# Is "The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead" by William S. Burroughs a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead by William S. Burroughs (Grove Press, 1971) is identified by: First edition, first printing: black cloth-covered boards stamped in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the printed price present (surviving jackets are frequently price-clipped, which does not affect the first-issue identification). True first is the 1971 Grove Press US hardcover (Maynard & Miles A20a).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing: black cloth-covered boards stamped in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the printed price present (surviving jackets are frequently price-clipped, which does not affect the first-issue identification)
- No later printing is stated on the copyright page
- The first Grove printing was a comparatively small run
- Recorded in the standard Burroughs bibliography as Maynard & Miles A20a
- Publisher imprint reads Grove Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William S. Burroughs |
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Year | 1971 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing: black cloth-covered boards stamped in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing: black cloth-covered boards stamped in gilt on the spine, issued in the pictorial dust jacket with the printed price present (surviving jackets are frequently price-clipped, which does not affect the first-issue identification). No later printing is stated on the copyright page. The first Grove printing was a comparatively small run. Recorded in the standard Burroughs bibliography as Maynard & Miles A20a.

## Is this the true first?
True first is the 1971 Grove Press US hardcover (Maynard & Miles A20a). It precedes the UK Calder & Boyars edition of 1972.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Wild Boys: A Book of the Dead* by William S. Burroughs a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-wild-boys-a-book-of-the-dead
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.