Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. City Lights Books, 1963.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Fourth printing of the first edition of this important collaboration, containing the correspondence between Burroughs and Ginsberg, as the former ventured to the Amazon rainforest in search of yagé (ayahuasca), a plant with near-mythical hallucinogenic and some say telepathic qualities. In addition to their correspondence, which contain the seeds of Burroughs' Naked Lunch, the book is also noteworthy for containing his "Roosevelt After Inauguration" and "I Am Dying, Meester?", an early example of the cut-up technique. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1963. Publisher's stiff illustrated wraps; pp. 68. In very good condition, with general shelfwear and rubbing to wraps, owner's name neatly erased from title page.
Seller: Kevin Sell, The Rare Book Sleuth, IOBA, Minneapolis, MN, U.S.A.
William Burroughs; Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. City Lights, 1963.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition. Covers shelfworn, with dog eared corners.
Seller: Moe's Books, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Burroughs, William & Ginsberg, Allen. The Yage Letters. City Lights, 1963.
Price: US$74.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: Tight, unread copy.
Seller: Jay W. Nelson, Bookseller, IOBA, Austin, MN, U.S.A.
William S. Burroughs. The Yage Letters Special Collection. City Lights Publishers, 1963.
Price: US$77.17 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition thus, fine condition. The Yage Letters Special Collection by William S. Burroughs. Published by City Lights Publishers in 1963. Paperback. The Yage Letters: an early epistolary novel by William S. Burroughs, whose 1952 account of himself as Junkie, published under the pseudonym William Lee, ended Yage may be the final fix. In letters to Allen Ginsberg, an unknown young poet in New York, his journey to the Amazon jungle is recorded, detailing picaresque incidents of search for telepathic-hallucinogenic-mind-expanding drug Yage (Ayahuasca, or Banisteriopsis Caape) used by Amazon Indian doctors for finding lost objects, mostly bodies. Collectible item in excellent condition.
Seller: Collectors' Bookstore, Deurne, Belgium
Burroughs, William & Ginsberg, Allen. Yage letters. City Lights, 1963.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Black & white card wraps are well-bound; lightly rubbed along edges; tanned at spine; sine creased; previous owner's signature on title page; pages otherwise unmarked throughout.
Seller: Shaker Mill Books, W. Stockbridge, MA, U.S.A.
BURROUGHS, William and Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. City Lights, San Francisco, CA, 1963.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. Softcover. 68 pages. A collection of letters between these two Beat literature giants. A near fine copy in wrappers with the usual toning to the pages. A very nice copy.
Seller: Jeff Hirsch Books, ABAA, Wadsworth, IL, U.S.A.
Burroughs, William, and Allen Ginsberg. The Yage Letters. City Lights Books, San Francisco, 1963.
Price: US$125.00 + shipping
Description: 68 pp. Original printed wrappers. Slight rubbing to rear cover fore-edge, and head and tail of spine, near fine. Maynard & Miles A8. Morgan B22. Cook 45.
Seller: Triolet Rare Books, ABAA, Los Angeles, CA, U.S.A.
Burroughs, William S. and Ginsberg Allen.. The Yage Letters.. City Lights Books, 1963.
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Printing. A Fine copy in black and white smooth wrappers, as issued. 68pp. Quite uncommon in this condition now. Q14399
Seller: Compass Rose Books, ABAA-ILAB, Kensington, CA, U.S.A.