William S. Burroughs First Editions

• Junkie: Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict — 1953 · Ace BooksTrue first is the paperback original Ace Double D-15, a dos-a-dos (tete-beche) double bound back-to-back with 'Narcotic Agent' by Maurice Helbrant. Author credited as 'William Lee' on the cover (the pseudonym). with its printed price; cover designated an 'ACE Original.' Cover art by Al Rossi. Printed on poor, brittle paper, so genuinely fine copies are scarce and command a large premium. Bibliographic ref:…. The paperback IS the true first edition; there was no prior hardcover. Later Ace printings exist under different numbers (K-202, 1964; later as 'Junkie' and then 'Junky'). The 1977 Penguin 'Junky' is the first complete/unexpurgated text and a separate 'first thus.' UK title is 'Junky.' First state is the D-15 double only. No book-club edition exists for the original. Beware later Ace reprints (K-202 etc.) sold as the first; only D-15 bound with Narcotic Agent and credited to 'William Lee' is the true first. Reprints have higher serial numbers and are single (not dos-a-dos doubles).
• Naked Lunch — 1959 · The Olympia PressGreen pictorial wrappers, Traveller's Companion Series No. 76. First state has the rear wrapper printed 'Francs: 1500'. Title on the book is 'The Naked Lunch' (the 'The' was dropped for the US Grove edition). Author credited as 'William Burroughs' (no middle initial). Olympia Paris (1959) is the true world first. First state = 'Francs: 1500' on rear wrapper; second state = copies overstamped/restickered '18 NF' after France's Jan 1960 currency revaluation (same sheets, repriced). The US first is Grove Press, 1962 (as 'Naked Lunch'), itself collectible but a later edition. No book club. Distinguish first state ('Francs: 1500') from the repriced '18 NF' second state. The Grove 1962 US edition is a separate, later first-American — not to be confused with the Olympia true first.
• The Naked Lunch — 1959 · The Olympia PressTrue first: The Olympia Press, Paris, 1959 — 'The Traveller's Companion Series' no. 76, issued in the series' green printed wrappers, with the green decorative border to the title page and the title given as 'The Naked Lunch.' First issue: the rear wrapper is priced 'Francs: 1.500' and marked 'Not to be sold in U.S.A. or U.K.,' and a preliminary leaf is printed '76 1' at the lower right (the series number and…. Olympia Press Paris 1959 is the true first; the US edition (Grove Press, 1962, titled 'Naked Lunch,' without the definite article) follows. France's new franc took effect 1 January 1960, roughly six months after the July/August 1959 publication, so copies at the printed '1.500' (old francs) precede those repriced 'NF 18' (new francs). There is no book-club edition of the Olympia first. Within the first printing the price state distinguishes issues: first issue shows the printed 'Francs: 1.500'; the later issue has unsold stock overstamped in blue 'NF 18' (18 new francs) over that original price. The '76 1' leaf and the green title-page border confirm the Olympia first PRINTING regardless of the price state; the '1.500' versus 'NF 18' price is….
• The Soft Machine — 1961 · The Olympia PressOlympia Press, Paris, Traveller's Companion Series No. 88, 1961, issued in the series' green printed paper wrappers with the wrapper design by Brion Gysin (the book was issued in wrappers only, not in a dust jacket). The first issue is identified by the original '15' New Francs price printed on the lower rear wrapper. Later copies of the same sheets were overstamped 'New Price NF 18' over that original price…. Olympia Paris (1961) is the true world first. The US Grove edition (1966) and UK Calder edition are substantially REVISED texts — true 'first thus' rather than reprints, since Burroughs heavily reworked the cut-up material. The Olympia 1961 four-Unit text differs markedly from the reorganized later versions and has never been reissued in that original form. No book club. The major trap is that the Grove (1966) and Calder editions are revised, not identical reprints; the Olympia No. 88 1961 in green wrappers with the unstamped '15 NF' rear price is the only true first of the original text.
• Naked Lunch (US edition) — 1962 · Grove PressBlack cloth in dust jacket; title 'Naked Lunch' (no 'The'). Copyright/title page bears a 1959 date although the book was not printed until 1962. First-printing dust jacket with its printed price at the top of the front flap, with no GP-24 code, no zip code, and the '4 University Place' address on the rear panel. Roughly 3,500 copies in the first printing. True US first is the 1962 Grove hardcover; a separate edition from the 1959 Olympia Paris first. No book club edition; the wrappered Black Cat issue is later.
