LONDON.- The Long Sixties (1955-1975) is a time that revolutionised the world and Shapero Rare Books is selling one of the best collections paying tribute to this iconic moment in the history of the 20th century. The ephemera of its time - posters, festival tickets, leaflets, magazines - are particularly rare and thus making this one of the finest collections around the world whether in private hands or in an institution. Shapero is asking a seven figure sum for the whole collection and some of the several thousand individual pieces will be on view in their Bond Street Gallery from 10th to 21st November 2025.

The collection was assembled by Hilary Gerrard (17 January 1933 - 11 January 2023), who was Beatle Ringo Starr's financial advisor and business manager from the 1970s to 2015, and a close friend - often seen in the background, but never in the spotlight. He was however a prolific collector and he basically bought his youth back and managed to collect some of the most iconic items relating to the Long Sixties, when the post-war youth was rebelling against its parents' generation.

The hippie generation was born. Rejecting mainstream society, this counter culture movement embraced peace & love, drugs & sex, spirituality & environmental awareness. It was the birth of festivals and of political opposition to wars and social discrimination.

This collection captures all of these movements around the world:

● An extensive collection of William S. Burroughs books and periodical contributions
● Material relating to various Civil Rights Movements and Black Identity
● Material covering the youth movement internationally
● Underground press and periodicals

William S. Burroughs (1914-1997) is of particular importance to the collection, which includes an extensive selection of books and periodical contributions by Burroughs, containing his two rarest items: one of ten copies of Time, published in New York by “C” Press (1965), signed by the author, William S. Burroughs and artist Brion Gysin (1916-1986) with an original drawing and page of the original manuscript. The collection also includes the rare, first edition of Health Bulletin: APO-33, A Metabolic Regulator, published in New York by Ed Sanders’ Fuck You Press (1965).

Another highlight is Brion Gysin’s manuscript notebook detailing the crucial period between 1958 and 1961 when he was living in the Beat hotel with William Burroughs and developing his cut-up technique, permutated poems, calligraphy paintings, and Dream Machine. Not only unpublished but entirely unknown to the literary and academic communities, making this a truly exceptional appearance on the market and an unparalleled opportunity for further research into Gysin’s art and life.

Burroughs is considered to be a primary figure of the Beat Generation, the literary subculture, who influenced American post-World War II culture and politics and no doubt sowed the seeds for the Long Sixties.

Civil Rights and Black Identity is another part of this collection including material documenting the origins of the Black Panther Party in Lowndes County, Alabama as well as 302 issues of the Black Panther Party Community News Service newspaper, the most significant group offered to the market in recent years.

It also contains material relating to the civil rights movement and fight for black identity, through organisations including Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Congress of Racial Equality (CORE), and the Black Panther Party.

The Youth Movement is also covered by the collection with material relating to Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), and the Weather Underground, and the Yippies. Hand-written eye-witness accounts of the violence suffered by protesters during the 1968 Chicago Democratic Convention, by Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs, Jean Genet and Terry Southern, hurriedly composed after demonstrators, including the writers, were tear-gassed by police in Lincoln Park.

Other movements include The Diggers, Communication Company (Com/Co), the Berkeley Free Speech Movement, the People’s Park protests, Berkeley Commune, the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND), Antiuniversity, and Arts Lab.

It also incorporates some of the European movements with a collection of 102 Paris May 1968 Protest Posters and a large collection of Dutch Provo.

The collection also contains a rare Can You Pass the Acid Test? flyer from 1966.
Among the Press and Periodicals is a complete set of Semina (1955-1964), Wallace Berman’s seminal assemblage publication comprising poetry, aphorisms, and images, distributed by hand and mail to collaborators, friends, and like-minded acquaintances. Semina Two inscribed to Ferus Gallery co-founders Walter and Shirley Hopps.

Additional underground press is covered with a collection of periodicals and small press publications from the mimeograph revolution. A rare, complete set of International Times (IT), including its precursor The Global Moon Edition Long Hair Times (1966), and related event ephemera is also part of this collection, as is a complete set of Oz Magazine with all of the inserts.

Cedric Price's original site plan for Phun City (1970). Originally intended as a fund-raising effort for International Times, accidentally became the first large-scale free music festival in Britain after time and budget restraints meant the fences were not erected.

A large collection of underground press newspapers consists of Berkeley Barb, Other Scenes, Rolling Stone, Friends, East Village Other, Liberation News Service, San Francisco Oracle, and The Oracle of Southern California.

To escape from the rock'n'roll lifestyle, Hilary Gerrard loved collecting - rare books and ephemera, particularly 20th-century literature and book art, photography and posters covering a huge range of subjects. His particular fascination however was with the Long Sixties, in particular William S. Burroughs.