Jack Kerouac's Original 37-Meter 'On the Road' Scroll to be Auctioned at Christie's for Up to $4 Million
By
mitchbob
Plain bagel done well. Pleasantly substantive.
Summary
Jack Kerouac's original 37-meter-long typescript scroll for his seminal Beat Generation novel 'On the Road' will be auctioned at Christie's in March 2025 with an estimated sale price of £1.8m to £2.9m ($2.5m to $4m). The scroll, created during Kerouac's famous three-week writing burst, is part of the extensive Jim Irsay Collection of music, literary, film, and sports memorabilia. The auction will feature four sales from the Irsay Collection, with the Kerouac scroll being a centerpiece item.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledJack Kerouac's original typescript scroll for On the Road – the 37 metre (121ft) long roll of paper on which he typed his defining Beat novel in a three-week burst – will go under the hammer at Christie's in March
The scroll is one of the centrepieces of the Jim Irsay Collection, one of the most extensive private collections of music, literary, film and sports memorabilia ever assembled
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
The draft – one of the Beat Generation's defining artefacts – will be part of a wider sale of pieces from the Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's in March
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