Dead Fingers Talk by William Burroughs - 1963

Tandem. Fair with no dust jacket. 1970. Reprint. Paperback.

London : Star 39613, 1977. Book. Good to Very Good. Paperback. 1st thus.. 16mo - over 5¾ - 6¾" tall. The fifth novel by Burroughs, being a compilation of selections from earlier works ('Naked Lunch,' 'The Soft Machine,' and 'The Ticket That Exploded,') with some previously unpublished material. 223 pages. Internally tight w/saw-cut remainder stripe to top edge, a bit of rubbing, impressions, a little scraping to spine, a bit of corner wear, light edge soil, used book store stamp to inside front cover, price stamp to first end paper, tanning. .

1970. . Paperback. Good. 12mo. - Second UK Paperback Edition - Covers heavily worn and rubbed w/ numerous creases and scuffs - Reading crease to spine w/ ends torn and frayed - Guttering badly eroded w/ first page just starting to come loose - Edges of text block heavily tanned and foxed - Content heavily tanned throughout - 224 pages

John Calder, 1963. Hardcover. Good. . First ed. Jacket in poor condition, has some loss at edges. General shelf/age wear. Pages clean.

London: Tandem, 1970 (500 gram rate) first reprint of the Tandem UK paperback issue with a photo cover of a junky shooting up on a stairwell, light rubbing wear , light reading crease to spine, 224pp. reprint. Mass Market Paperback. Very Good/No Jacket. 12mo - over 6? - 7? tall.

John Calder 1963. First edition, octavo, grey cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine, 215pp, VG (light bruising to spine extrems, light soiling to board edges, light foxing to page edges, owners name in ink to fep, booksellers stamp to fep,) in d/w VG- (moderate soiling to front, light creasing to rear, light rubbing with loss to spine, chipping & small tears to spine extrems & flaps, moderate foxing to inner)

London: John Calder in Association with Olympia Press, 1963. 1st edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Good. VG in Good+ dw. 8vo, 220pp, grey cloth with spine stamped in gold, printed dustwrapper. The first edition of this Burroughs work published in England only (Schottlaender v4.A7, Shoaf I-7). This copy from poet, artist, and experimental impresario Opal Louis Nations includes pencil notes by Nations (dated June 1964) to the front endpaper. Else an unmarked copy with a little soil; dustwrapper has edgewear and signs of removed tape reinforcement.

A fine copy of this classic. A tiny bit of the dustjacket is missing but its a strong design based on photographs by Ian Sommerville, and to my mind gives the book value.
See also my other Burroughs listing..

DEAD FINGERS TALK, Calder & Boyars, 1963, first edition., crease to the head of the spine, else vg+/near fine in like dust-wrapper. 1/4,000 copies. Not published in the U.S.

London: John Calder , 1963. First edition. Cloth. Near Fine/Very Good. 8.5" by 5.5" . None . A splendid first edition of this rare novel by William Burroughs, with the unclipped dust wrapper. The first edition, first impression of this work. One of the rarer novels by Beat Generation author William Burroughs, it was out of print for almost fifty years before the 2020 restored edition. This novel is the result of a combination of Burroughs' earlier novels to create a new narrative. The lack of evident new material caused controversy upon its release although, in the restored edition, the early experimental mash-up is praised by editor Oliver Harris.  In the original publisher's full cloth binding. Externally lovely with minor shelf wear only, minor bumping to the head and tail of the spine and extremities. Small inscription by a previous owner to the front pastedown, 'Melne London 1968.' The dust wrapper is smart and unclipped with minor shelf wear, with a minor chipping to the head and tail of the… Read More