VANITY OF DULUOZ: An Adventurous Education, 1935-46

New York: Coward-McCann, Inc, 1968. First edition. Near fine in near fine jacket.. First printing of Kerouac's final novel, his last work published before his death in 1969. A lovely copy of Kerouac's last semi-autobiographical novel, spanning a young man's college years and the Second World War; the semi- in semi-autobiographical is tissue-thin, with just enough deniable masquerade for art's sake and his publisher's comfort. Allen Ginsberg is "Irwin Garden" and Neal Cassady is "Cody Pomeray," but Kerouac? "My name is Jack (Duluoz) Kerouac. I was born in Lowell, Mass. on 9 Lupine Road on March 12, 1922. 'Oh, you're putting me on.' I wrote this book, Vanity of Duluoz. 'Oh, you're putting me on.'" 8.5'' x 5.5''. Original quarter black cloth with grey and white decorative boards, gilt-stamped spine. In original unclipped ($5.50) dust jacket. Black and white photo-illustrated endpapers. [2], 280 pages. Light scuffing to jacket corners and spine ends.