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On the Road
by KEROUAC, Jack
- Used
- fair
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- Fair/Fair
- Seller
-
Gloucester City, New Jersey, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
(London): Andre Deutsch, 1958. Hardcover. Fair/Fair. First English edition. A worn, fair only copy, bumped at bottom corners, dampstains at the edges of first and last leaf, and other middling flaws, in poor dustwrapper with tape repairs and lacking the majority of the spine. Indeed about the only think to recommend this copy is the ownership signature of Lois Sorrells Beckwith, Kerouac's live-in lover, who stayed with the author and his mother in the family home in Northport, Long Island in the early 1960s. Nicknamed by Kerouac as "Kissy One" Sorrells is index numerous times in the author's *Selected Letter*. An association copy of the key novel of the beat generation, written in three weeks but with an effect that shows no sign of diminishing.
Synopsis
Perhaps the most famous and influential of the Beat novels, Jack Kerouac's On the Road represents much of what made the Beat and Counterculture movements so unique and important. The plot concerning the road trips and adventures experienced by Kerouac and his friends is well-known, as are the rumors and tall tales of the books' production. Kerouac often claimed that the wrote On the Road in a mere three weeks on a single 120-foot scroll of paper. Although that scroll does indeed exist and is featured in museums, Kerouac kept detailed journals of his travels that would later become passages and chapters in the finished product. The book was first published by Viking in 1957. Viking Press would go on to publish an edited version of On the Road in 2007 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the first printing. They substituted the fictional names for the real Beat protagonists, and they even included some of the more sexually explicit passages that were edited out of the 1957 edition. Due to the cultural significance of the book, true first editions/first printings of On the Road are quite valuable. But be warned: it is easy to mistake reprints or book club editions for the real thing, so always check with an expert before making a significant purchase.
Read More: Identifying first editions of On the Road
Reviews
On Sep 3 2011, West of Eden Books said:
A few years ago, 50 years after its initial publication, and 35 years since I had read it for the first time myself, I loaned my battered paperback copy of On The Road to a young friend of mine who had asked me "What should I read next?". Her reaction was, as I would have hoped, overwhelmingly positive. "It made me want to go hitchhiking" she told me. She didn't go, of course, that's considered too dangerous these days, but she caught the spirit of Kerouac from those yellowed old pages and that made me happy. It made me remember myself from the days before I was twenty. When the world was wide-open in front of me with all my limitless imagination and inexhaustible energy to carry me forward. Those two-and-a-half-hundred pages created in a Benzedrine-fueled typing frenzy spoke to both of us across generations as great writing is meant to do. Jack's tales of Casady, Ginsberg, Burroughs, and the rest would continue in his books that followed but the spirit and zest of On The Road stand alone. Bob Dylan said of On The Road, "It changed my life like it changed everyone else's". Myself and my young friend were lucky enough to experience it that same way.
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Details
- Bookseller
- Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 433081
- Title
- On the Road
- Author
- KEROUAC, Jack
- Format/Binding
- Hardcover
- Book Condition
- Used - Fair
- Jacket Condition
- Fair
- Quantity Available
- 1
- Publisher
- Andre Deutsch
- Place of Publication
- (London)
- Date Published
- 1958
- Keywords
- AmerLit20thCent, AssociationCopy
Terms of Sale
Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA
All books are first editions unless otherwise noted. All books are returnable within ten days if returned in the same condition as sent. We accept VISA, MASTERCARD, AMERICAN EXPRESS, DISCOVER, PAYPAL, checks and money orders. New Jersey residents please add 6.625% sales tax. All items guaranteed, all items subject to prior sale. Members ABAA, ILAB. Shipping is $4.50 for Media Mail, $10.00 for Priority Mail or UPS Ground. Tracking is provided for every order. Alternate shipping available by request. Shipping costs are based on books weighing 2.2 LB, or 1 KG. If your book order is heavy or oversized, we may contact you to let you know extra shipping is required.
About the Seller
Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA
Biblio member since 2005
Gloucester City, New Jersey
About Between the Covers- Rare Books, Inc. ABAA
Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc., founded in 1985, specializes in first editions of 20th Century American and English fiction. Our inventory of over 75,000 first editions includes: African-American literature & history, Mysteries, Detective Fiction, Drama, Books into Film and Sports books. We routinely issue extensively illustrated color catalogs, available by subscription. We are members of the Antiquarian Booksellers' Association of America (ABAA)and the International League of Antiquarian Booksellers (ILAB). Tom Congalton, founder of Between the Covers-Rare Books, Inc., actively promotes the ethics and standards of these professional organizations and served as President of the ABAA from 2000 to 2002.
Glossary
Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:
- Association Copy
- An association copy is a copy of a book which has been signed and inscribed by the author for a personal friend, colleague, or...
- Dustwrapper
- Also known as book jacket, dust cover, or dust wrapper, a dust jacket is a protective and decorative cover for a book that is...
- Poor
- A book with significant wear and faults. A poor condition book is still a reading copy with the full text still readable. Any...
- Fair
- is a worn book that has complete text pages (including those with maps or plates) but may lack endpapers, half-title, etc....
- Spine
- The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
- Edges
- The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
Frequently asked questions
This Book’s Categories
- Bindings & Editions Association Copy
- Fiction & Literature Action & Adventure
- Fiction & Literature Fiction by Region American Fiction
- Fiction & Literature Beat Literature
- Fiction & Literature Classic Literature
- Fiction & Literature Literary Studies Literary Criticism
- Fiction & Literature Modern Fiction
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Beat Poet Michael McClure
From the fateful reading at Six-Gallery in 1955 to his novels, poetry, and stage productions, Michael McClure was right in the thick of the Beat Generation as it was born. See his books and art and learn more about the works of Michael McClure.
