MY OWN MAG No. 13: The Dutch Schultz Special by NUTTALL, Jeff

Barnet: August, 1965. Mimeographed sheets. 14pp. Approximately 9” x 12.” 14pp. Sheets of various sizes and colors, stapled, with a touch of bumping to the top edge, fine. Featured is a reproduction of the manuscript of William Burroughs’s seven-page story, “Dead Star.” Limited to 500 numbered copies with this copy numbered 105. [Maynard & Miles C122]. My Own Mag was a magazine produced by British artist and writer Jeff Nuttall that combined comic strips, prose stories, pages from old magazines, photocopied artwork and photos, along with portions of pages cut away, slashed, burned, and stained. The anarchist aesthetic of Nuttall’s mimeos nicelycomplimented William Burroughs who quickly became involved. Nuttall gave Burroughs free reign and Burroughs submitted his cut- up works straight from the typewriter. Since Burroughs’ editorial comments were short and without much detail, Nuttall had much freedom in how he wanted to present the manuscript. Nuttall’s manipulation of stencils and the mimeograph create My Own Mag’s unique physical appearance. His artwork is intricate and funny. According to Jed Birmingham, The Dutch Schultz Special includes, ". . . one of the finest reproductions of a Burroughs scrapbook until the color images in Port of Entry...Issue 13 is a tour de force of mimeo by Nuttall." The layout is immaculately designed. The images comment on Burroughs’ text. The headshot of Dutch Schultz is the most obvious instance of this, but the more interesting figure is the shadowy man beside Dutch. The figure represents “the third that walks beside you” that so fascinated Burroughs and frequently appeared in his writings.