The Twelfth Anniversary Playboy Reader.

Chicago: Playboy Press, 1965. Jack Kerouac's personal advance copy of The Twelfth Anniversary Playboy Reader. Quarto, original cloth. Laid in is the original transmittal letter on Hefner's Playboy Press letterhead dated September 8, 1965, which reads in part: "Dear Mr. Kerouac: Here, with my personal compliments, is your advance copy of The Twelfth Anniversary Playboy Reader, which is being published by Playboy Press. It is a hallmark in the history of Playboy, a distinguished compilation of the very best prose we have published in our magazine during its first twelve years. Your work has contributed mightily to our success, and I am very pleased to have included it in this volume... Cordially, Hugh M. Hefner." Signed by Hefner in facsimile. Kerouac was one of a staggering number of authors whose work was published in Playboy Magazine early in their writing careers, when they were still virtually unknown. Published to commemorate the 12th anniversary of the magazine's first appearance on December 1, 1953, the impressive list of authors and interviewees featured in this volume include: Ian Fleming, Ludwig Bemelmans, John Steinbeck, P.G. Wodehouse, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Henry Miller, D.H. Lawrence, Aldous Huxley, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Albert Schweitzer, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Kerouac's short story "Good Blonde" first appeared in Playboy. With Kerouac's estate stamp to the front free endpaper. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. Playboy Magazine was founded in Chicago in 1953, by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. Notable for its centerfolds of nude and semi-nude models, Playboy played an important role in the sexual revolution and remains one of the world's best-known brands, having grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc. The magazine has a long history of publishing short stories by novelists such as Arthur C. Clarke, Ian Fleming, Vladimir Nabokov, Saul Bellow, Chuck Palahniuk, P. G. Wodehouse, Roald Dahl, Haruki Murakami, and Margaret Atwood. With a regular display of full-page color cartoons, it also became a showcase for notable cartoonists, including Harvey Kurtzman, Jack Cole, Shel Silverstein, and Rowland B. Wilson.