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 Dharma Bums (2002; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Sweden)
Mexico City Blues (2006; France)
On the Road (1978; Germany)
Pic (1988; France)
On the Road (1990; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1993; Germany)
Big Sur (1992)
Big Sur (1999; Portugal)
On the Road (2015; Czech)
Big Sur (2018)
Alone on a Mountaintop (Germany)
Satori in Paris (2010; Brasil)
Lonesome Traveler (1973; France)
The Blues of Jack Kerouac (2019; Italy)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
Old Angel Midnight (1993)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Slovakia)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1979; France)
On the Road (2012; France)
On the Road (2013; Albania)
Big Sur (1972; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1980; France)
The Town and the City (1950)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
Visions of Cody; Visions of Gerard; Big Sur (2015)
On the Road (2012; Italy)
Tristessa (1983; Canada)
Satori in Paris (France)
On the Road (2012; Sweden)
On the Road (2002; Italy)
Desolation Angels (1973; France)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
Vanity of Dulouz (1994)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
Visions of Cody (1993)
On the Road (1957)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; Netherlands)
The Dharma Bums (1961; Sweden)
On the Road (1974)
The Dharma Bums (2000; Danish)
On the Road (2011)
Visions of Gerard (1991)
The Town and the City (1981; Italy)
Tristessa (1965; Germany)
The Sea is My Brother (2014; Brazil)
Vanity of Duluoz (1982; Spain)
The Town and the City (2016; Italy)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2011; Germany)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
On the Road (1958; UK)
On the Road (2011; Poland)
On the Road (2012; Hungary)
The Dharma Bums (1976)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2008)
Selected Letters (1940-1956) (2000; France)
Visions of Cody (1995; UK)
On the Road (2012)
Tristessa (1992)
Book of Haikus (2004)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Germany)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2015; China)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Finland)
On the Road (2004; Slovenia)
The Subterraneans (1971)
The Book of Haikus (2012; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Spain)
The Town and the City (2000; UK)
On the Road (2000; Poland)
On the Road (1998; Romania)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
Maggie Cassidy (1978)
Book of Dreams (2019)
On the Road (2011; UK)
On the Road (2015; Mexico)
Doctor Sax (2006; UK)
Dr. Sax (1977)
Desolation Angels (1999)
On the Road (2007) – 50th Anniversary
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Orpheus Emerged (2018; Italy)
On the Road (1990; France)
The Dharma Bums (1999; France)
Big Sur (2019)
On the Road (2018)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; Italy)
On the Road (2009; Romania)
On the Road (1967; Slovenia)
Dr. Sax (1987)
Scattered Poems (1995; Czech)
Desolation Angels (1995)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; UK)
Big Sur (2017; Germany)
On the Road (2012; Russia)
On the Road (1978; Italy)
The Town and the City (1983)
Doctor Sax (1999; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2018; US)
The Subterraneans (1977)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Italy)
The Vanity of Duluoz (2007; Spain)
On the Road (2020; China)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Italy)
On the Road (2008; Turkey)
On the Road (1998; Iceland)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Poland)
On the Road (2000; Macedonia)
Big Sur (2013)
Lonesome Traveler (2000; Spain)
On the Road (2010; Slovakia)
Old Angel Midnight (1998; France)
On the Road (2011; UK)
Selected Letters 1944-1969 (2016; France)
On the Road (2015; Greece)
The Subterraneans (1997; Spain)
Old Angel Midnight (1976; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Israel)
On the Road (1998; UK)
The Town and the City (1974; UK)
On the Road (1999)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
On the Road (1999)
Satori in Paris (1982; UK)
On the Road (2016; Spain)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2009)
On the Road, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums (2015; Mexico)
The Dharma Bums (2018; UK)
Big Sur (1968; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
On the Road (1991)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; UK)
Book of Dreams (2002; Italy)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Korea)
The Dharma Bums (2001; Finland)
Heaven (1977)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
The Dharma Bums (2006)
Lonesome Traveler (1962; UK)
The Portable Jack Kerouac (2007)
Book of Dreams (1963; Italy)
Dr. Sax (1959)
The Dharma Bums (2001; China)
On the Road (1958)
On the Road; The Subterraneans; The Dharma Bums (2014)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007)
The Subterraneans (1995; Poland)
Doctor Sax (2007; France)
Mexico City Blues (1959)
Underwood Memories (2006)
Big Sur (1965)
And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008)
On the Road: The Original Scroll (2008)
Desolation Angels (1971)
The Dharma Bums (2000; UK)
Dr. Sax (1987)
The Dharma Bums (1959; Italy)
Maggie Cassidy (2012; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
On the Road (2008; Japan)
On the Road (1998; Portugal)
San Francisco Blues (1996; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
Big Sur (1981)
On the Road (2002)
Vanity of Duluoz (2001; UK)
The Subterraneans (1984; Brazil)
Satori in Paris (1966)
On the Road (2015; Brazil)
Satori in Paris (1966; UK)
On the Road (1976; France)
On the Road The Original Manuscript (2011; Brazil)
On the Road (1999)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
Book of Dreams (1998; Brazil)
Tristessa (2011; Mexico)
Visions of Cody (2001; Spain)
Vanity of Duluoz (2019; Italy)
On the Road (2003; France)
On the Road (2012; Spain)
Desolation Angels (1966)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
Vanity of Duluoz (1969; UK)
On the Road (2013; Brazil)
On the Road (2014; Italy)
On the Road (1965)
On the Road (2007)
The Dharma Bums (2007; Lithuania)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
On the Road (2004; Hungary)
Book of Dreams (2001)
Desolation Angels (1978)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2020; France)
Tristessa (1978)
Desolation Angels (2001; UK)
Doctor Sax (1984; UK)
On the Road (1977; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
Book of_Haiku (2006)
Good Blonde and Others (1999; Italy)
On the Road (2016)
Satori in Paris (1971; France)
Big Sur (1979; France)
On the Road (1983; Japan)
The Sea is my Brother (2019; Canada)
On the Road (2003; Romania)
The Dharma Bums (2000)
Maggie Cassidy (1968)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Turkey)
On the Road (1961; UK)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
On the Road (2002; Sweden)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Lonesome Traveller (1968)
Desolation Angels (1966; UK)
The Subterraneans (1994)
Lonesome Traveler (1970)
On the Road (1958; UK; 1st Edition)
On the Road; The Dharma Bums; The Subterraneans (1993)