• The Ticket That Exploded — 1962 · The Olympia PressOlympia Press, Paris, 1962, in the Traveller's Companion Series as No. 91, green printed wrappers, with the original franc price on the wrapper; a printing of 5,000 copies. The volume includes a monochrome design by Brion Gysin on p. 183. Issued in the Traveller's Companion glassine/printed dust wrapper. Olympia Paris (1962) is the true world first (Maynard & Miles A6a). The Grove (1967) US edition is a revised/expanded text ('first thus'). Confirm Traveller's Companion No. 91 on the wrapper for the Olympia first. No book club. As with The Soft Machine, the later Grove/Calder editions are revised texts; the Olympia No. 100 is the only true original first.
• Dead Fingers Talk — 1963 · John Calder / Olympia PressLondon: John Calder in association with Olympia Press, 1963. First printing with no later printings stated on the copyright page. Bound in grey cloth with the spine title in gilt. The dust jacket and photographs are by Ian Sommerville; the original front is black-and-white (not the sepia-brown of later states), and the jacket should retain its printed price. Composite text drawn from Naked Lunch, The Soft…. True first is the 1963 John Calder in association with Olympia Press, London hardcover, a UK-only original never issued or translated outside the UK; it was out of print for nearly fifty years until the 2020 Restored edition, which first identified the previously unpublished material Calder had claimed. No book club.
• Nova Express — 1964 · Grove PressFirst US edition, Grove Press, New York, 1964 (Maynard & Miles A10a), cloth boards in dust jacket. Bound in orange (sometimes described as red) cloth with black spine lettering and an orange topstain. First-issue dust jacket designed by Roy Kuhlman, with the printed price present on the front flap. First printing is stated on the copyright page. Completes Burroughs's 'Nova'/cut-up trilogy. Grove Press US (1964) is the true first (Burroughs wrote it for Grove; unlike The Soft Machine and The Ticket That Exploded there is no prior Olympia edition). Jonathan Cape issued the UK edition (1966). Verify the Grove first-printing copyright page. Not a book-club title. Note that Nova Express, unlike the other two cut-up novels, has its true first at Grove with no Olympia precedent. Confirm the first printing by the stated first-printing copyright page, the Kuhlman jacket, and the priced front flap.
• The Last Words of Dutch Schultz — 1970 · Cape GoliardUK Cape Goliard first, 1970: a signed and numbered limited issue of 100 copies in grey-green buckram, with a simultaneous trade issue in wrappers. First printing, no later printings stated. A fiction in the form of a film script. The US Viking/Seaver issue did not follow until 1975. True first is the 1970 Cape Goliard London edition, which precedes the US Viking/Seaver issue by five years (1975, not the same year). No book club.
• The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead — 1971 · Grove PressFirst edition, first printing: black cloth-covered boards stamped in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the printed price present (surviving jackets are frequently price-clipped, which does not affect the first-issue identification). No later printing is stated on the copyright page. The first Grove printing was a comparatively small run. Recorded in the standard Burroughs bibliography as…. True first is the 1971 Grove Press US hardcover (Maynard & Miles A20a). It precedes the UK Calder & Boyars edition of 1972. No book club edition.
• Exterminator! — 1973 · The Viking PressCloth in dust jacket; first edition, first printing of roughly 7,500 copies with no later printing code. The exclamation point distinguishes this 1973 collection from the 1960 broadside The Exterminator. True first is the 1973 Viking Press New York hardcover. No book club; the UK Calder & Boyars edition of 1974 is the UK first.
• Port of Saints — 1973 · Covent Garden Press / Am Here BooksFirst edition dated 1973 (actually issued somewhat later owing to a UK paper shortage): white boards, spine lettered black, in dust jacket and white slipcase, limited to 100 copies numbered and signed by Burroughs, with roughly twenty illustrations. Text revised for the later Blue Wind Press edition of 1980. True first is the 1973 Covent Garden Press / Am Here Books signed limited of 100; the 1980 Blue Wind Press edition is a revised first-thus that also drops the illustrations. No book club; the 1973 signed and numbered limitation is the primary issue.
