SKU: 73877040992

BURROUGHS, William [ pseud . William LEE.] Junkie. Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict.

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Description

BURROUGHS, William [ pseud . William LEE.] Junkie. Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict.You Dont Decide to Be an Addict. One Morning You Wake Up Sick and Youre an Addict BURROUGHS, William [pseud. William LEE.] Junkie. Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict. New York: Ace Books. 1953. [issued and bound with:] HELBRANT, Maurice. Narcotic Agent. New York: Ace Books. 1953. Publishers pictorial card wrappers; Junkie: pp. [ii], 149, [2 (publishers advertisements)], Narcotic Agent: pp. [ii], 169; rubbing to spine and creasing to both covers;

‘You Don’t Decide to Be an Addict. One Morning You Wake Up Sick and You’re an Addict’

BURROUGHS, William [pseud. William LEE.] Junkie. Confessions of an Unredeemed Drug Addict. New York: Ace Books.1953.

[issued and bound with:]

HELBRANT, Maurice. Narcotic Agent. New York: Ace Books. 1953.

Publisher’s pictorial card wrappers; Junkie: pp. [ii], 149, [2 (publishers’ advertisements)], Narcotic Agent: pp. [ii], 169; rubbing to spine and creasing to both covers; uniformly toned, first 2 ff. of Junkie coming loose; old ink stamp of Burkes Used Book Store, Santa Ana, to first page of Junkie; otherwise a very good copy.

First edition, first impression of William Burroughs’s first published novel, a semi-autobiographical exploration of heroin addiction, withdrawal, and relapse in 1950s New York.

Burroughs, who had studied anthropology as a postgraduate from Harvard, developed an addiction to morphine following his move to New York and began selling heroin in Greenwich Village; arrested for forging a narcotics prescription in 1946, Burroughs subsequently fled to Mexico City in 1949 to avoid United States drug charges. In 1951 – by which time Junkie had largely been completed – he fatally shot his common-law wife, Joan Vollmer, during a drunken William Tell-style game in which he attempted to shoot a whiskey glass off her head.

Junkie was initially considered unpublishable; after numerous rejections, Burroughs (here writing under the pseudonym William Lee) turned to Ace Books through Carl Solomon (to whom Allen Ginsberg’s ‘Howl’ is dedicated), a printer of cheap pulp fiction, Solomon’s uncle being the owner of the publishing firm; Ace had rejected Kerouac’s On the Road, and only published Junkie on the condition that its language would be censored.

It is printed dos-à-dos with the largely forgotten Narcotic Agent by Maurice Helbrant, an autobiographical account of the author’s work as an undercover agent for the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. Considering the disposable intention of the pulp novel, our copy is in uncommonly good condition.

SKU: 2122792

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SKU: 73877040992

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Amazon Customer
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
Beautiful leather wallet
Color: Black Embossed
Beautiful leather wallet, especially if you’re looking for a smaller sleek wallet
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Reviewed in the United States on May 25, 2025
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Daniel Johnson
Pawtucket, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice
I love it. It's a nice slim wallet. Nothing special, but looks really nice, works well. I've been using it for a month with no problems. It's nicely lined, seemingly well made, etc. I got a good price on it, so I'm happy.
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Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2013
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Whitney
New York, US
★★★★★ 2
Cards don’t fit tight
Color: Black Embossed
My credit cards fall out. Needed a more secure alternative— still stayed with Tumi though.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 17, 2025
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Fleetside Garage
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 3
Wonderfully made, but not well sized for US currency
This is a very nice slim billfold, but unfortunately, it's not well sized for US currency. Probably for Euros. US Dollars fit, but it's a touch too narrow across to easily insert a bill. So you'll have to very diligently straighten and align a greenback to make it fit.
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Reviewed in the United States on December 24, 2013
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Lh2oson
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 5
Class and elegance
Color: Gold
I absolutely love this watch! My grandson also loved mine so I bought him one for Christmas. This is the 4th Citizen watch I have purchased. 2 are ecodrive and 2 are battery powered. I have to say I do like the battery powered watches better for their weight, lots lighter on your wrist than the ecodrive I regularly used to wear. This watch has taken a beating, as it seems like I'm always hitting the face on something, and has performed beautifully. I figured that I would've replaced the crystal by now but I haven't had to. My grandson admired and wanted mine, (I can't part with it because it has special meaning) so I bought him the identical model. I have worn mine in water, extreme cold, and out to dinner. It looks and performs beautifully. This watch is classy, elegant and beautiful and it's not a giant timepiece although you may have to take it to your local jeweler for band sizing. There's videos on u tube but I don't recommend trying that for taking links out. I say beautiful because as a woman wearing this watch it's not overwhelming and screaming look at me I'm wearing a man's watch. However this watch is handsome looking on men, my husband and grandson lol. The band is smooth, doesn't kink or pinch my wrist and when fitted properly it doesn't end up face down or sliding over and staying over on the outside of my wrist. Only drawback for me is I'm not used to the day dial and sometimes when setting the time bc some months are shorter I tend to be a day ahead, easy fix. I've gotten lots of compliments on this watch and would definitely buy it again
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Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2024

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