Jack Kerouac Book Covers

A selection of front covers of various editions of On the Road (click on thumbnail to enlarge)

"When I'm old, you know what I'm going to do? I'm going to study languages reading these."
(Kerouac's comment on the foreign editions of his books, 1966.)

UK Editions:

Deutsch 1958	Deutsch 1958	Pan Giant 1961	Pan 1963	Deutsch 1962	Penguin 1972	Deutsch 1973
Penguin 1980	Penguin 1987	Penguin 1989	Penguin 1991	Penguin 1998	Penguin 1999	Penguin 2000
Penguin 2007	Allen Lane 2007	Penguin 2007	Penguin 2008	Penguin 2008	Penguin (Aus) 2008	Penguin 2011
Penguin 2011	Penguin 2012	Penguin (Tele) 2012	Penguin (Aus) 2012

USA Editions:

Viking 1957	Viking 1962	Viking 1971	Signet 1958	Signet 1965	Signet 1967	Signet 1968
Signet 1977	Signet 1982	Penguin 1980	Penguin 1990	Penguin 1990	Penguin 1991	Penguin 1994
Penguin 1999	Penguin 2002	Penguin 2003	Penguin 2005	Amereon 1976	Buccaneer 1978	Viking 1979
Penguin 1979	Quality 1993	Viking 1997	Penguin 2007	Viking 2007	Lib of America 2007	Viking 2007 (proof)
Viking 2007	Penguin 2008	Folio 2010	Penguin 2011	Penguin 2011	Penguin 2012

German Editions:

Rowohlt 1959	Rowohlt 1959	Rororo 1968	Reclam (GDR) 1978	Rororo 1993	Bertelsmann 1996	Rororo 1998
Rororo 2000	Rororo 2002	Rororo 2004	Rororo 2006	Rororo 2010	Rororo 2011	Rororo 2012 (proof)
Rororo 2012

Dutch Editions:

De Bezige Bij 1961	De Bezige Bij 1970	De Bezige Bij 1974	De Bezige Bij 1978	De Bezige Bij 1988	De Bezige Bij 1989	De Bezige Bij 1994
De Bezige Bij 1996	De Bezige Bij 1999	Areopagus 2004	De Bezige Bij 2006	De Bezige Bij 2007	De Bij 2012

French Editions:

Gallimard 1960	Gallimard 1972	Gallimard 1987	Gallimard 1990	Gallimard 1997	Gallimard 2003	Gallimard 2004
Gallimard 2007	Gallimard 2010	Gallimard 2012	Gallimard 2012

Italian Editions:

Mondadori 1959	Mondadori 1967	Mondadori 1970	Mondadori 1970	Mondadori 1970	Mondadori 1974	Mondadori 1981
Mondadori 1989	Leonardo 1994	Mondadori 1995	Mondadori 1995	Mondadori 1998	Mondadori 1999	Mondadori 2000
Mondadori 2001	Mondadori 2001	Bib. di Rep. 2002	Mondadori 2006	Mondadori 2007	Mondadori 2007	Mondadori 2009
Mondadori 2010	Mondadori 2010	Mondadori 2012

Spanish Editions:

Star Books 1975	Bruguera 1981	Bruguera 1983	Anagrama 1989	Biblioteca 2001	Anagrama 2002	Anagrama 2009
Anagrama 2012

Spanish (Catalan) Editions:

Editorial Pòrtic 1989	Edicions 62 1996	Edicions 62 1998	Edicions 62 2000	Edicions 62 2009	Labutxaca 2010	Anagrama 2010

Others:

Argentina 1959	Argentina 1969	Argentina 1975	Argentina 1977	Brazil 1984	Brazil 1986	Brazil 1987
Brazil 1997	Brazil 2004	Brazil 2008	Brazil 2012	Brazil 2013	Bulgaria 1981	Bulgaria 1983
Bulgaria 1997	China 1998	China 2001	China 2006	China 2009	China 2011	China 2012
Croatia 1971	Croatia 1997	Czech 1978	Czech 1980	Czech 1980 (jacket)	Czech Rep. 1994	Czech Rep. 1997
Czech Rep. 2005	Czech Rep. 2009	Denmark 1960	Denmark 1986	Denmark 1988	Denmark 1998	Denmark 2008
Estonia 1996	Estonia 2006	Estonia 2011	Finland 1964	Finland 1980	Finland 1988	Finland 2000
Finland 2007	Finland 2012	Georgia 2011	Greece 1981	Greece 2000	Greece 2007	Hungary 1966
Hungary 1970	Hungary 1983	Hungary 1994	Hungary 1999	Hungary 2004	Hungary 2011	Hungary 2012
Iceland 1988	Iceland 2008	Israel 1988	Israel 2009	Japan 1959	Japan 1977	Japan 1983
Japan 2007	Japan 2010	Korea 2009	Lebanon 2007	Lithuania 1972	Lithuania 1991	Lithuania 2004
Lithuania 2007	Lithuania 2009	Lithuania 2010	Macedonia 2010	Norway 1992	Norway 2004	Norway 2012
Poland 1993	Poland 2005	Poland 2011	Poland 2012	Portugal 1960	Portugal 1978	Portugal 1998
Portugal 2003	Portugal 2011	Portugal 2012	Romania 2003	Romania 2009	Romania 2012	Russia 2000
Russia 2002	Russia 2003	Russia 2006	Russia 2010	Russia 2012	Russia 2013	Serbia 2005
Serbia 2008	Slovakia 1991	Slovakia 2002	Slovakia 2011	Slovakia 2011	Slovenia 1998	Slovenia 2005
Slovenia 2010	Sweden 1958	Sweden 1965	Sweden 1976	Sweden 1988	Sweden 2003	Sweden 2009
Sweden 2012	Taiwan 1999	Turkey 1993	Turkey 2008	Turkey 2009	Ukraine 1995	Ukraine 2001
		And finally, Jack Kerouac's own design for a book cover in 1952. It was never used - until 2011 in Slovakia.
Vietnam	Yugoslavia 1988		Kerouac 1952

  This published version of On the Road was Kerouac's third attempt at writing his road novel.
  The first was begun in November 1948 and featured hero Ray Smith. This was abandoned, and
  a second version started in March 1949 with hero Ray "Red" Moultrie.

  Further attempts were made in 1950 but proved to be false starts. It was only after Kerouac was
  inspired by the letters of Neal Cassady in late 1950 that he sought to write in a similar free-flowing
  style, the result of which was the famous scroll version of April 1951, which became the basis of the
  published version.

  Kerouac was, however, still dissatisfied with the result and, having been introduced to the concept
  of "sketching" with words in the fall of 1951, he began working on yet another version of his road book,
  completing it while staying at the Cassady home in San Francisco in the early months of 1952.

  Originally titled Visions of Neal, the book, which included a rewrite of the main events described
  in its forerunner, was only published in its complete form, as Visions of Cody, three years after
  Kerouac's death, in 1973.

 Compiled by Dave Moore

 Thanks to Rod Anstee, Jim Ferguson, Niels Hansen, Andrew Sclanders, Vojo Sindolic, Horst Spandler,
 Jeff Taylor, and Joe Tily for the use of their book cover images.

 A selection of books by William S. Burroughs can be found here:

 A selection of books by Neal Cassady can be found here:

 A selection of books by John Clellon Holmes can be found here:

 A selection of books by David Goodis can be found here:

 More Kerouac book covers can be found here:

 Visit the Kerouac Companion for definitive character keys and family trees, and more ...