Lot 363

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Description:

Kerouac's Personal Book of Psalms & "The Essential Pascal", From His Estate - Bible Marked with Pascal's Favorite Psalm

Jack Kerouac's personal "Book of Psalms" and a copy of "The Essential Pascal" edited by Robert W. Gleason. The bible has been marked in Kerouac's hand with one of Pascal's favorite Psalms. The "Book of Psalms" was published in London: Burns Oates & Washbourne Ltd., 1948. 32mo, xii, 451pp. With red leather bound boards and gilt letting at the spine. Page 324 (Psalm CXVIII) has been bookmarked with a torn magazine fragment that bears a note in Kerouac's hand, reading "Pascal's Favorite Psalm #118." The second book, "The Essential Pascal" was published in New York: The New American Library, 1966. First Printing, sixteenmo, 348pp with ads. Illustrated paper wraps. Both volumes have been stamped with both a Jack Kerouac Estate stamp and the raised blind seal from the Executor of the Estate, John Sampas, who was the brother-in-law of Jack Kerouac and the brother of Stella Kerouac, Jack's wife. Shelf wear to both, with light toning, scratching, and bumping. Light toning and soiling in places. Very good overall.

Blaise Pascal (1623 – 1662) was a French mathematician, physicist, inventor, philosopher, and Catholic writer. He was a child prodigy and did pioneering work on calculating machines (called Pascal's calculators and later Pascalines). In 1646, at the age of 23, Pascal and his sister Jacqueline identified with the religious movement within Catholicism known as Jansenism. Then, after a religious experience in late 1654, he began writing influential works on philosophy and theology. His two best known works are "Lettres provinciales" (published under the pseudonym Louis de Montalte) and "Pensées". Pascal's "Lettres provinciales" was controversial as it denounced the Catholic ethics of casuistry as simply complex reasoning to justify any number of sins and moral insufficiency. The book was so radical that King Louis XIV ordered that be book be shredded and burned.

Despite Kerouac's explorations and studies into Buddhism and Eastern spirituality, he was in fact a Catholic. While he did not practice the faith, his Catholic perspective can be viewed within his texts and in his interpretations of mysticism. Friends often teased him about his Catholicism, and he frequently defended the Church to skeptics. He once retorted, “All I write about is Jesus” during a 1968 interview with "The Paris Review’s" Ted Barrigan, who had asked why he never wrote about Jesus despite his observance of Christianity. As he grew ill at the end of his short life, Kerouac attempted to return to regular prayer, and at his funeral he was buried with a rosary clasped between his folded hands.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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March 15, 2023 11:00 AM EDT
Wilton, CT, US

University Archives

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