Sixty years ago today, Jack Kerouac‘s ground-breaking seminal “Beat Generation” novel, On The Road, was published by Viking Press. The book was conceived and composed several years earlier.
[Original “Self-Instructions” list for composing On the Road. Typescript, 1951. New York Public Library, Berg Collection, Jack Kerouac Archive]
[Jack Kerouac. Design for front cover of proposed paperback edition of On the Road, 1952. NYPL, Berg Collection, Jack Kerouac Archive]
The legendary 120-foot long ms. of On the Road – “the scroll”
Here’s a selection of On The Road covers:
and many more (from different translations of the book) can be found here –
Happy 60th birthday, On The Road !