Books

8vo. Hardcover. Pp. 310. First Edition, First Issue. Unclipped First Printing dust-jacket. Dust jacket design by Bill English. Very good condition, dust-jacket has slight shelf-wear, some tearing and creases around the edges, corners and spine. Bound in publisher's original black cloth boards lettered in white on cover and spine. Faint marking on the cloth spine. Pages themselves are clean and crisp, with no markings or annotations though some pages are slightly worn in the edges. On the Road is the acclaimed novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, based on the travels of Kerouac and his friends across the United States in the 1950s. It is considered a defining work of the postwar Beat and Counterculture generations, with its protagonists living life against a backdrop of jazz, poetry, and drug use. The novel is a roman � clef, with many key figures of the Beat movement, such as William S. Burroughs (Old Bull Lee), Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx), and Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty) represented by characters in the book, including Kerouac himself as the narrator Sal Paradise.

Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel "On the Road" is an emblematic portrait of the Beat Generation, capturing the yearning for freedom and authenticity against postwar American conformity. This semi-autobiographical work, based on the adventures of Kerouac and his friends across America, is often seen as a defining work of the countercultural movements of the 1950s and 60s. It chronicles the cross-country voyages of Sal Paradise, Kerouac’s alter ego, and Dean Moriarty, a free-spirited, charismatic rebel. "On the Road" is structured around several trips made by Sal and Dean, describing their escapades as they travel back and forth across the country. These journeys are less about the destinations and more about the experiences they gather, the people they meet, and the quest for meaning in a society perceived as rigid and materialistic. The narrative style of the book, known for its spontaneous, stream-of-consciousness prose, mirrors the tumultuous, impulsive lives of its characters. The novel not only explores physical journeys but also personal and spiritual ones. Dean's frenetic energy and Sal’s introspective nature contrast sharply, yet both characters are united in their disdain for conventional values. They indulge in jazz, poetry, and drug use—exploring alternative forms of consciousness and relationships.