Gifford, Barry (Kerouac, Jack)

Kerouac's Town (The Signed, Numbered, Limited Edition)

Santa Barbara, CA: Capra Press, 1973. First Edition. Hardcover. Signed & Numbered by Barry Gifford. “THE MYTH OF THE RAINY NIGHT! Just awoke to shroud mist morning, veiled day, heavy traffic on Bridge St.—mill men on their way to work. Last night “Louise” came home ‘bout 3 A.M. with a man but wouldn’t let him in her room. “Aw, lemme in Louise—Louise honey, I ain’t got no place to go”; (and pleading, voice husky crackle like Andy Devine or Wallace Beery) “it’s three in the mornin!” (‘s how I know what time it was)—but Louise wouldn’t budge her door for forlorn Beery (can imagine her deft sidestep turnkey motion leavin him stupid and staring at the closed door under dingy hall light), and he stumbled off back into the bleak cold midnight of Lowell—But now the morning gloom—Jacky Duluozes and Maggie Cassidys out of warm morn beds to school; Papa Leos to work, ink-stained hands awready dealing eggs and coffee into mouth; then out to meet the day, such as it is—And we, too—The second anniversary of la mort de Kerouac…” (pg. 11, “Oct. 21—Thursday, 7 A.M.”). “Kerouac’s Town” is a very special look at Jack Kerouac’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts on the second anniversary of his death, the product of a pilgrimage undertaken by Barry Gifford and noted Kerouac Scholar-&-Collector Marshall Clements. Quite simply, this a cool little chapbook that’s hard not to dig. Gifford’s diaristic entries (which chart he and Clements’ funerary pilgrimage) read like those of a serious Spontaneous Bop Prosodist; a welcome contrast to the diarrhetic scribbling of Kerouac’s many imitators. Clements’ black-&-white photographs add a nice touch to the production as well, complementing Gifford’s prose and enhancing the reader’s conception of Kerouac’s Lowell simply because they were taken early enough on to maintain a visual and sociocultural semblance to the Lowell that Jack knew. This delightful little book belongs in the collection of every serious Kerouac scholar, and is far from the second-rate, derivative project many might assume it to be. One of 125 Limited Edition copies signed and numbered by Barry Gifford and handbound in boards (#124/125). Numbering in brown, thin felt pen ink; Gifford signature (in black, medium-sized felt pen ink) reads: “Barry Gifford.” [ISBN: 0-912264-77-2]. Chapbook in very fine condition with only slight shelf-wear to fine-edges; small bump at bottommost fine-edge of front cover; modest rubbing to front, back covers esp. near fine-edges. Very Fine. [Item #4577]

Price: $125.00