first change at everything... This was early on in my collecting. Maybe 1986-87?"

Its history prior to that – leading back to Pélieu and Beach – is unclear.

The LP for Ali's Smile was re-released by Paradigm Discs in 2021, on side A of the release (side B being the Nova Dispatches).

External Links:

• Ken Lopez Books: listing for this copy
• RealityStudio: Shoaf's listing for Ali's Smile
• Discogs: listing for the original LP of Ali's Smile
• Discogs: the Paradigm Discs 2021 release of Ali's Smile