The Sixties Catalogue

43 J u l y 2 0 2 0 “A Great Literary Catharsis” 41. KESEY, Ken. Sometimes a Great Notion. New York, 1964. Octavo, original gray cloth, dust jacket. $1500. Click for more info First edition, scarce first issue, of Kesey’s critically acclaimed second novel, basis for the 1971 film directed by and starring Paul Newman. Following the success of his first novel, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1962), Kesey, in this work about an Oregon logging family, “aimed higher than many of his contemporaries, and… [came] impressively close to his target” (Vinson, 754). First issue , with publisher’s logo on half title page, in first- state dust jacket with author photo credited to Hank Krangler on rear flap. Book near-fine, with soiling to rear endpapers and minor foxing to edges of text block. Dust jacket fine. “Reality is greater than the sum of its parts, also a damn sight holier.”