William S. Burroughs shopping lists on eBay

Someone is selling writer William S. Burroughs's shopping lists on eBay. How odd. While the lists do contain cat-related items, reflecting Burroughs's fondness for felines, they'd be more interesting artifacts if they also included, say, shotgun shells, scissors, bug spray, and morphine syrettes. BuyItNow price is $495. From the auction description:

Page 1: Items written by Burroughs - 1. Cat Pans. 5. Limes & lemons. 6. Dry Cat Food. 7. Canned Cat Food - Mealtime, bits of beef - salmon dinner. There are 4 items written on the back and none are by Burroughs

Page 2: Items written by Burroughs - 1. Waffles (plain buttermilk). 2. Triscuits. 3. Cat Food Canned. 4. Vodka - last but not least 5. Marshmallow for toasting over stove (?) last word is a guess - hard to read. There are 4 items written on the back - Burroughs has written "Lysol."

Page 3: Items written by Burroughs - 1. Lemons and lime. 2. Milk. 3. Bottled water. 4. Honey (crossed out). 5. Lipton tea bags (the brisk tea). There are 4 items written on the back but none are written by Burroughs.

William S. Burroughs Authentic Grocery Shopping List

Discussion

Take a look at this

#1 posted by Keeper of the Lantern , March 1, 2009 9:04 AM

Well I've just placed a hunk of my poo for sale on ebay.

#2 posted by lo_fye , March 1, 2009 9:09 AM

I think that last word is "oven", not stove... but same difference.

#3 posted by Baldhead , March 1, 2009 9:16 AM

anyoen who buys this is a monumental idiot. Not everything a writer writes is worth reading. least of all their shopping lists.

#4 posted by EeyoreX , March 1, 2009 9:17 AM

Soo... If the lists can indeed be verified as written by Burroughs, doesn't it follow that whoever is selling them is infringing on the intellectual property of this writers estate?

:-)

Me, I think I'll just wait for the audiobook edition.

#5 posted by Anonymous , March 1, 2009 9:57 AM

How did y'all miss the much more entertaining:
"7 pumpkins & box of tampax (super)"

#6 posted by Anonymous , March 1, 2009 10:07 AM

Now, someone just needs to cut it all up and rearrange the list. Then resale it on ebay.

WSB would be snickering if not proud of said act.

- Control.

#7 posted by Anonymous , March 1, 2009 10:16 AM

You know, Woody Allen once wrote a farcical critique of a collection of shopping lists written by a famous author. The Metterling Lists:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0812978110/ref=sib_dp_pop_toc?ie=UTF8&p=S009#reader-link

#8 posted by Pantograph , March 1, 2009 10:46 AM

Let's print this and take it to the store tomorrow.
We'll all eat like William Burroughs for a day.

#9 posted by thequickbrownfox , March 1, 2009 11:11 AM

Would be worth more if writ double-spaced on the good old Remington.

#10 posted by fxq , March 1, 2009 12:21 PM

I have Bill Shakespeare's dry cleaning receipt right here. But I'm never gonna give it up; never gonna put it down; never gonna run aground and revert grues.

#11 posted by StRevAlex , March 1, 2009 12:33 PM

I totally support collecting the most ephemeral of ephemera related to artists, especially when they're geniuses like WSB was.

#12 posted by Takuan , March 1, 2009 12:43 PM

why IS touching the very same that someone touched so important to humans?

#13 posted by Brother Provisional , March 1, 2009 1:07 PM

Mmmm... frozen swaffles, triscuts, vodka and marshmallows.

At least his cats seemed to have eaten well.

#14 posted by prodpoke , March 1, 2009 1:20 PM

what a cute list. n_____________________n he sounds like a cat lady. if anyone's waited behind a cat lady in a store they have a small amount of commonplace groceries and cat food. Burroughs likes marshmallows, who would of known?

#15 posted by IWood , March 1, 2009 2:15 PM

#8 posted by Pantograph:

So, I finally get to see what's on the end of my fork...and it's waffles.

Huh.

#16 posted by infikitsune , March 1, 2009 2:21 PM

When I die, I hope my shopping lists sell for $495. Actually, screw dying, I want the $495 now - with that kinda money I could buy any groceries I like.

#17 posted by Halloween Jack , March 1, 2009 3:00 PM

And people accuse Stephen King of publishing his laundry lists. *tch*

#18 posted by diluded000 , March 1, 2009 3:33 PM

Is it folded into a package and full of something?

#19 posted by jrtom , March 1, 2009 4:14 PM

Pound pastrami
Can kraut
Six bagels
Bring home for Emma.

Now _there's_ a shopping list for the ages.

#20 posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

, March 1, 2009 4:49 PM

One day in the early 1980s, in the Seattle neighborhood of Laurelhurst, I saw William S. Burroughs coming out of a Baskin-Robbins with an ice cream cone.

Everyone always asks what flavor the ice cream was.

#21 posted by Lord Xenu , March 1, 2009 5:28 PM

Anyone else think these just may be fakes? It worked for Lee Siegel.

#22 posted by minamisan , March 1, 2009 8:21 PM

well don't hold us in suspense. what was it?

#23 posted by Patrick Nielsen Hayden

, March 1, 2009 8:33 PM

Vanilla.

#24 posted by hassan-i-sabbah , March 2, 2009 6:58 AM

Nooo! I just can't belive that Old Bill is a vanilla Guy!

#25 posted by Marco Raaphorst

, March 2, 2009 7:23 AM

6. buying a Burroughs' shopping list @ ebay

#26 posted by Anonymous , March 2, 2009 10:50 AM

One of David Foster Wallace's shopping lists will be published in a hardbound edition, as soon as someone locates the box of footnotes.

#27 posted by Anonymous , March 3, 2009 9:14 AM

That is my handwriting on the "Dry Cat Food." Cooked Saturday night dinners for him in 96-97. Have a bunch of these lists, though curiously, not this one. Yeah, he did like the Vanilla ice cream. Also some fancy Breyers ice cream thing called the venietta or venetian or something.