Books

Inscribed first printing of the influential literary achievement by a towering figure of the counterculture. The basis for one of the defining films of 1970s cinema, Kesey's novel was first published more than a decade earlier, at the dawn of the '60s, and is all the more shocking for that original context. The novel is set in a men's psychiatric hospital among inmates who, afflicted variously by mental illness, minority status, criminal convictions, and aggressive nonconformity, are all subject to the indignities and cruelties of nurses and doctors alike. Kesey's sadistic Nurse Ratched lives on as a quasi-folk myth, like the real Lizzie Borden and the fictional Annie Wilkes; her name is perhaps better known even than Kesey's own. An enduring attack on the establishment's power to punish and enforce. 8'' x 5.5''. Original green cloth, spine lettered in yellow. Original unclipped color dust jacket designed by Paul Bacon, photographic portrait of Kesey by Hank Kranzler on rear panel. Beige topstain. [8], 311, [1] pages. Kesey's inscription scrawled in black ink across front paste-down ("For Darrel / Kesey 1993"); previous owner's signature penned to front endpaper. Jacket spine only just sunned; a touch of rubbing at spine folds, faint scratching (close inspection only) on front panel. Mild patches of offsetting and small stamp "Feb 21 '62" to verso of jacket. Small water spot to cloth. Presents beautifully. Very good in very good plus jacket.

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is a novel written by Ken Kesey, first published in 1962. The book is a powerful critique of the mental health system and a poignant study of institutional processes and the human mind.