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