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Jack Kerouac’s copy of Gerald Heard’s. Prayers and Meditations. 1949. With a few markings and underlines by KerouacThis ...
11/25/2024

Jack Kerouac’s copy of Gerald Heard’s. Prayers and Meditations. 1949. With a few markings and underlines by Kerouac

This book is a fascinating collaboration between Aldous Huxley and Gerald Heard. It’s linked to Heard’s Trabuco College experiment in California, and features seven pieces by Huxley, described by Heard as “one of our ablest authors.” Alongside Huxley’s contributions are works by St. Albert, St. Anselm, Dionysius the Areopagite, William H. Forthman, and Margaret Gage. The rest were penned by Heard himself.

Jack Kerouac’s Dictionary of Saints filled with his notes and underlines. These annotations reveal his deep interest in ...
10/23/2024

Jack Kerouac’s Dictionary of Saints filled with his notes and underlines. These annotations reveal his deep interest in spirituality and the legends of the saints, showcasing how they influenced his writing in the “Duluoz Legend.”

Available: Jack Kerouac used this small case to store his lead refills for his mechanical pencil. Still containing his o...
10/16/2024

Available: Jack Kerouac used this small case to store his lead refills for his mechanical pencil. Still containing his original lead refill inside.

Jack Kerouac’s Money Clip Available:Jack Kerouac’s relationship with money was complex, often discussed with his mother ...
10/16/2024

Jack Kerouac’s Money Clip Available:

Jack Kerouac’s relationship with money was complex, often discussed with his mother and a constant concern throughout his life. While his financial documents are preserved in archives, a money clip he owned provides a tangible reminder of his financial reality. Unlike abstract financial records, the clip embodies the physicality of his experiences, reflecting his day-to-day life and significant moments, such as buying meals or sharing drinks with friends. It serves as a personal artifact that captures the essence of his journey and the realities he faced while pursuing his passion for writing and exploration.

Jack Kerouac’s copy of Frank Sinatra in the Wee Small Hours. 1955Jack Kerouac connected with Frank Sinatra’s album “In t...
09/16/2024

Jack Kerouac’s copy of Frank Sinatra in the Wee Small Hours. 1955

Jack Kerouac connected with Frank Sinatra’s album “In the Wee Small Hours” because it touched on heartache and loneliness, themes that resonated with Kerouac’s own life. As a teen, Kerouac idolized Sinatra. When he went to Columbia University, he often played Sinatra’s records, sometimes getting emotional while drinking beer with his fraternity friends. This admiration for Sinatra stuck with him. In the late 1950s, during his relationship with Helen Weaver, Kerouac would sing Sinatra songs to her to patch things up after arguments. Sinatra’s music was a big deal for Kerouac and mirrored the themes of loneliness and emotional struggle found in his writing.

Available here - Kerouac’s own copy of The Paris Review #37 which inadvertently published Jack Kerouac’s first haiku, t...
09/09/2024

Available here - Kerouac’s own copy of The Paris Review #37 which inadvertently published Jack Kerouac’s first haiku, thanks to Allen Ginsberg. In his Art of Poetry interview, Ginsberg praised Kerouac as a natural master of haiku, contrasting him humorously with Gary Snyder, who, according to Ginsberg, needed years in a Zen monastery to write a single haiku about “sh*tting off a log.” Ginsberg recounted how Snyder was astounded by Kerouac observing winter flies dying of old age in his medicine chest.

Medicine Cabinet: “in my medicine cabinet / the winter flies / died of old age.”

This marked the first time a Kerouac haiku appeared in print, although Kerouac had previously recorded haikus with Zoot Sims and Al Cohen. Ann Charters noted this appearance in her bibliography entry G21. It is possible that Kerouac pulled this copy off his shelf to show this example to Charters when she working with him on the bibliography.

Jack Kerouac’s personal copy of Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation. 1960. Photo on the album cover taken by...
09/06/2024

Jack Kerouac’s personal copy of Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation. 1960. Photo on the album cover taken by Robert Frank.

