[BURROUGHS, William, et al .] Man, Earth and the Challenges.

[BURROUGHS, William, et al .] Man, Earth and the Challenges.Burroughs on the Anthropogenic Apocalypse [BURROUGHS, William, et al.] Man, Earth and the Challenges. New Mexico: Synergetic Press. 1981. 8vo. Publishers wrappers illustrated by Gerald Wilde; pp. [8], 284 (i. e. 285) [1], photograph of convention attendees to inner front cover, photographic collage to rear endpaper; diagonal crease to front cover of bottom corner; some spotting to fore edge of textblock; very good. First edition of the proceedings of

Burroughs on the Anthropogenic Apocalypse

[BURROUGHS, William, et al.] Man, Earth and the Challenges. New Mexico: Synergetic Press. 1981.

8vo. Publisher’s wrappers illustrated by Gerald Wilde; pp. [8], ‘284’ (i.e. 285) [1], photograph of convention attendees to inner front cover, photographic collage to rear endpaper; diagonal crease to front cover of bottom corner; some spotting to fore-edge of textblock; very good.

First edition of the proceedings of the the 1980 Planet Earth Conference, which aimed to ‘explore the history of the Planet Earth and its future’ by bringing together ‘outstanding scientists, artists of the avant-garde, [and] explorers’, including William Burroughs’ speech interpreting the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Famine, Plague, War, and Death – as man-made threats.

The multi-disciplinary ecological conference was held across four days at the Institute of Ecotechnics, Aix-en-Provence. The organisers deliberately distanced themselves from governments and the media to produce an atmosphere that could bring together viewpoints from across the world.

This publication is most notable for the contribution by William Burroughs, ‘The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse’, later issued as a standalone text. Critiquing the use of chemical warfare in particular (‘the alliance between War and Plague was cemented with the first germ experiments’), his conference address imagines a future in which humanity’s only viable continuation lies in space. The range of perspectives represented at the conference is evidenced by contributions from the likes of Thor Heyerdahl (1914–2002), the Norwegian explorer renowned for expeditions including Kon-Tiki (1947). Another contributor, Ghillean Prance (b. 1937), later became director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew.

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