“THE JOYOUS LIFE IN AMERICA WITHOUT MUCH MONEY”: FIRST EDITION OF KEROUAC’S THE DHARMA BUMS

KEROUAC, Jack. The Dharma Bums. New York: Viking, 1958. Octavo, original black cloth, original dust jacket.    $1300.

First edition of Kerouac’s follow-up to the classic of his generation, On the Road.

“There were three books that really shaped Kerouac’s public image, the three that came out within a year of each other in 1957 and 1958: On the Road, The Subterraneans and The Dharma Bums” (Charters, 295). This highly autobiographical novel features many characters based on Beat poets and writers in Kerouac’s circle. The poet-woodsman-Buddhist, who becomes the narrator’s spiritual mentor, is a thinly disguised portrait of the poet Gary Snyder. Charters A4a.

Book fine; light edge-wear, faint rubbing to bright near-fine dust jacket.