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
On the Road, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums (2015; Mexico)
Big Sur (1979; France)
On the Road (2016; Spain)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Tristessa (1965; Germany)
On the Road (2011; Czech)
On the Road (2004; Hungary)
Scattered Poems (1975; France)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2008)
The Town and the City (1950)
The Subterraneans (1966)
Pic (1987; Canada)
Satori in Paris (1966)
Tristessa (1992)
On the Road (2000; Macedonia)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Finland)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Czech)
Book of Dreams (1963; Italy)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2015; China)
Vanity of Dulouz (1979; France)
Desolation Angels (1975; UK)
On the Road (1999)
Desolation Angels (1999)
On the Road (2016; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (2004; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (2001; China)
On the Road (2009; Romania)
On the Road (1976)
Visions of Cody (1995; UK)
On the Road (2002)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (1960; UK)
The Book of Haikus (2012; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1979; France)
The Town and the City (2016; Italy)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
On the Road (1965)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Romania)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
Doctor Sax (2012; Spain)
Doctor Sax (1999; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2016; Sweden)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; Netherlands)
Doctor Sax (1984; UK)
Vanity of Duluoz (2001; UK)
The Town and the City (1974; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
Book of Dreams (1998; Brazil)
On the Road (2012; France)
On the Road (1958; UK)
Big Sur (1972; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Spain)
Big Sur (1965)
Good Blonde and Others (1999; Italy)
Old Angel Midnight (1998; France)
On the Road (2016)
On the Road (1958)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2009)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
Lonesome Traveler (1962; UK)
Vanity of Duluoz (2019; Italy)
On the Road (1959)
On the Road (2020; Mexico)
On the Road (1989; UK)
Piers of the Homeless Night (2018)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
The Dharma Bums (1982; Spain)
Atop an Underwood (2000; Italy)
The Subterraneans (1981)
Desolation Angels (1990; UK)
On the Road (1989; France)
On the Road (1978; Germany)
Tristessa (2021; Italy)
Satori in Paris (2018; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Israel)
Desolation Angels (1966)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Germany)
Trip Trap (1998)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
On the Road (1978; Italy)
Satori in Paris (2001; UK)
The Town and the City (1960)
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Beat Generation (2010; Italy)
On the Road (2000; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (1990)
Tristessa (2011; Mexico)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Slovakia)
On the Road (1977; Spain)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2001)
Tristessa (2007; Mexico)
On the Road (1974)
On the Road (2012; Sweden)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Korea)
Big Sur (2018)
On the Road (1990; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2018; UK)
On the Road (1998; Iceland)
Lonesome Traveler (1965; Spanish)
Big Sur (2019)
Old Angel Midnight (1976; UK)
Satori in Paris (2012; UK)
Big Sur (1966; France)
The Blues of Jack Kerouac (2019; Italy)
Doctor Sax (2012; UK)
On the Road (2004; Slovenia)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
On the Road (1957)
Lonesome Traveler (1970)
The Portable Jack Kerouac (2007)
On the Road (1998; UK)
The Subterraneans (1977)
Vanity of Duluoz (1973; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (2012; Poland)
Desolation Angels (1978)
Orpheus Emerged (2012; Malaysia)
Book of Dreams (2002; Italy)
Visions of Cody (1993)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Sweden)
Satori in Paris (1971; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2018; US)
The Dharma Bums (2002; Czech)
The Sea is My Brother (2014; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (2007; Lithuania)
On the Road (2013; Albania)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
On the Road (1988; Bosnia)
Big Sur (1963)
Scattered Poems (1995; Czech)
On the Road: The Original Scroll (2008)
On the Road (2012; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
Satori in Paris (2010; Brasil)
Satori in Paris (1994; Czech)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; UK)
On the Road (2015; Mexico)
On the Road (1999)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; Italy)
Book of Dreams (2001; China)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Poland)
On the Road (1976; France)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
On the Road (2008; Japan)
Satori in Paris (1966)
Dr. Sax (1987)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Germany)
On the Road (2012; Russia)
Mexico City Blues (1959)
On the Road (2012; Hungary)
Pic (1974; UK)
On the Road (2010; Slovakia)
Tristessa (1978)
Mexico City Blues (1976; France)
Big Sur (2021; Iran)
The Sea is My Brother (2011; UK)
On the Road (2007) – 50th Anniversary
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1979; France)
Book of Dreams (2019)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Poland)
Big Sur (1992)
Book of Dreams (2001)
On the Road (1983; Japan)
Orpheus Emerged (2005)
Book of Dreams (1981)
Visions of Gerard (2012; France)
On the Road (2008; Turkey)
On the Road (2014; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (1983; Italy)
Satori in Paris (1966; UK)
Visions of Cody; Visions of Gerard; Big Sur (2015)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Spain)
On the Road (2018)
Book of Dreams (2008; Czech)
On the Road (2009; Spain)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1959; Italy)
On the Road The Original Manuscript (2011; Brazil)
Maggie Cassidy (1996; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (2001; Finland)
On the Road (2015; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Turkey)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; France)
Lonesome Traveler (2000; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Turkey)
Visions of Gerard (1991)
Desolation Angels (1971)
On the Road (2004; Norway)
Tristessa (2013; France)
On the Road (2002; Italy)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
On the Road (1999)
The Subterraneans (1984; Brazil)
Dr. Sax (1987)
Satori in Paris (1982; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2010; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2000; Danish)
On the Road (1991)
Book of_Haiku (2006)
On the Road (2011; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Italy)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
The Town and the City (2000; UK)
Visions of Cody (1980; UK)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
Mexico City Blues (2008; Mexico)
Tristessa (2019; UK)
On the Road (1967; Slovenia)
The Town and the City (1983)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
Big Sur (2012; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
Vanity of Duluoz (1982; Spain)
Tristessa (2017)
Visions of Gerard (2014; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (1976)
Lonesome Traveler (1980; France)
On the Road; The Dharma Bums; The Subterraneans (1993)
Mexico City Blues (2006; France)
Desolation Angels (1995)
Underwood Memories (2006)
Lonesome Traveler (1973; France)
Dr. Sax (1977)
Heaven (1977)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
On the Road (2007)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2011; Germany)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
On the Road (1998; Romania)
Vanity of Duluoz (2012; UK)
Pomes All Sizes (1999; Italy)
Big Sur (2013)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
On the Road (2007; France)
On the Road (1990; France)
Book of Dreams (1995; Germany)
The Dharma Bums (2006)
On the Road (1998; Portugal)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Israel)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
On the Road (2011)
Vanity of Dulouz (1994)
The Vanity of Duluoz (2007; Spain)
And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008)
Good Blonde and Others (1998; France)
The Subterraneans (1997; Spain)
Big Sur (1968; Italy)
Visions of Cody (1993)
On the Road (2010; Japan)
Dharma Bums (1988; Italy)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
Doctor Sax (2007; France)
The Dharma Bums (1962; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Italy)
On the Road; The Subterraneans; The Dharma Bums (2014)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)