McDarrah, Fred W. (Buchwald, Art; Ferlinghetti, Lawrence; Holmes, John Clellon; Kerouac, Jack; Krim, Seymour; Lipton, Lawrence; Millstein, Gilbert; Podhoretz, Norman; Rexroth, Kenneth et al.)

Kerouac & Friends: A Beat Generation Album

ISBN: 0688039049
New York, NY: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1985. First Edition. Hardcover. "Kerouac and Friends is more than a collection of photos and articles from the 1950s; it's a loving memoir of the wonderful carefree days when I had nothing to do except go to poetry readings, the Artists' Club, the Living Theatre, and the Cedar Street Tavern...Kerouac and Friends is about the vintage years of the beat generation when everything seemed to happen and everyone who was anybody was in New York writing, reading, acting, painting, drinking, talking, playing." (from Preface) The now-classic compilation by Fred W. McDarrah (1926-2007), the legendary staff photographer for The Village Voice in NYC, who documented & lived among the members of the Beat Generation during its NYC heyday. With almost 200 of his greatest images interspersed among many contemporary articles by or about the Beats, written by such luminaries as Art Buchwald, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, John Clellon Holmes, Jack Kerouac, Seymour Krim, Lawrence lipton, McDarrah himself, Gilbert Millstein (his laudatory review of On the Road that launched Kerouac to fame), Kenneth Rexroth & many others. Although mostly sympathetic or at least honest inquiries into a then-bewildering new phenomenon, there are pieces that evoke the negative, hostile reaction to the Beats by such establishment figures as Norman Podhoretz. Offered here is the first edition hardcover in unclipped dust jacket, first printing as indicated by number sequence on copyright page. An essential portfolio-reference by a photo-journalist at the center of the action, & an increasingly rare collectible in this original format. Book in very fine condition with only a tiny bit of wear at edges & corners of front, back covers & spine; small bump at lower left corner of back cover most likely as issued; very light rubbing & a few faint spot-stains at edges of text block. Interior very fine, substantially mint. Dust jacket in very fine condition with only very mild rubbing to front, back covers & spine; mild wear & a few tiny bumps, creases at/near edges & corners of same; light browning at light-colored edges of back cover & flaps. Very Fine / Very fine. [Item #3370]

Price: $50.00