Typed manuscript for the article "In the Ring" by Jack Kerouac, six pages, 8.5 x 11, no date but circa 1968, initialed on the last page in black ballpoint by the author, "JK"; also includes the hand-corrected galley proof, printer's instructions, and first printing in the March 1968 issue of The Atlantic. The article describes boxing and wrestling matches witnessed around New England during his youth, and stands as a great example of Kerouac's stylish semi-autobiographical prose. In small part: "I saw this guy outside the little training gym my father ran in Centerville, Lowell Mass., about 1930, when he first introduced me to sports by taking me in there to watch the boys hammer away at punching bags and big sandbags, and if you ever see an amateur heavyweight whacking away full-fisted at a sandbag and making the whole gym creek, you'll learn never to start a fight with any big boy you ever do meet in any bar from Portland Maine to Portland Oregon." The manuscript has several emendations throughout—minor pencil corrections to spelling and grammar (presumably in the hand of an editor), and a couple of ink corrections (including the word "trainer's"), evidently in Kerouac's hand.
The three-page uncorrected author's proof features two corrections in Kerouac's hand, one striking through the extra letter in the misspelled "gymn," and the other changing "Rex Arena" to "Crescent Rink." The accompanying document, headed "Atlantic Accent & Books Headings," offers printing/typesetting instructions for the article's appearance in the magazine, the title ("In the Ring") and author ("by Jack Kerouac") to be displayed flush left in the same size. In fine condition, with toning and splits to folds in the galley proof. Accompanied by a handsome custom-made clamshell box with gilt-stamped quarter-leather binding.
This was the last piece of Kerouac's to appear in a major publication during his lifetime, as he passed away at the age of 47 on October 21, 1969. Complications due to cirrhosis after a lifetime of heavy drinking caused the death, a casualty anticipated in the closing line of this piece: "I say, God bless young fighters, and now I'll take a rest and wait for my trainer's bottle, and my trainer's name is Johnny Walker." An excellent original work from the Beat Generation pioneer, and an archive that chronicles the publishing process from start to finish.
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