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KEROUAC, JACK

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KEROUAC, JACK
(1922 - 1969) American novelist whose publication of On the Road made him the foremost figure of the Beat generation of the Fifties and Sixties. An extraordinary grouping of Kerouac material, all New York, ca. 1957, during Kerouac's live-in relationship with Helen Weaver. Weaver's roommate, Helen Elliott, had encountered Kerouac and poet Allen Ginsberg while she was at Barnard and they were at Columbia. Shortly thereafter, Kerouac, Ginsberg and Peter Orlovsky, Ginsberg’s long-time companion, appeared at Weaver's apartment in November, 1956. Kerouac, who was nine years' Weaver's elder and who would shortly publish On the Road, immediately fell in love with her and their relationship, warm and cold, lasted until 1963. We offer here three related Kerouac items: an A.D.S., 3" x 4 3/4" note paper, [New York, 1956-7], in pencil to Helen, reading in full: "I am trapped with Treff in the White Horse. Come rescue. Jack XX"; a similarly-sized A.D., also in pencil: "Dear Helen I love you and I want you to know that I love you" to which he adds a sketch of a heart, and a 5 1/4" x 3 1/2" notepad sheet upon which Kerouac has made a pencil sketch of he and Weaver in the midst of passionate lovemaking. The lot is accompanied by Weaver's letter of provenance: "Jack wrote me these two notes and drew me this little erotic cartoon while he was living with me and my roommate Helen Elliott in 1956-7. Treff was Helen's German Shepherd, and Jack had an unfortunate habit of taking the dog, who tended to be nervous, with him to bars. Fortunately, the White Horse was nearby, so Jack was able to send me this plea for help". The sketch is mounted, otherwise it and the notes are in very good condition.