The Digit Books Edition of "Junkie" (1957)

London, England: Digit Books (book, primary), 1957.
7.125" x 4.5" x 0.375", 158 pages, softcover.

Junkie by William S. Burroughs, under the name William Lee, as published as a paperback by Digit Books (London, England) in 1957. This follows the original Ace Books edition of 1953, which was published tête-a-tête (alt: tête-bêche) with Maurice Helbrant's Narcotic Agent. This is the first edition in which Junkie was published by itself.  

The standard story of this book [which is generally hearsay, since the records of Watson Brown, who owned Digit Books, apparently were not preserved, and since legal documentation on book censorship in 1950s Britain is thin] is that the back cover caused a scandal with British censors, who saw it as a corrupting influence and ordered that all copies be recalled and pulped. 

The more likely truth [again, since records are unavailable] comes from Miles, who kindly responded to my questions about this event. According to Miles, via Burroughs, the pulping of this edition was a decision of the Digit Books owner:

"As I remember it, as told me by Bill [Burroughs], someone at Digit bought the UK rights as part of a standing deal with Ace that they had first refusal on new titles, or some deal like that. The book was designed and printed but when copies arrived, the owner of Digit saw it finally and was outraged. It was he who ordered all remaining copies pulped. By then quite a few had been shipped to regular customers who had standing orders. There was no court case ... I’ve seen maybe seven or eight in 60 years."

It has been estimated that between 50 and 120 copies of this book reached the public, making it one of the rarest Beat books. Most of the surviving copies are believed to have been shipped from the UK before the ban, and a few have surfaced in New Zealand in recent years. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most difficult Burroughs editions to find a copy of, and most, when found, are in poor condition yet remain desirable regardless.

This copy was given as a very nice birthday gift by my partner, Janet Galore, who purchased it from a London-based friend and collector (who, miraculously, had more than one copy). This copy has been carefully and judiciously restored [for better or worse, I think better], as it suffered from adhered cello tape, detached covers (held together with the tape), a deeply worn and faded spine, some minor paper loss at the top and bottom of the spine, and a separating text block that was losing a signature. Restoration was done using reference images of a near–pristine copy owned by the same friend. 

Jed Birmingham mentions in his essay on "The Digit Junkie" at RealityStudio that "[h]aving the Olympia Press Naked Lunch on your bookshelf demonstrates that you are serious about collecting Burroughs. Owning the Digit Junkie announces that you have a serious problem." If it wasn't clear before this...

The Digit Junkie is #10 on Jed Birmingham's list of The Top 23 Most Interesting Burroughs Collectibles.

Maynard & Miles A1.B.
Not in Shoaf.
Schottlaender v4.A1.B.

External Links:

• RealityStudio: "The Digit Junkie"
• RealityStudio: "#10. The Digit Junkie" (of The Top 23 Most Interesting Burroughs Collectibles)
• Booktryst: "Superior Copy of William Burroughs' Scarce Digit Junkie..."
• Bradley P. Allen: "William S. Burroughs. Junkie."
• BeatBooks: "Junkie"