“Obscene” – Wednesday, February 19, 7:00 PM

  A screening of Obscene, a documentary about publisher Barney Rosset Introduced by the film’s co-director, Daniel O’Connor Chang Room, Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Columbia University  Followed by a reception at the Rare Book and Manuscript Library   […]

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Le Festin Nu [that’s French for Naked Lunch]

In 1964 the French publisher Gallimard brought out the first French translation of William S. Burroughs’s Naked Lunch under the title Le Festin Nu. Ironically, the book first appeared in Paris in its original English form in 1959, in the Olympia Press Traveller’s Companion series (see RBML‘s copy here). France traditionally had been a friendly […]

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William S. Burroughs’ Dream Machine

RBML collects more than just books and manuscripts; we also have a lot of what librarians call realia—real life objects. Pictured here is our Dream Machine, which comes from William S. Burroughs, via his collaborator & one time assistant Steven Lowe. The Dream Machine is a simple device: a slotted cardboard cylinder is mounted on […]

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