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 (2004; Norway)
Visions of Gerard (2014; Brazil)
Big Sur (1992)
On the Road (2002; Sweden)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
Satori in Paris (2018; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
On the Road (2007)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
Big Sur (2019; France)
On the Road (2012; Sweden)
Orpheus Emerged (2012; Malaysia)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Spain)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Spain)
Visions of Cody (2012; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2004; Brazil)
Mexico City Blues (2008; Mexico)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Czech)
On the Road (2011; Poland)
On the Road (2011; UK)
Book of Dreams (2001)
Visions of Gerard (2012; France)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
The Town and the City (1950)
On the Road (1990; UK)
Doctor Sax (2012; Spain)
On the Road (2014; Italy)
Desolation Angels (2001; UK)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)
Desolation Angels (1968; France)
Big Sur (1966; France)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
Big Sur (2012; UK)
The Subterraneans (1984; Brazil)
Desolation Angels (1990; UK)
On the Road (2020; China)
On the Road (2015; Mexico)
On the Road (2000; Macedonia)
Mexico City Blues (1976; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; UK)
On the Road: The Original Scroll (2008)
Book of Dreams (2008; Czech)
Lonesome Traveller (1968)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
On the Road (2002)
The Town and the City (1981; Italy)
On the Road (2007)
The Subterraneans (1962; France)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
Big Sur (2019)
On the Road (2002; Italy)
Tristessa (2021; Italy)
Big Sur (1992)
On the Road (2000; Poland)
Visions of Cody (2001; Spain)
Lonesome Traveler (1979; France)
The Town and the City (1974; UK)
Big Sur (1965)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2018; US)
Big Sur (2013)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
Selected Letters 1944-1969 (2016; France)
On the Road (2004; Slovenia)
On the Road (1977; Spain)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; Italy)
Old Angel Midnight (1993)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
Old Angel Midnight (1976; UK)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
On the Road (1999)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
Book of Dreams (2001; China)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
Vanity of Duluoz (2001; UK)
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Desolation Angels (1978)
Lonesome Traveler (1970)
On the Road (2012; Hungary)
On the Road (2015; Greece)
Big Sur (2021; Iran)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2020; France)
The Subterraneans (1966)
Satori in Paris (1994; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (1976)
The Sea is My Brother (2012; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (1973; France)
On the Road (2009; Romania)
On the Road (1998; Romania)
On the Road The Original Manuscript (2011; Brazil)
Maggie Cassidy (2013; France)
On the Road, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums (2015; Mexico)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2010; Italy)
Big Sur (1968; Italy)
Lonesome Traveller (1960; UK)
Vanity of Duluoz (1982; Spain)
Maggie Cassidy (1980; Germany)
On the Road; The Dharma Bums; The Subterraneans (1993)