Cities of the Red Night (1981) Signed First Edition Reference

Cities of the Red Night is the first volume of Burroughs’s late trilogy — the most ambitious and commercially successful phase of his career. Published by Holt, Rinehart and Winston in 1981, it weaves together three narrative strands: a pirate utopia in eighteenth-century Madagascar, a hardboiled detective story in 1970s New York and South America, and a mythological account of viral cities that existed before recorded history.

The Novel

The book represents Burroughs’s most accessible long fiction — the cut-up technique has been largely abandoned in favor of a complex but coherent multi-strand narrative that draws on genres (pirate adventure, detective fiction, science fiction) to create something richer than any single genre. The pirate sections, in which Captain Mission establishes a libertarian commune in Madagascar, represent Burroughs’s most explicit political utopianism.

The novel was well-reviewed and sold better than any Burroughs novel since Naked Lunch, confirming his return to narrative fiction and establishing the trilogy that would occupy his final creative years.

First Edition Identification

Publisher: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York Publication date: 1981

Signed Copy Market Values

• Signed first edition, fine/fine: $300–$800
• Inscribed copies: $400–$1,200
• Unsigned first edition, fine/fine: $50–$150

Cities of the Red Night offers strong value for a major Burroughs novel. Signed copies are available at moderate prices, reflecting the abundance of late-period Burroughs signatures.