VISIONS OF GERARD

New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1963. First edition (stated). Fine in very good jacket.. First printing of Kerouac's autobiographical novel of his brother's death. Lightly fictionalized portrait of Kerouac's youth and his short-lived older brother Gerard, presented in a hazy glow of sanctity and urgent nostalgia. The first volume of the 'Duluoz legend,' VISIONS OF GERARD was written in 1956, though not published until 1963. While derided as 'hipster yawping' by contemporary critics, any irregularities of punctuation or slang are less striking than its pervasive religiosity; Kerouac himself esteemed it highly among his own works, and the Gerard of the book is less an accurately remembered child than absolute purity in a child's form, the catalyst for Kerouac's own apprehension of divine mysteries: "the definite and immortal idealism which had been imparted me by my holy brother." 8'' x 5.5''. Original quarter black cloth with decorative salmon-pink and white boards. Gilt-titled spine. In original unclipped ($3.95) dust jacket. Illustrations by James Spanfeller throughout. [2], 152 pages. Dampstaining to jacket spine, primarily visible on verso; 1'' closed tear to upper edge of rear joint, minor soil and spotting.