Archive of six letters signed by Jack Kerouac, including three ALSs and three TLSs, totaling six pages, 8.5 x 11, dated from February 1965 to September 1967, all to editor Ellis Amburn. The correspondence revolves around the publication of Desolation Angels, and the writing of Vanity of Duluoz, both semi-autobiographical novels. Includes:
- TLS signed "Yours, Jack (Kerouac)," February 11, 1965, making corrections to Seymour Krim's introduction to Desolation Angels: "Not 'all' of my novels, but 'most' of them, covered the beat generation…I didn't get a 'football' scholarship from Columbia, there were none at Columbia or any other Ivy League school, it was a scholastic scholarship…Burroughs was never a department store thief but he did hold up a Turkish bath 'for a Gidean laugh' in Cincinnati…Burroughs and Ginsburg and I met around 1943, not 'before' the war. And I never was, or wanted to be, a homosexual…I sailed in the North Atlantic U-boat before the Navy called me up…Krim says I'm not an original thinker in any technical sense but has just finished describing my invention of a new prosody…As I told you over the phone, no need to have 'dirty words' in an intro to a book that has no dirty words in it. Dirty words are no longer revolutionary innovations, but simple braggart vandalism now."
TLS signed "Jack Kerouac," April 20, 1965: "The book looks superb and I want to thank you for the perfect transcription to print. The only stet I've found is on page 35, line 16, the word original is 'originaal' but that's my fault. I hope we collaborate on another manuscript printing in ze near future. I'm writing Seymour Krim and congratulating him on how fine his intro looks now that I see it in print and with my little solipsistic corrections out of the way…The intro will sell twice as many copies as it would have sold, I can see now, among college students for instance…Now I want to go to London or someplace this summer and shadow around for new Duluoz keyhole views of world. Notwithstanding what they say about 'Dulouz Legend,' as it goes on into future it will not be repetitious and eventually Dulouz will fade away like the narrator in Maugham’s marvelous series of stories. I write nothing I haven't seen with my own eyes… (advice from Scott Fitz, who really didn't take his own advice with all that fictionalizing of what he saw.) (Just finisht Last Tycoon). Let me know about reprint sale, movie sale, world premiere and all the rest."
ALS signed "Jack," April 26, 1965: "I want to take that trip to Europe at last and write that new book in a quiet room by candlelight—I’ll visit Paris a couple of times but my writing room will be in some German or Dutch city—So I would like that first installment of $3,999.60 right now, since my first royalty statement won’t be till 1966—This is to put back what I took out of savings to pay 1964 taxes, for the trip to Europe, and to leave money in checking at home with my Mum—en route, I’ll see you in N.Y.—Soon as you can send the money, I’m off—Can the money be sent now?—Let me know."
ALS in pencil, signed "Jack," May 15, 1965: "Thanks for sending Algren review—He aint read about my real 'youth' yet (Vanity of Dulouz next book) and it certainly wasnt 'defensive' at all:—football, war, 300 love affairs, 2 marriages, jail and the rest—As to whether I’m 'Kerouac' or not, what kind of logic is that? how could Trib print such an inept turn of mind? Advertising plans show you aren’t being taken in by Maloff’s 'gagging' puke or anybody else’s slobbering fury—(Say, I must be pretty good!) (To get my work hated like that)."
ALS signed "Jack," July 29, 1967: "Negatives following—making copies for ourselves—The bill will follow from Parkway Photo, Lowell—Hope these O.K."
TLS signed "Jack," September 13, 1967: "Finally I had included a photo of me taken last November 1966, profile, laughing in chair, did you get that? I want that one for the cover. Unless you insist on a completely recent photo, that is, a photo taken next December 1967 when I shall probably in Sheol…Always glad to hear from you, Ellis, and still hope to see you someday [Kerouac adds a funny little sketch of a laughing face in the margin]…Anyway, remember that the smiling photo of me in the chair, that I want for my cover, was my more-or-less wedding photo, and I would like that , i havent changed, as you’ll see when I bust in on you with my Boston Costa Nostra gang and raid your office of erasers." He adds a handwritten postscript, signing with his initial, "J.K.": "Astronomical charges yourself—do you want perfection in literature or don't ya?—(No more than 180 changes, this includes the printers’ goofs.)"
In overall fine condition.
This remarkable archive comprises six vibrant and candid letters from Jack Kerouac to his editor Ellis Amburn, written between 1965 and 1967, during the final creative stretch of Kerouac’s career. Spanning both handwritten and typed correspondence, the letters offer rare insight into the editing and publication of Desolation Angels and the development of Vanity of Duluoz, two key semi-autobiographical novels. Kerouac’s tone veers from playful to exacting as he defends his literary legacy, requests royalties to fund a European writing trip, and insists on a specific photograph for a book cover. Rich with Beat-era reflections and raw personality, these letters illuminate the complex relationship between author and editor, and capture Kerouac’s enduring passion for authenticity in both life and art.
