Books

First edition, first printing. The novel outlines "the equipment and attitudes it took to live Kerouac's way, including both the spiritual equipment [Zen Buddhism] as well as ordinary equipment like prosaic tents and Oakland store sleeping bags" (Charters, p. 270). Octavo. Original black cloth, spine lettered in blue, silver, and green, front cover lettered in green. With dust jacket. Spine ends bumped; jacket rubbed, extremities lightly nicked with a couple of short closed tears, unclipped: a near-fine copy in very good jacket. Charters A4a. Ann Charters, Kerouac: A Biography, 1994.

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.