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
Big Sur (2013)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Spain)
Lonesome Traveller (1960; UK)
The Town and the City (2016; Italy)
Tristessa (1989)
Old Angel Midnight (1993)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
On the Road (2020; China)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2016; Sweden)
Road Novels 1957-1960 (2007)
Selected Letters (1940-1956) (2000; France)
The Dharma Bums (2004; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (1959; Italy)
On the Road (2002; Sweden)
Lonesome Traveller (1964; UK)
Old Angel Midnight (1976; UK)
Satori in Paris (1997; Turkey)
Satori in Paris (1982; UK)
Book of Dreams (1995; Germany)
On the Road, The Subterraneans, The Dharma Bums (2015; Mexico)
The Sea is My Brother (2011; UK)
Big Sur (1966; France)
The Dharma Bums (1963; France)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2010; Italy)
Vanity of Duluoz (2019; Italy)
On the Road (2009; Spain)
Dr. Sax (1987)
Scattered Poems (1995; Czech)
Tristessa (2013; France)
On the Road (1978; Germany)
On the Road (2015; Brazil)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2015; China)
On the Road (1999)
On the Road (1999)
Big Sur (1963)
On the Road (1999)
Satori in Paris (2007; Bilingual: French and English)
Big Sur (1992)
On the Road (2011; Czech)
Satori in Paris (1971; France)
The Haunted Life (2014; UK)
Vanity of Dulouz (1994)
Book of Dreams (1998; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (1974; France)
Visions of Cody (1995; UK)
Satori in Paris (1994; Czech)
Vanity of Duluoz (1973; UK)
Maggie Cassidy (1993)
Desolation Angels (1975; UK)
Mexico City Blues (1976; France)
On the Road (1965)
On the Road (2003; France)
Pic (1974; UK)
On the Road (1988; Bosnia)
Vanity of Duluoz (1969; UK)
Big Sur (1972; UK)
Desolation Angels (2012; UK)
Satori in Paris (France)
On the Road (1977; Spain)
Lonesome Traveller (1968)
On the Road (2013; Brazil)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Israel)
On the Road (1997) – 40th Anniversary
Lonesome Traveler (1965; Spanish)
Tristessa (2011; Mexico)
The Sea is my Brother (2013; Poland)
On the Road (2013; Albania)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Czech)
Book of Dreams (2000; Germany)
Piers of the Homeless Night (2018)
On the Road (2002)
Satori in Paris; Pic (1988)
Maggie Cassidy (2013; France)
Desolation Angels (1978)
On the Road (2015; Czech)
The Town and the City (1974; UK)
Doctor Sax (1995; UK)
Mexico City Blues (1959)
Desolation Angels (1968; France)
The Sea is My Brother (2014; Brazil)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2009)
San Francisco Blues (1996; Italy)
On the Road (2012; Spain)
The Town and the City (1981; Italy)
Book of_Haiku (2006)
Maggie Cassidy (1960; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Czech)
The Illustrated On the Road (2019)
Doctor Sax (2006; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1993; Italy)
On the Road (2000; Macedonia)
The Subterraneans (1958)
Visions of Cody (1993)
Beat Generation (2010; Italy)
Heaven (1977)
On the Road (1998; UK)
On the Road (1978; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2006; Poland)
On the Road (1991)
Maggie Cassidy (2012; Poland)
Visions of Gerard (1991)
The Subterraneans (1966)
Book of Dreams (2008; Czech)
On the Road (2004; Norway)
Orpheus Emerged (2018; Italy)
On the Road (1990; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1979; France)
The Subterraneans (1994)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Israel)
On the Road (2008; Turkey)
On the Road (2007)
The Dharma Bums (2006)
Good Blonde and Others (1998; France)
On the Road (2004; Hungary)
The Vanity of Duluoz (2007; Spain)
On the Road (1998; Iceland)
The Subterraneans (1984; Brazil)
On the Road (1958; UK; 1st Edition)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
On the Road (2012)
Desolation Angels (1966; UK)
On the Road (1998; Romania)
On the Road (2012; Russia)
Maggie Cassidy (1978)
Lonesome Traveler (1970)
On the Road (2007; France)
The Dharma Bums (1976)
On the Road (2012; Hungary)
The Dharma Bums (2000; UK)
The Town and the City (1970; UK)
Big Sur (1992)
On the Road (1976; France)
The Dharma Bums (2002; Czech)
On the Road (1961; UK)
Big Sur (2019; France)
The Dharma Bums (1959)
On the Road (2015; Greece)
Lonesome Traveler (1962; UK)
Big Sur (2012; UK)
On the Road The Original Manuscript (2011; Brazil)
On the Road (1998; Portugal)
