Christie’s Auction Catalog – Jack Kerouac’s Typescript Scroll of On the Road (2001)

Description

On May 22, 2001, Christie’s New York auctioned one of the most legendary artifacts in 20th-century American literature: Jack Kerouac’s original 119-foot typescript scroll of On the Road. Typed by Kerouac in a Benzedrine-fueled burst over three weeks in April 1951, the scroll was famously created by taping together long sheets of tracing paper to feed continuously through his typewriter, allowing for uninterrupted, unpunctuated bursts of prose. The final hammer price was $2.43 million, purchased by Jim Irsay, owner of the Indianapolis Colts—cementing the scroll’s status as both literary relic and cultural touchstone.

This official Christie’s catalog is a must-have for Kerouac collectors. Lavishly illustrated with photographs of the scroll, Kerouac himself, and detailed cataloging notes, it serves not only as documentation of the auction but as a visual and textual history of the Beat Generation’s most iconic manuscript. The catalog includes facsimile segments of the scroll, an account of the scroll’s creation and journey, and insights into Kerouac’s radical form and process. A snapshot of literary history—and a perfect companion piece to any serious Beat collection.

A Beat relic in its own right—this catalog captures the moment Kerouac’s rawest work hit the auction block and made literary history.