Paris, Olympia, (1959). Burroughs' second book, and the first under his own name, a high spot of Beat and postwar American literature and one of the three key volumes of the Beat movement, along with Kerouac's On the Road and Ginsberg's Howl. Published only in paperback in Paris by Maurice Girodias' important small press, in an edition of 5000 copies, three years before it could be published in the U.S., Naked Lunch was controversial for its explicit sexual content but, more importantly in the long run, it was an experiment in writing and perception, with shifting authorial voices and nonrealistic transpositions in time and place and perspective. This is the second issue of the first printing, with the New Franc price rubber-stamped over the original price: France switched to New Francs on January 1, 1960, which means this book hadn't sold at that time so the price was changed to reflect the new currency. Trace wear to joints, else a fine copy in a very near fine dust jacket with tiny nicks to the crown. In a custom clamshell case. A beautiful copy, and seldom found in this condition today. [#034821] SOLD