"Who Was Sinclair Beiles?" (2009)

Sandton, South Africa: Dye Hard Press (book, biography, interview), 2009.

8.125" x 5.75" x 0.375", 135 pages, softcover, ISBN 978-0-620-42792-0.

Who Was Sinclair Beiles? edited by Gary Cummiskey and Eva Kowalska in a first softcover edition published by Dye Hard Press (Sandton, South Africa) in 2009. This was republished in an expanded edition in 2014 including contributions from Carl Weissner and Heathcote Williams [shown is the 2009 edition]. Design and layout by Katherine Finlay. 400 copies were printed of the 2009 edition and 300 copies were printed of the 2014 edition [according to Gary Cummiskey].

This book is a "collection of interviews, memoirs and essays about Beiles and his work," and contains a number of references to William S. Burroughs and to Brion Gysin about their shared time at the Beat Hotel (9 rue Gît-le-Cœur, Paris) and their work on the collaborative project Minutes to Go.

This contains two images by Frédérique Fanchette of Jean Fanchette (Two Cities Editions), Sinclair Beiles, Brion Gysin, and William S. Burroughs together, one at page 84, and the other on the rear cover.

This specific copy was acquired from the collection of Supervert (New York City), and came with the business card of Gary Cummiskey and his Dye Hard Press.

2009 Edition Contents: 

• Editors' Introduction
• Gary Cummiskey: "Who Was Sinclair Beiles?"
• Gary Cummiskey and Sinclair Beiles: "Interview with Sinclair Beiles"
• dawie malan: "the trouble with sinclair beiles"
• dawie malan and Sinclair Beiles: "Interview"
• Earle Holmes: "The Beat Goes On"
• George Dillon Slater: "On Sinclair, the Winged"
• George Dillon Slater: "Excerpts from Sirocco: Memoir of a Wind"
• Eva Kowalska: "Beiles the Beat"
• Alan Finlay: "Review: the Beat Hotel Exhibition"
• Fred de Vries: "In Search of Beiles' Catastrophes"
• Gary Cummiskey: "The Scarcity of Beiles"
• Eva Kowalska: "Annotated Bibliography: Sinclair Beiles"
• Contributors

2014 Edition Contents: [with thanks to Gary Cummiskey]

• Introduction to the 2009 Edition
• Introduction to the 2014 Edition
• Gary Cummiskey: "Who Was Sinclair Beiles?"
• Gary Cummiskey and Sinclair Beiles: "Interview with Sinclair Beiles"
• dawie malan: "the trouble with sinclair beiles"
• dawie malan and Sinclair Beiles: "Interview"
• Earle Holmes: "The Beat Goes On"
• George Dillon Slater: "On Sinclair, the Winged"
• George Dillon Slater: "Excerpts from Sirocco: Memoir of a Wind"
• Carl Weissner: "Letter to Sinclair Beiles" [not in the 2009 edition]
• Heathcote Williams: "Sinclair Beiles: The First Poet in Space" [not in the 2009 edition]
• Eva Kowalska: "Beiles the Beat"
• Alan Finlay: "Review: the Beat Hotel Exhibition"
• Fred de Vries: "In Search of Beiles' Catastrophes"
• Gary Cummiskey: "The Scarcity of Beiles"
• Eva Kowalska: "Annotated Bibliography: Sinclair Beiles"
• Contributors