‘On the Road’ Repairs Hope to Beat Back Time
Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who bought Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” manuscript last month for $2.43 million, said the frayed scroll will be restored by preservationists at Indiana University.
Kerouac wrote the book during a marathon three-week period in 1951 on sheets of paper filled with single-spaced type and taped together to form a 120-foot-long roll.
The edges of the cramped typescript are now eaten by time, paper deterioration and damage blamed on a dog that once gnawed on it.
Published in 1957, the novel is one of the keystone literary works of the Beat generation.
Sign up for our Book Club newsletter
Get the latest news, events and more from the Los Angeles Times Book Club, and help us get L.A. reading and talking.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
