77 KEROUAC, Jack – KOUWENHOVEN, John A. Made in America: The Arts in Modern Civilization. New York: Anchor Books, 1962 Kerouac’s own copy, with his annotations First Anchor edition, Kerouac’s own copy, with his pencil annotations, focusing heavily on American sculptor Horatio Greenough, and demonstrating Kerouac’s concern with the development of an American vernacular art. An excellent insight into Kerouac’s perception of American arts and culture, animatedly annotated with exclamation marks and asterisks. Kouwehnhoven’s Made in America , first published in 1948, is “concerned . . . with what has happened and is happening to the arts in modern civilization” (p. 5) and aims to give time and attention to “the frequently crude but vigourous forms in which the untutored creative instinct sought to pattern the new environment” (p. 12). This copy was possibly owned by Jay Carroll before it was leant or given to Kerouac: Carroll may by a relative of Paul Carroll, founder of Big Table . Kerouac’s first annotation is a note on p. ii: “p. 82–85 – Rare quotes from Horatio Greenough”. Kerouac’s annotations on these pages appear in agreement with Greenough’s defence of the vernacular arts in America, highlighting Greenough’s book The Travels, Observations, and Experience of a Yankee Stonecutter (1852), likely having read it, or with the intention of doing so. Kerouac also highlights references to famous American architects, notably James B. Eads, who completed the steel-arch bridge across the Mississippi at St. Louis, and the famed architect Louis Sullivan who, as Kerouac has underlined, “caught his vision of the power of the creative dreamer – ‘he who possessed the power of vision needed to harness the intellect, to make science do his will, to make the emotions serve him’” (p. 71). The margin by this quote is dotted with exclamation marks. There is also a rather poignant annotation to a section on balloon-framing techniques of house-building, to which Kerouac has added the marginal note “Jean-Baptiste Kerouac’s 1890 house in Nashua, H.H.” (p. 51): a memory of his grandfather’s home. Octavo. Original white wrappers printed in blue, red, and black, with a photographic illustration of the Golden Gate Bridge to the front. Housed in a red cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. With 16 black and white photographic plates. Ownership inscription of Jay Carroll to half-title. With ink stamp and blind stamp of the Kerouac estate to half-title. Spine a little sunned, extremities lightly rubbed and creased, occasional light spot of foxing to edges. A very good copy indeed, well-read by Kerouac. £6,000 [150383]
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artists. Diamond had insulted his family, Jack felt, and even his God. Soon he was referring to Diamond as his ‘Faust’” (Johnson, p. 6). Diamond’s character in The Subterraneans bears the brunt of Kerouac’s displeasure, “you remember when Sylvester Strauss that fag composer got sore at me because he’d read my novel and submitted it, yelled at me ‘I know all about you and your awful reputation . . . you and that there Sam Vedder go around the Beach picking up sailors and giving them dope and he makes them only so he can bite, I’ve heard about you’”. Kerouac’s second book became the defining work of Beat literature and propelled the author from an obscure writer to “King of the Beats”. Short sections of what would become On the Road appeared in several literary magazines, attracting early attention; even as a manuscript the book garnered cult fame. A film adaptation was first proposed in 1957 when Kerouac attempted to interest Marlon Brando in the project. This scheme was never realized. In 1980 the film rights were acquired by Francis Ford Coppola and the movie adaptation was finally released in 2012. Octavo. Original black cloth, spine and front cover lettered in white, top edge red. With dust jacket. A near-fine copy, spine ends bumped, offsetting to rear endpapers, in a nice example of the jacket, price-clipped, spine panel notably bright and unfaded, edges lightly rubbed and creased, spine ends chipped, otherwise fresh and sharp. ¶ Charters A2. Joyce Johnson, The Voice Is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac , 2012. Jack Kerouac, The Subterraneans , 2001. £5,750 [155127]
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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