Nicosia, Gerald; Santos, Anne Marie (Kerouac, Jack; Cassady, Neal; Henderson, Lu Anne)

One and Only: The Untold Story of On the Road (Advance Reading Copy)

ISBN: 9781936740048
Berkeley, CA: Viva Editions/ Cleis Press, Inc., 2011. First Edition, Advance Reading Copy. Softcover. Inscribed with drawings & signed by Gerald Nicosia to R.J. Ellis. "Lu Anne Henderson was a beautiful 15-year-old girl in Denver in 1945 when she met Neal Cassady, fast-talking hurricane of male sexuality and vast promises. He told her he was going to enroll in Columbia to become a writer. He did marry her and took her to New York, but stole her uncle's car and $300 from her employer to get there. Although Neal never made it into a classroom, they were soon hanging out with a group of young would-be writers, including Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. Lu Anne became the secret link between Kerouac and Cassady, making the Beat Generation possible, as well as giving Kerouac material for one of the seminal novels of the twentieth century, On the Road. One and Only gives a new human dimension to the main Beat players and contains shocking new details about the passionate and peripatetic people who became the major countercultural icons of post-war America." (back cover) The story of Lu Anne Henderson (1930-2008), Neal Cassady's first wife &, directly & indirectly, a key figure in the birth of the Beat Generation & the adventures which would be turned into the groundbreaking novel On the Road by Jack Kerouac. The main author, Gerald Nicosia, wrote the most acclaimed critical biography of Kerouac, Memory Babe (1983, see our item No.'s 1201, 1745), & is among the foremost Kerouac scholars. We are proud to know him as our colleague at the European Beat Studies Network (ebsn.eu). Nicosia interviewed Henderson & otherwise deeply researched this critical early period in the Beat saga. Co-author Anne Marie Santos is the daughter of Lu Anne Henderson, & she provides her unique insight in the final chapter, "A Daughter's Recollection." With many vintage images, including facsimile of a letter (recto) written by Henderson to Cassady during 1957, after they had long moved on from each other. Trade-format softcover original, first edition as stated on copyright page, first printing as indicated by number sequence thereon. Advance reading copy as stated on covers, with publication date of November 1, 2011 noted on back cover. On the title page, Nicosia has hand-written, dated & signed along with drawings of a building & tree: "Middelburg/ 9/6/12/ In the/ shade of the abbey/ for Dick Ellis-/ Thanks for your/ kindness &/ appreciation of/ Jack-/ Keep fighting for the/ truth!/ In friendship/ (signed) Gerry Nicosia." "Dick Ellis" is R.J. Ellis, author of the Kerouac biography Outside Writing (see our item No. 4335); & the date & location of Nicosia's inscription places it at none other than the very first annual Conference of EBSN held in the Dutch city of Middelburg during September 2012, which this writer attended & participated in, commisserating with Nicosia & Co. A very rare & rewarding work of Kerouac-related critical-biographical scholarship, with particularly significant association & provenance. In very fine condition with only a touch of rubbing & faint scratching to glossy front, back covers & spine; a few tiny bumps at edges & corners of same. Interior very fine with only tiny bumps, creases at mostly upper corners of some page leaves. Very Fine. [Item #4360]

Price: $60.00