Books

Eyre & Spottiswoode, London, 1951. Book. Very Good. Hardcover. 1st Edition. The first UK edition (first printing) of the author's first book. 8vo. 499pp. Beige cloth lettered in red at the spine. Backstrip and upper edges of the boards lightly spotted. Endpapers partially browned and with some additional light spotting which also impacts several preliminary and (blank) concluding leaves. A very good copy in very good non-price-clipped pictorial dust wrapper designed by Stein, with just a touch of spotting and tanning, several tiny closed tears and several slivers of loss from the spine panel ends. First published by Harcourt Brace in the US in March 1950, this distinctly more uncommon UK edition followed a year later. The novel was not a success: it was trashed by a number of reviewers, Kerouac's royalties did not exceed his advance of $1,000 and it was six years before the publication of his next novel, 'On the Road'..

The Town and the City was Jack Kerouac's debut novel, published in 1950. It presents a coming-of-age story of a young man who experiences the dichotomy between provincial American life and the attraction of the city. Kerouac's alter ego is Peter Martin. The novel is heavily influenced by the works of Thomas Wolfe and is based on Kerouac's own early life.

Look for the Harcourt Brace and Company logo as well as the published date on the copyright page of the book, and check for statements of 'First Edition'.