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January 30, 2026

Jack Kerouac’s 37 metre-long, first draft scroll of On the Road to be auctioned

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

Jack Kerouac’s 37 metre-long, first draft scroll of On the Road to be auctioned

TL;DR

  • Jack Kerouac's original typescript scroll for 'On the Road' will be auctioned at Christie's in March.
  • The scroll is estimated to sell for between $2.5 million and $4 million.
  • It is part of the Jim Irsay Collection, known for music, literary, film, and sports memorabilia.
  • Kerouac wrote the first draft of 'On the Road' in April 1951 on a 37-meter roll of tracing paper.
  • The novel became a touchstone of postwar American literature and defined the Beat generation.
  • Carolyn Cassady previously criticized the scroll's private ownership, arguing it should be in a public library.

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