Kerouac, Jack

Big Sur (First British Edition)

London, England: Andre Deutsch Limited, 1963. First British Edition. Hardcover. "The odyssey of Jack Duluoz has caught up many readers...it is brought to a dramatic crisis in Big Sur, which has made an extraordinary impression on American critics. Horror, despair and joy fight for the soul of Jack Duluoz as he treks the neonlit superhighways, broods in the isolation of a beach cabin 'facing the pacific fury', or is consoled in the friendly beds of his companions. This is the story of the crack-up of the 'bloody King of the Beatniks'...Big Sur is also the picture of a vast continent, changing extremely in mood and in landscape, evoked so powerfully that it seems itself to have induced the states of mind which occupy the book. It is a remarkable addition to the Duluoz legend, and an authentic work of American literature." (from front & back flaps, first British edition) One of the great works of fictionalized memoir by the Founding Father of the Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, which describes his decline in reaction to "The Catastrophe of Success" (to borrow a phrase from Tennessee Williams) & portends his rapid spiral toward doom. Kerouac's literary alter ego, Jack Duluoz, retreats to the scenically spectacular cabin of his friend "Lorenzo Monsanto" (Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the great Beat publisher & poet who is still with us as of this writing, now 100 years old). Other legendary fellow Beat- San Francisco Renaissance luminaries in this work include Neal Cassady ("Cody Pomeray"), Allen Ginsberg ("Irwin Garden"), Michael McClure ("Pat McClure"), Gary Snyder ("Jarry Wagner") & Lew Welch ("Dave Wain"). In exemplary Kerouac fashion, as in Desolation Angels, his character swings like a pendulum from reclusive escape back into the maelstrom of Bohemian revelry he somewhat unwittingly inspired. Offered here is the first British edition, hardcover in dust jacket, first printing- not stated, but with all points present in Charters, A17(c), pgs. 40-41. As noted therein, this is one of 3000 copies issued October 14, 1963, the year after the first American edition. A Canonical Kerouac Classic, in its quite rare second-most original form. Book in fine condition with only slight rubbing to front, back covers & spine; very light wear & a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same; small spot-stain at mid-right edge of front cover; several of same at blank back cover; light browning & significant spotting to upper edge of text block; much less to side & lower edges of same. Interior very fine with only mild browning, spotting to paste-downs & endpapers. Dust Jacket in near-fine condition with mild rubbing to front, back covers, spine & flaps; mild-to-moderate wear, tiny bumps, short creases to edges & corners of same; a few very short, mostly closed tears esp. at spine-edges & corners. Fine / Near Fine. [Item #3453]

Price: $450.00 save 10% $405.00