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
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; Netherlands)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Czech)
Mexico City Blues (2019; UK)
Dr. Sax (1987)
On the Road (2015; Mexico)
Satori in Paris (1971; France)
On the Road (2016; Spain)
Dr. Sax (2012; Russia)
Satori in Paris (1966)
Visions of Cody; Visions of Gerard; Big Sur (2015)
Lonesome Traveler (1980; France)
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
The Blues of Jack Kerouac (2019; Italy)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
The Dharma Bums (2012; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (2004; Brazil)
On the Road (1977; Spain)
Maggie Cassidy (1960; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1976)
Vanity of Duluoz (2019; Italy)
On the Road (1974)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
Satori in Paris (1994; Czech)
Vanity of Dulouz (1994)
Visions of Gerard (2014; Brazil)
On the Road (1976; France)
On the Road (1999)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)
On the Road (1998; UK)
Tristessa (1992)
On the Road (2002)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2011; Germany)
Book of Dreams (1998; Brazil)
On the Road (1978; Italy)
Scattered Poems (1975; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Finland)
On the Road (2015; Czech)
Lonesome Traveller (1960; UK)
Doctor Sax (1962; France)
The Dharma Bums (1983; Italy)
On the Road (2011; Poland)
Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007)
Satori in Paris; Pic (1988)
Visions of Gerard (1991)
Lonesome Traveler (1965; Spanish)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Old Angel Midnight (1998; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2010; Italy)
On the Road: The Original Scroll (2008)
Book of Dreams (2002; Italy)
On the Road (1978; Germany)
Big Sur (1963)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
Big Sur (2017; Germany)
On the Road (2012; Spain)
Big Sur (1968; Italy)
Pomes All Sizes (1999; Italy)
Book of_Haiku (2006)
Doctor Sax (1987; Germany)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
On the Road (2016)
Big Sur (2019)
Visions of Cody (1993)
The Dharma Bums (1993; Germany)
The Subterraneans (1997; Spain)
On the Road (2016; Brazil)
Pic (1974; UK)
Tristessa (2007; Mexico)
The Dharma Bums (2000; UK)
Book of Dreams (2001)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
Big Sur (1963)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
On the Road (1958)
Visions of Gerard (1998; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
On the Road (2012)
On the Road (1971; France)
On the Road (1965)
Satori in Paris (2001; UK)
The Town and the City (2000; UK)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2020; France)
Doctor Sax (2012; Spain)
Big Sur (2019; France)
Tristessa (2017)
Dr. Sax (1987)
The Dharma Bums (2002; Czech)
Vanity of Duluoz (2001; UK)
Tristessa (2019; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Czech)
On the Road (2007)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
On the Road (1998; Romania)
Satori in Paris (1982; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1970)
The Sea is my Brother (2019; Canada)
The Town and the City (1983)
Tristessa (2013; France)
Big Sur (2011)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Spain)
On the Road (2013; Albania)
The Portable Jack Kerouac (2007)
The Subterraneans (1971)
Visions of Cody (1993)
On the Road (2013; Brazil)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2001)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Romania)
On the Road (2020; China)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1979; France)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
On the Road (1999)
Big Sur (1966; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
The Sea is My Brother (2014; Brazil)
Big Sur (2013)
The Subterraneans (1995; Poland)
Doctor Sax (2007; France)
Orpheus Emerged (2005)
On the Road (2011)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
Book of Dreams (2001; China)
On the Road (2004; Norway)
On the Road (2010; Japan)
On the Road (1957)
Alone on a Mountaintop (Germany)
And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; France)
On the Road (2004; Slovenia)
The Dharma Bums (2006)
On the Road (1958; UK; 1st Edition)
Dr. Sax (1959)
Lonesome Traveler (1962; UK)
Selected Letters 1944-1969 (2016; France)
Mexico City Blues (1976; France)
Mexico City Blues (1959)
On the Road (2007) – 50th Anniversary
The Dharma Bums (1961; Sweden)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (1968)
The Dharma Bums (1990)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
The Subterraneans (1962; France)
Scattered Poems (1995; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (1962; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1959; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Turkey)
Desolation Angels (1966; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (1980; Germany)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
Tristessa (1965; Germany)
Book of Dreams (1981)
Dr. Sax (1977)
Tristessa (2021; Italy)
The Subterraneans (1977)
On the Road (1990; UK)
Book of Dreams (1963; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2010; Germany)
The Dharma Bums (1999; France)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
Vanity of Dulouz (1979; France)
The Haunted Life (2014; UK)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2009)
On the Road (1989; UK)
Doctor Sax (2012; UK)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
On the Road (1958; UK)
The Subterraneans (1994)
Tristessa (1992)
Maggie Cassidy (2013; France)
On the Road (1990; France)
Lonesome Traveller (1964; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Germany)
Satori in Paris (France)
On the Road (2007; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; UK)
On the Road, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums (2015; Mexico)