Burroughs, William S.

Naked Lunch (First American Edition, First Printing) with: Later Printing

New York, NY: Grove Press, Inc., 1962. First Printing; Fifth Printing. Hardcovers. "And only after the first shock does one realize that what Burroughs is writing about is not only the destruction of depraved men by their drug lust, but the destruction of all men by their consuming addictions...Burroughs is not only serious in his intent, but he is a writer of great power and artistic integrity engaged in a profoundly meaningful search for true values." (John Ciardi quoted on front flap) Naked Lunch is one of the foundational texts of the Beat Generation, & an unclassifiable, path-breaking work onto itself; the most famous, notorious novel by the great William S. Burroughs. Offered here is the first American edition in unclipped original dust jacket, first printing as stated on copyright page, one of 3500 copies published during March 1962 by Barney Rosset's fabled & fearless Grove Press (Maynard & miles, A2b, pgs. 10-11). In addition, we have bundled this with a later (fifth) printing of this edition without dust jacket, a high-class reading copy with our compliments. Among the rarest versions of the iconic WSB classic. Book in good-to-near-fine condition with moderate rubbing, scratching & some small scuff-marks to front, back covers; mild wear & a few tiny bumps, chips at edges & corners of same along with spine (which is otherwise exceptionally fine & bright); moderate browning, rubbing, scratching & spotting to edges of text block incl. black-dyed upper edge. Interior also good-to-near-fine with a few small spot-stains at inner front cover paste-down & front endpaper; "Keep Z" handwritten in ink by previous owner near upper right edge of blank front endpaper; very light browning esp. at blank margins of page leaves; very small spot-stains to blank areas of a few page leaves; more pronounced on pgs. 246-252 but only in blank areas; what can only be described as a most appropriately Burroughsian point on pg. 126- an actual squashed insect! We can almost hear those "...mangled insect screams..." (pg. 234). This perfectly macabre little desiccated corpse slightly effects one word, & bleeds onto pgs. 124-125, 127-130 onto words without effecting their legibility. Dust jacket good-to-near-fine with light-to-moderate rubbing, scratching & short, faint creasing to front, back covers & spine; moderate wear & a few creases, chips with slight loss of paper at edges & corners of same. Bonus fifth printing in fine condition with mild rubbing to front, back covers & spine; just a bit of wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; very slight browning & occasional spotting to lower & side edges of text block; slight fading to black-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with only slightest browning mostly at blank margins of page leaves, paste-downs & endpapers. Good-Near Fine; Fine / Good- Near Fine. [Item #3472]

Price: $400.00