Signed and Lettered Edition of "The Retreat Diaries" (1976)

New York City: The City Moon (book, chapbook, primary, signed, lettered), 1976.
8.25" x 5.375", 40 pages, stapled wraps in die-cut envelope.

The Retreat Diaries by William S. Burroughs as published in a first edition signed and lettered chapbook in windowed envelope by The City Moon (ed. James Grauerholz, New York City) in 1976. This includes an introduction by James Grauerholz as well as Allen Ginsberg's "The Dream of Tibet". 

According to the colophon, this was "[p]rinted in an edition of 2000 copies with a limited edition of 100 wrapt [sic] in a color jacket, 26 of them signed and numbered by the Author." According to Shoaf, the 26 are lettered, not numbered, although I have seen a copy that was numbered "1/26" – this may have been added after issue. I have seen only a few lettered copies in collector hands, and Shoaf also notes that "Morgan's bibliography on Ginsberg notes that the limited edition copies were never distributed and are still in storage, but that some copies may have 'escaped'." Another collector has also noted "for a fact" that most of the lettered copies are still in an Estate storage locker.  In any case, lettered copies are quite rare. From what I can tell, the numbered copies (of the 100 copies) range from #1 to #74.  The lettered copies are lettered in Burroughs' hand; the numbered copies are numbered by stamp.

This copy is letter 'S' of the 26 lettered copies [which may be called Hors Commerce copies], signed by William S. Burroughs along with a stamp noting that the lettering for the title is from Burroughs' handwriting [note that the trade copies have the title in a serif typewriter font]. This copy is mint, although the envelope that it came in suffered some water damage at some point. All is contained in a custom clamshell box with gilt lettering – this was produced after market, likely for additional protection. This copy was acquired from North Star Rare Books and Manuscripts (Great Barrington, Massachusetts, US).

Shoaf I.34. Schottlaender v4.A35.

Contents:

• James Grauerholz: Introduction
• William S. Burroughs: "The Retreat Diaries":
• introduction
• "Saturday, August 9th, 1975"
• "Sunday, August 10th, 1975"
• "Monday, August 11th, 1975"
• "Tuesday, August 12th, 1975"
• "Wednesday, August 13th, 1975"
• "Thursday, August 14th, 1975"
• "Friday, August 15th, 1975"
• "Saturday, August 16th, 1975"
• "Sunday, August 17th, 1975"
• "Monday, August 18th, 1975"
• "Tuesday, August 19th, 1975"
• "Wednesday, August 20th, 1975"
• "Thursday, August 21st, 1975"
• "Friday, August 22nd, 1975"
• "Saturday, August 23rd, 1975"
• "Sunday, August 24th, 1975"
• "Monday, August 25th, 1975"
• James Grauerholz: "dream in early morning of Monday, 8th April 1974"
• Allen Ginsberg: "The Dream of Tibet" (August, 1960)