The Kerouac Book River
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 Town and 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)
Visions of Cody Excerpts (1959)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960)
Not Long Ago Joy Abounded at Christmas (1972)
Old Angel Midnight (1973)
Heaven and Other Poems (1977)
Good Blonde & Others (1993)
Selected Letters 1940-1956 (1995)
Some of the Dharma (1997)
Selected Letters 1957-1969 (1999)
Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947-1954 (2004)
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)
The Haunted Life and Other Writings (2014)
The Unknown Kerouac (2016)
Later and International Editions
The Dharma Bums (1994; Poland)
Visions of Cody (2012; UK)
On the Road, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums (2015; Mexico)
Vanity of Duluoz (2012; UK)
On the Road (2008; Turkey)
On the Road (2020; China)
Maggie Cassidy (1960; UK)
Satori in Paris (1966; UK)
On the Road (2007) – 50th Anniversary
The Dharma Bums (2004; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (1961; Sweden)
On the Road (2007; France)
Desolation Angels (2001; UK)
San Francisco Blues (1996; Italy)
The Town and the City (1960)
Satori in Paris (2010; Brasil)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2001)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)
The Illustrated On the Road (2019)
Orpheus Emerged (2018; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2001; Finland)
The Dharma Bums (1962; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Israel)
Book of Dreams (1995; Germany)
The Vanity of Duluoz (2007; Spain)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
On the Road (1978; Germany)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Turkey)
Satori in Paris; Pic (1988)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
On the Road (2015; Mexico)
Old Angel Midnight (1993)
On the Road (1977; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (2010; Germany)
Maggie Cassidy (1996; Czech)
Doctor Sax (2007; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; Italy)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2010; Italy)
The Subterraneans (1997; Spain)
Satori in Paris (2012; UK)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
Vanity of Duluoz (1973; UK)
Tristessa (1965; Germany)
On the Road (1978; Italy)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; UK)
On the Road (2015; Greece)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2018; US)
Sioc Maidine / Morning Frost Haiku (2014; Bilingual: Irish and English)
Desolation Angels (2012; UK)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2020; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1965; Spanish)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2011; Germany)
The Portable Jack Kerouac (2007)
Mexico City Blues (2006; France)
Desolation Angels (1975; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Slovakia)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1962; UK)
Book of Dreams (2001; China)
On the Road (2002; Sweden)
On the Road (2010; Japan)
The Town and the City (2000; UK)
Vanity of Duluoz (1969; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Germany)
The Town and the City (1950)
Pomes All Sizes (1999; Italy)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2008)
The Subterraneans (1995; Poland)
The Subterraneans (1962; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
Doctor Sax (1962; France)
Vanity of Duluoz (1982; Spain)
On the Road (1967; Slovenia)
On the Road (2009; Romania)
Visions of Cody; Visions of Gerard; Big Sur (2015)
The Dharma Bums (2018; UK)
On the Road (1990; France)
The Dharma Bums (2007; Lithuania)
On the Road (2012; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (2002; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (1993; Germany)
The Sea is my Brother (2019; Canada)
Old Angel Midnight (1998; France)
The Dharma Bums (1999; France)
Tristessa (2009; Portugal)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Turkey)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Germany)
The Dharma Bums (2000; UK)
Scattered Poems (1975; France)
Maggie Cassidy (2012; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (1982; Spain)
Book of Dreams (2008; Czech)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
On the Road (2016; Spain)
On the Road (2012; Hungary)
Mexico City Blues (1976; France)
Selected Letters (1940-1956) (2000; France)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2009)
Good Blonde and Others (1998; France)
On the Road (2013; Brazil)
Lonesome Traveller (1964; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; France)
Visions of Cody (1980; UK)
On the Road (2000; Macedonia)
Satori in Paris (1997; Turkey)
Maggie Cassidy (1980; Germany)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Romania)
On the Road (2002; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (1973; France)
On the Road (1971; France)
Satori in Paris (1982; UK)
Satori in Paris (2001; UK)
Lonesome Traveller (1960; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Poland)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
On the Road (2011; Poland)
On the Road (2009; Spain)
Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1979; France)
Dharma Bums (1988; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Israel)
On the Road (2015; Brazil)
Book of Dreams (1998; Brazil)
Maggie Cassidy (2013; France)
Maggie Cassidy (1960; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Czech)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
On the Road (1976; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Finland)
The Dharma Bums (2000; Danish)
On the Road (2012; Russia)
Satori in Paris (1971; France)
The Blues of Jack Kerouac (2019; Italy)
And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008)
The Town and the City (2016; Italy)
On the Road The Original Manuscript (2011; Brazil)
Alone on a Mountaintop (Germany)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Korea)
The Sea is My Brother (2014; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Poland)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Spain)
On the Road (2004; Hungary)
The Town and the City (1974; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1980; France)
On the Road (2020; Mexico)
The Dharma Bums (1959; Italy)
Atop an Underwood (2000; Italy)
The Haunted Life (2014; UK)
The Dharma Bums (1983; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
Visions of Gerard (2014; Brazil)
On the Road (1983; Japan)
On the Road (2003; France)
Vanity of Duluoz (2019; Italy)
Selected Letters 1944-1969 (2016; France)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Italy)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
The Sea is My Brother (2011; UK)
On the Road (1998; Romania)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
On the Road (2012; Sweden)
Desolation Angels (1966; UK)
The Town and the City (1983)
Book of Dreams (2002; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2015; China)
On the Road (2004; Norway)
On the Road (2014; Italy)
The Book of Haikus (2012; France)
On the Road; The Subterraneans; The Dharma Bums (2014)
Vanity of Duluoz (2001; UK)
On the Road (2010; Slovakia)
On the Road (2015; Czech)
On the Road: The Original Scroll (2008)
Visions of Cody (1995; UK)
On the Road (1998; Portugal)
On the Road (2008; Japan)
Vanity of Dulouz (1979; France)
Lonesome Traveller (1968)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Sweden)
On the Road; The Dharma Bums; The Subterraneans (1993)
The Subterraneans (1984; Brazil)
On the Road (2004; Slovenia)
On the Road (2016; Brazil)
Piers of the Homeless Night (2018)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2016; Sweden)
On the Road (2003; Romania)
San Francisco Blues (1991)
Doctor Sax (1987; Germany)
On the Road (1989; France)
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Book of Dreams (1963; Italy)
Mexico City Blues (2008; Mexico)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
Lonesome Traveler (2000; Spain)
On the Road (2011; Czech)
On the Road (2000; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Italy)
Desolation Angels (1968; France)
Lonesome Traveler (1979; France)
Satori in Paris (2018; Italy)
The Sea is My Brother (2012; Italy)
Doctor Sax (1999; France)
Old Angel Midnight (1976; UK)
Beat Generation (2010; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
Visions of Gerard (1998; Czech)
Scattered Poems (1995; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Spain)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; UK)
On the Road (2012; Italy)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; Netherlands)
Visions of Gerard (2012; France)
On the Road (1998; Iceland)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Czech)
The Dharma Bums (2001; China)
Mexico City Blues (2019; UK)
On the Road (2012; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; UK)
Visions of Cody (2001; Spain)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1960)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Slovenia)
The Town and the City (1981; Italy)
Underwood Memories (2006)
The Town and the City (1983)
On the Road (2013; Albania)
Satori in Paris (1994; Czech)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Italy)
On the Road (1988; Bosnia)
On the Road (1958; UK; 1st Edition)
Orpheus Emerged (2012; Malaysia)
Desolation Angels (1990; UK)
Good Blonde and Others (1999; Italy)