Big Table 1 (Signed Association Copy by William S. Burroughs)

New York: Big Table Inc, 1959. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Near Fine. Digest Size, wraps. 158(4)pp. Sharp First Issue of this periodical of beat literature founded by Rosenthal and born out of academic censorship by the University of Chicago. This first volume includes the first ten episodes from Burroughs' Naked Lunch, predating the release of the book. Square, tight and clean throughout with very mild edge-wear and just a hint of toning. Still bright with no chipping, creases or tears. Signed and inscribed by Burroughs on the first page of his contribution, "For Roger Richards, William S. Burroughs. Hotel Chelsea, N.Y.C. October 15". Roger Richards was the owner of the iconic Greenwich Books and The Rare Book Room in Greenwich Village and a close associate of Burroughs and several other Beat writers. The story goes, and this directly from the third party involved, is that Rogers was supposed to have this book inscribed to one of his good clients along with a few other Burroughs pieces. However, when Richards arrived at the Chelsea Hotel, where Burroughs was living at the time, they decided to get stoned and Burroughs ended up inscribing it to Rogers instead of the client. The client was still happy to receive it in addition to the couple of piece that Burroughs did manage to inscribe to him. Laid in is a 16-page catalog from The Rare Book Room from 1986, (the good ol' days when a Very Fine first of The Old Man and the Sea could be had for $250), which was addressed to the above "client", though his name has been blacked-out for privacy as he is still very much alive. A very pretty collectable copy and a neat association. Signed copies of this digest are very uncommon.