Kerouac’s third and final spoken word album, showcasing his unique style of poetry that is deeply influenced by jazz. Unlike his previous albums, which featured musical accompaniment, this recording focuses solely on Kerouac’s spoken word, allowing listeners to appreciate the musicality of his language.

The album includes readings from various works, such as Desolation Angels, The Subterraneans, Mexico City Blues, and Old Angel Midnight. Critics have praised the album for its ability to transcend traditional poetry and music, with one reviewer describing it as “literally spoken jazz.”

Available for purchase: Jack Kerouac’s personal copy of The Charlie Parker Story #3. Kerouac deeply admired Charlie Par...
09/06/2024

Available for purchase: Jack Kerouac’s personal copy of The Charlie Parker Story #3.

Kerouac deeply admired Charlie Parker, often expressing this in his poetry. In Mexico City Blues, he described Parker as “musically as important as Beethoven.” Kerouac frequently attended Parker’s performances and listened to his records, drawing inspiration from the rhythms and improvisational spirit of jazz to shape his writing style. Max Roach, featured on this album, was an artist Kerouac listened to while writing On the Road.

Available here is a letter from Hunter S. Thompson dated December 1, 1962, in which he uses vivid imagery to threaten th...
09/02/2024

Available here is a letter from Hunter S. Thompson dated December 1, 1962, in which he uses vivid imagery to threaten the Beat Generation and offer a harsh critique of Jack Kerouac. Thompson writes,

“I have tonight begun reading a stupid, sh*tty book by Kerouac called Big Sur, and I would give a ball to wake up tomorrow on some empty ridge with a herd of beatniks grazing in the clearing about 200 yards below the house. And then to squat with the big boomer and feel it on my shoulder with the smell of grease and powder and, later, a little blood.”

This letter is published in Proud Highway: The Saga of a Desperate Southern Gentleman 1955-1967.

Jack Kerouac’s copy of the White Dove Review #3. In 1959, while still in high school, Ron Padgett and his friend Dick G...
08/28/2024

Jack Kerouac’s copy of the White Dove Review #3. In 1959, while still in high school, Ron Padgett and his friend Dick Gallup launched the White Dove Review, an avant-garde literary journal inspired by giants like Evergreen Review. Frequenting the Lewis Meyer Bookstore, where Padgett worked, they enlisted classmates Joe Brainard and Michael Marsh as art editors. With funding from Padgett’s mother and an IBM typewriter borrowed from George Kaiser, they reached out to literary heroes like Jack Kerouac and e.e. cummings for contributions. Their premiere issue featured Kerouac’s poem “The Thrashing Doves,” marking a remarkable achievement for high school students that significantly impacted the literary scene and contributed to the establishment of the Tulsa School of Poets.

Jack Kerouac’s personal copy of Søren Kierkegaard’s “Fear and Trembling” and “The Sickness Unto Death.” These works delv...
08/26/2024

Jack Kerouac’s personal copy of Søren Kierkegaard’s “Fear and Trembling” and “The Sickness Unto Death.” These works delve into themes of faith, sacrifice, despair, and selfhood.

John Clellon Holmes noted Kierkegaard’s influence in his 1958 Esquire article, stating, “To be beat is to be at the bottom of your personality looking up; to be existential in the Kierkegaard, rather than in the Jean-Paul Sartre sense.”

Kierkegaard’s philosophy had a profound impact on the Beats the Beat Generation’s quest for identity and authentic faith.

Kerouac’s personal edition of the 1959 Japanese translation of “On the Road,” published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha, reflect...
08/25/2024

Kerouac’s personal edition of the 1959 Japanese translation of “On the Road,” published by Kawade Shobo Shinsha, reflects his appreciation for Japanese culture and the literary values he held dear. This edition not only expanded the novel’s global reach but also symbolically linked Kerouac’s work to the Japanese literary traditions he admired. It highlights the cultural and artistic synergies between Kerouac’s Beat ethos and the minimalist beauty of Japanese literature. Kerouac’s fascination with haiku, which captures the essence of a moment with brevity and immediacy, mirrors his own spontaneous prose style. His interest in Eastern philosophies further enriched this connection, deeply influencing his worldview and writing.

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Beverly Hills, CA
90211

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