The British Journal of Addiction, Volume 53, Number 2, January 1957

Exceedingly rare non-offprint issue of The British Journal of Addiction (to Alcohol and Other Drugs) containing William S. Burroughs' "Letter from a Master Addict to Dangerous Drugs". One of the first appearances of Burroughs in periodical form. Important item in Burroughs' history as well as in the history of the study of addiction.

Published in Shrewsbury, England by Wilding & Son, Ltd. in January, 1957.

Eric Shoaf (author of William S. Burroughs: A Collector's Guide) remarked on RealityStudio that in 35 years of collecting he had never seen a copy of the original publication for sale or in a collection.

This copy previously owned by the grandson of Dr. J. Yerbury Dent -- the doctor that treated Burroughs with his heroin addiction using Apomorphine.  Before it was owned by J. Warwick Sweeney, Dent's grandson, it was owned by Dent’s eldest daughter (and was previously known as one of Dent’s personal copies).  J. Warwick Sweeney gifted this copy to this post's author on the condition that it not be sold, and should be rather bequested to an institution of learning.  The inside cover of the journal has a long handwritten description of the gift  J. Warwick Sweeney is also the author of Hardy Tree: A Doctor's Bible, a book about Dent, Burroughs, and addiction.

Bibliographic Information:

• M&M C1.a
• Not in Shoaf (the offprint is mentioned)
• Not in Schottlaender (v4, the offprint is mentioned)
• Raven 19570100TBJA.53.2

External Links:

• RealityStudio: Collectability in Question? "Letter From a Master Addict" by Eric Shoaf
• Bracket Press: J. Warwick Sweeney's "Hardy Tree: A Doctor's Bible"
• Carnegie Mellon University: "Letter from a Master Addict to Dangerous Drugs"
• ExecutingReality: Apomorphine: John Yerbury Dent, 1888-1962
• Filter: Why the Curious Story of William S. Burroughs' Heroin "Cure" Still Matters by Tony O'Neill