8vo. (Some light staining.) Original black cloth, lettered in white, top edge stained red (slight staining); dust jacket (some minor chipping and rubbing along edges, with a few short tears, some adhesive remnants verso). Provenance: F. Wakefield (signature).

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE of arguably the most important post-war American novel. IN THE FIRST STATE DUST JACKET with "$3.95" price and red and blue stripes on rear panel. Joyce Johnson described the night the first review of On the Road appeared: "After he'd read the whole thing, he said, 'It's good, isn't it?' 'Yes,' I said, 'It's very, very good.'... I'd read lots of reviews in my two years of publishing: none of them made pronouncements like this about history... We returned to the apartment to go back to sleep. Jack lay down obscure for the last time of his life. The ringing phone woke him up the next morning and he was famous" (Minor Characters, p.185). Charters A2a.