• Cobble Stone Gardens — 1976 · Cherry Valley EditionsShort memoir/collage of family material, photo-illustrated. Issued in two simultaneous first-printing formats: photographically illustrated glossy wrappers (trade issue), and a very limited hardbound issue of 50 copies signed by Burroughs. No later printings stated on the first issue. The 1976 Cherry Valley Editions original is the true first, published in two simultaneous formats: the illustrated trade wrappers and a signed hardbound limited of 50 copies. Both are first-printing issues of 1976. No book club.
• Cities of the Red Night — 1981 · Holt, Rinehart and WinstonFirst US edition, cloth in dust jacket; first printing stated by number line/printing statement on the copyright page. A signed limited edition was also issued (slipcased), which is the premium state. Holt, Rinehart and Winston US (1981) is the first American trade edition; John Calder issued the UK edition (1981). A signed/numbered limited exists. Confirm the first-printing statement. Not a book club. Distinguish the trade first (number line/printing statement) from the signed limited; verify imprint for US vs. UK.
• The Place of Dead Roads — 1983 · Holt, Rinehart and WinstonThe trade first edition is bound in full brown cloth and states 'First Edition' on the copyright page, with first printing shown by the number sequence there. The wraparound dust jacket reproduces the well-known archival photograph (from the Colorado State Historical Society) of nineteenth-century Americans posed as Native Americans; a correct jacket should retain its printed price. A signed, numbered limited…. The trade first is the 1983 Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York hardcover in brown cloth. The signed/numbered limited of 300 copies in white cloth and slipcase was published alongside it; neither precedes the other in text, but the limited is the signed issue. No book-club edition. Distinguish the brown-cloth trade first from the white-cloth signed limited of 300, and from later Holt printings and paperback issues.
• Queer — 1985 · VikingFirst edition, The Viking Press, New York, published November 18, 1985 (written c.1951-1953 as an extension of Junkie, its publication delayed for decades). Octavo, 134 pages, bound in pale blue cloth over boards. Copyright page states 'First Edition' with the number line descending to 1. Includes Burroughs's own retrospective introduction, which appears here for the first time. Issued in the illustrated…. The true first is the 1985 Viking hardcover; the London Picador edition (1986) is the later first British edition. No book club.
• The Western Lands — 1987 · VikingUS Viking hardcover, 1987 (ISBN 0-670-81352-0), the trade first, concluding the trilogy that began with Cities of the Red Night and The Place of Dead Roads. Octavo, bound in half cloth (black cloth boards with a green cloth spine) with gilt spine lettering and pictorial/illustrated endpapers. The first-issue dust jacket was designed by Neil Stuart with a full wraparound illustration by Deborah Pinkney; a correct…. The trade first is the 1987 Viking hardcover. Copies signed or inscribed by Burroughs in 1987 exist and are the first printing; treat any separately described signed limited issue cautiously, as most signed copies encountered are signed trade firsts. No book club edition. Reprints and the UK edition differ from the Viking half-cloth binding and Stuart/Pinkney jacket.
• Interzone — 1989 · VikingCloth-spine quarterbound in gray boards, pictorial dust jacket with jacket art by Burroughs; states First Edition with number line ending in 1. Edited by James Grauerholz; collects early routines and material. The trade first is the 1989 Viking hardcover, edited by James Grauerholz. No book club.
• My Education: A Book of Dreams — 1995 · VikingFirst edition, first printing: Viking (New York) 1995 hardcover in dust jacket (ISBN 0670813508 / 9780670813506), 193 pages, cited as Schottlaender A73a. The copyright page reads 'First published in 1995 by Viking' and carries a complete number line ending in 1; the pictorial jacket should retain its printed price. Burroughs's late dream journal. The trade first is the 1995 Viking (New York) hardcover. A UK Picador first (London, 1995) appeared the same year and is markedly less common in hardcover than the US Viking issue; the US edition is generally treated as the true first. No book club edition. Later Viking printings break the number line short of 1; the first printing (of 15,000 copies) shows the full line ending in 1.

More Poetry, Beat & Drama shelves: William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin, Yusef Komunyakaa, A. E. Housman, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Algernon Charles Swinburne, Allen Ginsberg.

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