Jack Kerouac’s Original Typescript Scroll for the monumental first draft of _On the Road_
Zach Bryan pays USD $12,135,000
A 20th-century masterpiece, the most iconic artifact of the Beat Generation and one of the most significant and celebrated artifacts of American literature…Typed by Jack Kerouac in New York City during a 20-day marathon between April 2nd and 22nd, 1951 on a nearly 120-foot scroll of paper, created by him from taped-together paper strips—has sold at auction for $12,135,000.
Jack Kerouac (1922-1969) was an American novelist and poet.1
Zach Bryan Bought the Typescript Scroll for $12,135,000
Zach Bryan, born 1996, a navy veteran, is a folk and outlaw country star known for his raw, authentic style. He holds massive stadium tours and breaks attendance records. He is a leading voice in country music.
Bryan, purchased the former Saint Jean Baptiste Church in Lowell, Massachusetts in 2025 to enable the Jack Kerouac Center to build a museum to honor the novelist and poet. Bryan has cited Kerouac's works as an important influence in his life.2
JACK KEROUAC (1922-1969). [JEAN-LOUIS LEBRIS DE (”JACK”) KEROUAC]
From the Christies Auction website:
A continuous scroll of semi-translucent paper, approx. 119 feet long 8 inches long by 9 inches wide, created by Kerouac by pasting and taping together separate strips in order to feed the paper without interruption through the typewriter platen, the text single-spaced and entirely without paragraphs.
With occasional cross-outs (by repeated “x”s), and scattered but fairly numerous penciled deletions and word changes, in some cases substituting fictional names for the real names of himself and his companions. With occasional interlinear and marginal notes in pencil by Kerouac.
Kerouac has written his name and address in pencil on the back of the scroll at the beginning: “John Kerouac, 94-21 134th Street, Richmond Hill, NY” (Kerouac and his mother’s address from late 1952).
· Typed by Kerouac in New York City during a 20-day marathon between April 2nd and 22nd, 1951 on a nearly 120-foot scroll of paper, created by him from taped-together paper strips
· The freewheeling, original text, without paragraphs or chapter breaks, capturing the speed, momentum, and improvisatory energy of the “spontaneous prose” style he had long sought.
Zach Bryan - Pocket Change
Jarvis, Charles. Visions of Kerouac. Ithaca Press, 1973.
Johnson, Joyce. The Voice is All: The Lonely Victory of Jack Kerouac. Viking Press. 2012.
McNally, Dennis. Desolate Angel: Jack Kerouac, the Beat Generation, and America. Da Capo Press, 2003.
Nicosia, Gerald (1994). Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Turner, Steve. Angelheaded Hipster: A Life of Jack Kerouac. Viking Books, 1996.
Thanks. Truly awesome. It doesn't look easy to read--almost like some sort of cuneiform script. Hard to believe it ever got to the next stage of printing.
Interesting. Zach Bryan will be more effective at sustaining Kerouac's name, work, and philosophy than all scholars of American literature combined. Still, I find it ironic that such a treasure of American literary history would be most English teachers' worst nightmare: 120 feet of scrolled, single- spaced text with no paragraphs, containing strikeouts and pencilled corrections.