"WHAT A LONG STRANGE TRIP IT STILL IS": WONDERFULLY INSCRIBED BY KEN KESEY

KESEY, Ken. Sometimes a Great Notion. New York: Viking, (1964). Octavo, original gray cloth, original dust jacket. $4000.

First edition, first issue, of Kesey's first novel after the success of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, boldly inscribed, "For Craig: What a long strange trip… it still is! Ken Kesey."

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) "The novel's exquisite prose, which often reads like lyric poetry, draws us into the daily lives of the Stamper family… We've heard Sometimes described as a novel about a family feud. That's like saying War and Peace is about one of Napoleon's shorter-lived military campaigns. Each of the Stampers is a three-dimensional person, and that leads to some fun, some heartache and a great literary catharsis" (Henley, Wikelund & Lindquist, 39). Kesey's novel was adapted to the screen in 1971 by Paul Newman, who both directed and starred in the film. 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. Bruccoli & Clark I:221. Bookplate.

Book fine. Price-clipped dust jacket with slight rubbing and closed tears along edges, very good.