Books

Octavo. 244pp. Black illustrated dust jacket, with white, blue green. White lettering on the front cover and spine. Black buckram boards with green lettering on the front cover, blue, white and green lettering on the spine. Top edge of book block in green. A first edition of the famed fourth novel by Jack Kerouac. One of the defining works of the Beat Generation, the work acts as a follow-up to the author's On the Road and deals with travels and events in the years since. The novel's musing on the contrast between urban lifestyle and the outdoors, as well as a Buddhist context for these experiences served as a significant influence on the later counterculture of the 1960s. Jacket unclipped, with a price of $3.95. Dust jacket with light rubbing, and some light creases to the head and tail of the spine. A few rubbed areas at the corners of the jacket have been colored in with black magic marker, although not readily apparent. The jacket looks quite good overall. Minor foxing to the very bottom edge of the front free endpaper, but interior is otherwise clean throughout. Book block tight. A nice copy. Jacket in very good, binding and interior in near fine condition overall.

The Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. The semi-autobiographical story is based on the author's experiences during the mid-1950s while living in California, after he'd become interested in Buddhism's spiritual mode of understanding. One of the main characters, Japhy Ryder, is based on the real poet Gary Snyder, who was a close friend and whose interest in Buddhism influenced Kerouac.