Lot 249: BURROUGHS, WILLIAM. 1914-1997. A collection of personal items recovered from William Burroughs's apartment, 210 Centre Street, New York City, during April/May 1966,

BURROUGHS, WILLIAM. 1914-1997.
A collection of personal items recovered from William Burroughs's apartment, 210 Centre Street, New York City, during April/May 1966, including: 1. A brown plastic faux leather suitcase with 3 catches and two locks (without keys), well-traveled with some waterstains and markings through use, inside a small brass American key, presumably his spare key for his 210 Center Street apartment, and a baggage label written in Burroughs's hand recording his journey on the Independence (American Export Isbrandtsen Lines), from Algeciras (Spain) to New York, sailing date Nov 30th 1964; as well as two baggage tags numbered 39 and 60 on the handle of the case;2. a woven Moroccan beach basket, one handle badly worn, with the same baggage tag, cabin 202 for the voyage of the Independence back to the States, Nov 30 1964, and the baggage tags 39 and 60, worn and dust soiled; and a floral crimson tasseled bedspread, with dry-cleaning label, also used on his bed in Center St.WITH: TLS from Burroughs to Prentice, 1 p, dated "April 4, 1966, Hotel Rushmore, 11 Trebovir Road, London S.W.5," with envelope franked 6 APR 1966, discussing a sublet of his apartment on Centre Street, going on to say that the only people he would want living with his things would be "You [David] or David Budd ... alternatively could you store the effects in your apartment ... I own the bed, the desk, the three heavy wood chairs and cooking utensils ... I am anxious to give up the apartment definitively." On Burroughs's return to NYC, in 1974, he took back his steamer trunk with all his manuscripts and paperwork for the Third Mind, and a more modern typewriter, but the rest were gifted to David, and remained in store until now.Provenance: David Prentice.