The Kerouac Book River is inspired by the legendary Merrimack and Concord rivers, which run through the author’s hometown of Lowell, Massachusetts. At the “source” of the river is the canon of first editions, beginning in 1950 with The Townand the City. Plentiful waters stir to rapids with Jack’s kinetic classic novel, On the Road, in 1957, and the current gains momentum with numerous tales drawn from a short life richly lived. Later editions surge and splash through high water on the way to the river’s mouth, which empties into the global ocean of readers.
While this cover art illustrates how graphic artists and designers visualized Kerouac’s writings, it also shows how Kerouac’s North American narratives and poetry, translated into a multitude of languages, have spoken to generations worldwide. The Kerouac Book River draws from the holdings of the Jack Kerouac Collections at the UMass Lowell Libraries’ Center for Lowell History, as well as online resources. The presentation of these images is not for commercial use, as copyrights may reside with the publishers or cover artists. If you have a Kerouac book cover you’d like to share, please use this site’s contact form.
First Editions
The Town and The City (1950)
On the Road (1957)
The Dharma Bums (1958)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Maggie Cassidy (1959)
Mexico City Blues (1959)
Visions of Cody Excerpts (1959)
Doctor Sax (1959)
Lonesome Traveler (1960)
Rimbaud (1960)
Tristessa (1960)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960)
Pull My Daisy (1961)
Book of Dreams (1961)
Big Sur (1962)
Visions of Gerard (1963)
Desolation Angels (1965)
Satori in Paris (1966)
Vanity of Duluoz (1968)
Pic (1971)
Scattered Poems (1971)
Visions of Cody (1972)
Not Long Ago Joy Abounded at Christmas (1972)
Trip Trap (1973)
Old Angel Midnight (1973)
Heaven and Other Poems (1977)
Pomes All Sizes (1992)
Good Blonde & Others (1993)
Book of Blues (1995)
Selected Letters 1940-1956 (1995)
Some of the Dharma (1997)
Selected Letters 1957-1969 (1999)
Atop an Underwood (1999)
Orpheus Emerged (2000)
Book of Haikus (2003)
Departed Angels (2004)
Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954 (2004)
Beat Generation (2005)
Book of Sketches (2006)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007)
San Francisco Blues (2007)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2008)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2009)
You’re a Genius All the Time (2009)
Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg: The Letters (2010)
The Sea is My Brother (2011)
Collected Poems (2012)
The Haunted Life and Other Writings (2014)
The Unknown Kerouac (2016)
Beat Painting (2018)
Later and International Editions
Dr. Sax (1959)
Lonesome Traveler (1973; France)
Satori in Paris (1966; UK)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; Netherlands)
Book of Dreams (1995; Germany)
On the Road (1990; UK)
Book of Dreams (2001)
The Dharma Bums (1999; France)
The Dharma Bums (1982; Spain)
Desolation Angels (1966; UK)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2001)
On the Road (2016)
Scattered Poems (1995; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (2010; Germany)
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Desolation Angels (1999)
Vanity of Duluoz (1982; Spain)
Tristessa (2009; Portugal)
Desolation Angels (2001; UK)
Doctor Sax (1984; UK)
Piers of the Homeless Night (2018)
On the Road (1961; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (1978)
The Dharma Bums (2007; Lithuania)
On the Road (2011)
Tristessa (2013; France)
The Dharma Bums (1959; Italy)
Doctor Sax (1995; UK)
On the Road (1989; UK)
Big Sur (1963)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Satori in Paris (1982; UK)
On the Road (1967; Slovenia)
On the Road (2002; Sweden)
The Dharma Bums (2006)
The Subterraneans (1966)
Book of Dreams (2002; Italy)
The Town and the City (2000; UK)
The Blues of Jack Kerouac (2019; Italy)
On the Road (2016; Brazil)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Vanity of Duluoz (2012; UK)
Big Sur (2019)
Maggie Cassidy (1968)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Finland)
The Dharma Bums (2001; China)
The Dharma Bums (2001; Finland)
Desolation Angels (1978)
On the Road (2012; France)
On the Road (2013; Brazil)
Doctor Sax (1987; Germany)
The Sea is My Brother (2012; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (1962; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1970)
On the Road (2010; Slovakia)
The Subterraneans (1995; Poland)
Old Angel Midnight (1993)
Satori in Paris (1997; Turkey)
Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
On the Road; The Subterraneans; The Dharma Bums (2014)
Tristessa (2017)
Big Sur (1979; France)
The Dharma Bums (2002; Czech)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Czech)
Desolation Angels (2012; UK)
Orpheus Emerged (2005)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; Italy)
On the Road (2015; Czech)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
On the Road (1988; Bosnia)
On the Road The Original Manuscript (2011; Brazil)
