Books

First edition, first printing, signed by the author on the front free endpaper. Wolfe's counterculture classic chronicles the adventures of Ken Kesey and his cohort as they travelled the USA on their bus "Further", spreading the gospel of LSD. It remains "the best account - fictional or non, in print or on film - of the genesis of the '60s hipster subculture" (Shafer). The Pranksters proselytized that LSD was a gateway to higher consciousness, and Wolfe tagged along for the ride, writing three features for the World Journal Tribune in 1967 in which he sketched their progress. Wolfe entirely reworked the stories into the present book, writing in a style described by Joseph Epstein as "normally shotgun baroque, sometimes edging over into machine-gun rococo" (cited by Carmody & Grimes). The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test has been touted as the "essential book" (Fremont-Smith) of the hippie movement and was fundamental in introducing the ideologies and drug use of the Pranksters to the public. Deirdre Carmody & William Grimes, "Tom Wolfe, 88, 'New Journalist' with Electric Style and Acid Pen, Dies", New York Times, 15 May 2018; Eliot Fremont-Smith, "Books of the Times; FreakOut in Day0Glo", New York Times, 12 Aug 1968. Octavo. Original white cloth, spine lettered in metallic orange, pink, and blue, with publisher's imprint in metallic green, orange endpapers, top edge blue. With dust jacket designed by Milton Glaser. Spine ends bumped, edges of spine and covers toned, faint splash marks on top edge; jacket faintly toned with occasional creases to edges, nicks to head of spine, price-clipped: a near-fine copy in like jacket.

The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test chronicles the experiences of Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters as they travel across the United States in a colorful bus, promoting the use of psychedelic drugs.