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