Old Angel Midnight (1998; France)
On the Road (1994; Hungary)
Big Sur (2019)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Slovakia)
Satori in Paris (2012; UK)
Big Sur (1965)
The Town and the City (2000; UK)
Tristessa (1978)
The Dharma Bums (1990)
Satori in Paris (2010; Brasil)
Pomes All Sizes (1999; Italy)
Underwood Memories (2006)
Vanity of Duluoz (2001; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; Italy)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2018; US)
The Town and the City (1983)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008; UK)
The Sea is my Brother (2019; Canada)
Lonesome Traveler (1980; France)
Book of Dreams (2019)
Doctor Sax (1999; France)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Romania)
Selected Letters 1944-1969 (2016; France)
On the Road (2008; Japan)
Visions of Cody; Visions of Gerard; Big Sur (2015)
Visions of Cody (2012; UK)
Lonesome Traveler (1973; France)
On the Road (1989; France)
On the Road (1976)
Book of Dreams (2001)
Lonesome Traveler (1969; France)
Satori in Paris (2001; UK)
On the Road (2016; Brazil)
On the Road (1998; Denmark)
Maggie Cassidy (1996; Czech)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2020; France)
Mexico City Blues (2019; UK)
Satori in Paris (1966)
Doctor Sax (1962; France)
On the Road (1958; UK)
Desolation Angels (1971)
Satori in Paris (2018; Italy)
Lonesome Traveler (2018; UK)
Orpheus Emerged (2005)
On the Road (2007)
On the Road (2020; Mexico)
Tristessa (1965; Germany)
Maggie Cassidy (1984; Canada)
Book of Dreams (2002; Italy)
Tristessa (2019; UK)
Tristessa (1992)
Doctor Sax (2007; France)
The Dharma Bums (1971)
The Subterraneans (1962; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1998; Italy)
On the Road (2015; Mexico)
Maggie Cassidy (1960; UK)
Book of Dreams (1981)
Dr. Sax (1987)
On the Road (2016; Spain)
On the Road (1967; Slovenia)
On the Road (2003; Romania)
Lonesome Traveler (2000; Spain)
The Dharma Bums (2015; Korea)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Germany)
On the Road (1971; France)
On the Road (2000; Poland)
Visions of Gerard (2014; Brazil)
On the Road (2009; Romania)
On the Road: The Original Scroll (2008)
The Dharma Bums (1962; UK)
On the Road (1990; UK)
Big Sur (1968; Italy)
On the Road (1959)
On the Road (1958)
Desolation Angels (1966)
Dr. Sax (1959)
Lonesome Traveler (1994; UK)
The Book of Haikus (2012; France)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (2001)
Big Sur (2021; Iran)
Tristessa (2017)
Big Sur (1963; UK)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Holland)
Visions of Cody (2001; Spain)
Vanity of Dulouz (1979; France)
Big Sur (1963)
The Subterraneans (1981)
Dr. Sax (2012; Russia)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Sweden)
The Town and the City (1960)
Book of Dreams (1963; Italy)
On the Road (1957)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2009; Korea)
On the Road (2007) – 50th Anniversary
On the Road (1983; Japan)
The Subterraneans (1977)
Visions of Gerard (2012; France)
Mexico City Blues (2008; Mexico)
Desolation Angels (1995)
Big Sur (1979; France)
Visions of Gerard (1998; Czech)
Maggie Cassidy (1968)
Visions of Cody (1993)
Desolation Angels (1990; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2009; Turkey)
Big Sur (2018)
The Dharma Bums (1997; Turkey)
Doctor Sax (1987; Germany)
On the Road (2014; Italy)
Doctor Sax (1984; UK)
The Subterraneans (1995; Poland)
On the Road (1989; UK)
And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2011; Germany)
Tristessa (2009; Portugal)
On the Road; The Subterraneans; The Dharma Bums (2014)
Atop an Underwood (2000; Italy)
Trip Trap (1998)
And The Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks (2008)
Tristessa (1983; Canada)
Doctor Sax (2012; UK)
The Dharma Bums (2016; Italy)
The Dharma Bums (2001; Finland)
The Town and the City (1950)
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity (1996; Bilingual; Czech-English)
Desolation Angels (2001; UK)
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha (2008)
The Dharma Bums (1961; Sweden)
On the Road (2011; Poland)
The Dharma Bums (2012; Slovenia)
On the Road (2011)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2011; Germany)
On the Road (2018)
Book of Dreams (2001; China)
On the Road (2011; UK)
The Subterraneans (1997; Spain)
On the Road The Original Scroll (2007; Finland)
The Dharma Bums (2000)
On the Road; The Dharma Bums; The Subterraneans (1993)