Visions of Cody (1980; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (2000; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (1994; Poland)
On the Road (2012; Italy)
The Subterraneans (1994)
Selected Letters 1944-1969 (2016; France)
On the Road (2009; Romania)
The Haunted Life (2014; UK)
Big Sur (1968; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
The Dharma Bums (2000; Danish)
On the Road (2011; UK)
Pic (1974; UK)
Doctor Sax (2012; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
Desolation Angels (1990; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
On the Road (2008; Turkey)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Israel)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
Tristessa (1965; Germany)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2010; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
On the Road (2007)
Big Sur (1963)
Vanity of Duluoz (1973; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1990)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Romania)
Big Sur (1963; UK)
Book of_Haiku (2006)
Book of Dreams (2019)
Doctor Sax (2007; France)
On the Road (1998; Iceland)
Tristessa (2011; Mexico)
On the Road (2003; Romania)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1979; France)
Old Angel Midnight (1976; UK)
Big Sur (2019; France)
Doctor Sax (1999; France)
The Subterraneans (1984; Brazil)
The Portable Jack Kerouac (2007)
On the Road (2018)
On the Road (1998; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (2013; France)
Visions of Cody (1993)
Scattered Poems (1975; France)
Satori in Paris (France)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; UK)
Selected Letters (1940-1956) (2000; France)
Good Blonde and Others (1999; Italy)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
On the Road (1974)
The Book of Haikus (2012; France)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
Big Sur (1965)
Lonesome Traveler (1965; Spanish)
Heaven (1977)
Doctor Sax (2006; UK)
The Subterraneans (1962; France)
Tristessa (1992)
The Dharma Bums (2000)
Visions of Gerard (1991)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Germany)
The Sea is my Brother (2019; Canada)
Book of Haikus (2004)
The Town and the City (1981; Italy)
On the Road (1957)
On the Road (1991)
On the Road (1999)
The Subterraneans (1981)
On the Road (2003; France)
Book of Dreams (1998; Brazil)
On the Road (2012; Russia)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2018; US)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
Pic (1988; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2020; France)
On the Road (1976; France)
Visions of Cody (1995; UK)
Trip Trap (1998)
The Dharma Bums (2000; UK)
Vanity of Duluoz (1969; UK)
Big Sur (1992)
Mexico City Blues (1976; France)
On the Road (2002)
On the Road (2004; Norway)
Book of Dreams (1963; Italy)
On the Road (2007)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Italy)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
On the Road (2000; Macedonia)
Visions of Cody (2012; UK)
On the Road (2004; Slovenia)
On the Road (2014; Italy)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2016; Sweden)
Visions of Gerard (2012; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; UK)
On the Road (2012; Sweden)
Lonesome Traveler (1979; France)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Italy)
On the Road (1999)
Satori in Paris (2001; UK)
On the Road (1976)
Book of Dreams (2008; Czech)
On the Road (1958; UK; 1st Edition)
Desolation Angels (1995)
Lonesome Traveller (1964; UK)
Big Sur (1966; France)
On the Road (1999)
On the Road; The Dharma Bums; The Subterraneans (1993)
Maggie Cassidy (2012; Poland)
Underwood Memories (2006)
On the Road (1998; Portugal)
Big Sur (2011)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2009)
On the Road (1958; UK)
Dr. Sax (1987)
On the Road (2016; Spain)
Lonesome Traveller (1960; UK)
On the Road (1959)
Visions of Gerard (1991)
Pic (1987; Canada)
On the Road (2009; Spain)
Visions of Cody (1993)
On the Road (2015; Brazil)
Big Sur (2012; UK)
On the Road (2004; Hungary)
Book of Dreams (2001; China)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Spain)
Dr. Sax (1987)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Italy)
And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008)
Visions of Cody; Visions of Gerard; Big Sur (2015)
The Town and the City (2016; Italy)
The Subterraneans (1971)
Tristessa (2021; Italy)
Vanity of Dulouz (1979; France)
Desolation Angels (1968; France)
On the Road (2012; Hungary)
Big Sur (1992)
Mexico City Blues (2008; Mexico)
The Sea is My Brother (2014; Brazil)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2008)
The Illustrated On the Road (2019)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
Tristessa (1989)
Lonesome Traveler (1962; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Slovenia)
On the Road (2000; Poland)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
The Subterraneans (1977)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
Satori in Paris (2018; Italy)
Big Sur (2013)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2015; China)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2011; Germany)