The Dharma Bums out of the blue!

Unexpectedly out of the blue a copy of The Dharma Bums arrived in today's post. No note accompanied the book, but the package had a return address revealing that it was sent by my Kerouacian friend in North Carolina, John Dorfner.

Thanks, John! How did you know I don't have a version of my favorite Kerouac book with this particular cover?

I'm remembering now that John asked me for my snail mail address a few weeks ago and mentioned that he sometimes runs across something he thinks I'll dig. He was right on with this one.

This copy appears to be a Signet first printing from 1959. Original price = 50 cents!

So there's the back story of my latest acquisition for the Kerouac bookshelf.

Oh, by the way, if you haven't done so already you should get yourself copies of John's two Kerouac books, Kerouac: Visions of Rocky Mount and Kerouac: Visions of Lowell. He can be reached at johnjdorfner@gmail.com.