Kerouac, Jack

Book of Dreams

San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books, 1966. First Edition, Second Printing. Softcover. "The reader should know that this is just a collection of dreams that I scribbled after I woke up from my sleep- They were all written spontaneously, nonstop, just like dreams happen, sometimes written before I was even wide awake- The characters that I've written about in my novels reappear in these dreams in weird new dream situations...and they continue the same story which is the one story that I always write about. The heroes of "On the Road," "The Subterraneans," etc. reappear here doing further strange things for no other particular reason than that the mind goes on, the brain ripples, the moon sinks, and everybody hides their heads under pillows with sleeping caps." (from Foreword, pg. 3) Straightforward descriptions of the dreams of Jack Kerouac (1922-1969), Founding Father of the Beat Generation. A unique work amidst & a key to understanding the Kerouac canon. "It's the poetic raw material of the Kerouac saga, the substrata of his novels and a commentary upon them." (from back cover) The recounted dreams are preceded by a "Table of Characters" with names as they appear in the dreams & his books. These names are all disguised versions of his real Beat friends & collaborators- William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Allen Ginsberg et al. First published in 1961, here we offer the second printing of December 1966 as stated at copyright page. Cook, No. 27, pg. 29 (reference to numerous reprints at end of entry). Trade-format softcover, with photograph of a sleeping Kerouac repeated at front & rear covers (taken by Robert Frank as noted by Cook). From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who was the manager of the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England founded by Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate poet, bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by WSB, J.G. Ballard et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our item No.s 8217, 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House Bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but which is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been privileged to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining gems of Unicorn & Public House, including this. Third Mind Books proceeds to reverently curate & incrementally present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy that is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. An essential Kerouac collectible in its penultimately rarest near-contemporary form, with the highest & most relevant provenance. In relatively fine condition with mild rubbing, mostly faint scratching, light age-toning & occasional spotting to front, back covers & esp. spine; slight wear & some tiny bumps, creases at/from edges & corners of same; light rubbing & moderate age-related spotting to edges of text block esp. upper edge. Interior fine with light age-toning, spot-staining to blank inner covers; a hint of age-toning to page leaves chiefly at blank margins/edges; miniscule bleeding of text block-edge spots onto edges & corners of some page leaves; tiny bumps at corners of some leaves. Fine. [Item #8842]

Price: $80.00