The original typewritten draft scroll of Jack Kerouac's seminal novel On the Road, a 37-metre-long roll of paper that became a defining artefact of the Beat Generation, is set to go under the hammer at Christie's auction house in March. This remarkable literary document, which Kerouac produced in a frenetic three-week burst of creativity in April 1951, carries a sale estimate of £1.8 million to £2.9 million ($2.5 million to $4 million).
A Pivotal Piece of American Literary History
Kerouac crafted the first draft of On the Road by taping together sheets of tracing paper to avoid the interruption of changing pages as he typed. The novel, which was later revised and published in 1957, emerged as a touchstone of postwar American literature, capturing the Beat Generation's rejection of conformity, materialism, and social restraint. Heather Weintraub, a specialist in Christie's books and manuscripts department, emphasised its significance, stating, "This is the original and only scroll for the first draft of Kerouac's masterpiece. It's widely considered to be the most iconic artefact of the Beat Generation and one of the most celebrated artefacts in American literature."
Part of the Extensive Jim Irsay Collection
The scroll serves as a centrepiece of the Jim Irsay Collection, one of the most comprehensive private assemblages of music, literary, film, and sports memorabilia ever compiled. Irsay, who passed away last year, was renowned as the owner and CEO of the American football team the Indianapolis Colts, a role he held for nearly three decades. Over many years, he built this collection, amassing manuscripts, instruments, and cultural artefacts linked to pivotal moments in 20th-century music, literature, film, and sport, often loaning them for public exhibition.
The scroll will be offered at a live Christie's auction in New York on 12 March, as part of a series of four sales drawn from the Jim Irsay Collection. Accompanying it will be the original typescript scroll of Kerouac's The Dharma Bums, estimated to fetch between £218,000 and £364,000 ($300,000 to $500,000). Weintraub noted the scroll's unique physical appearance, explaining, "When you roll it out it actually looks like a road. There are no paragraphs or chapters, and it uses the real names of the characters before the publisher asked Kerouac to change the names."
Controversy and Calls for Public Access
The auction reignites a previous controversy from 2001, when the manuscript was last offered for sale. Carolyn Cassady, the former wife of Neal Cassady—the real-life inspiration for the novel's character Dean Moriarty—denounced that auction as "blasphemy," arguing that the scroll belonged in a public library rather than a private collection. She remarked at the time, "Jack loved public libraries. If they auction it, anybody rich could buy it and keep it out of sight."
Weintraub expressed hope for public accessibility, saying, "I personally hope that a public institution will buy it so it can be seen by everyone. But we can also hope that if someone privately buys it, they will follow Jim Irsay's example and show it publicly—he toured it around for years."
Exhibition and Other Highlights
Prior to the auctions, nearly 400 items from the Jim Irsay Collection will be exhibited free to the public at Christie's Rockefeller Plaza galleries from 6 to 12 March. Other notable lots in the 12 March sale include Paul McCartney's handwritten lyrics for Hey Jude, an affidavit filed by McCartney in 1970 to dissolve the Beatles with annotations by John Lennon, Sylvester Stallone's handwritten Rocky script notebook, and Jim Morrison's journal.
This auction not only highlights the enduring cultural impact of Kerouac's work but also underscores the ongoing debate between private ownership and public access for such historically significant artefacts. As the scroll prepares to find a new home, it remains a powerful symbol of literary innovation and the rebellious spirit of an era.
