The Joan Anderson Letter

A letter from Neal Cassady to his best friend and travelling companion Jack (On the Road) Kerouac.
Kerouac received the letter from Cassady in 1950 and later told the Paris Review that it had inspired ‘On the
Road’ along with his new literary style; referring to it as ‘the greatest piece of writing I ever saw’. The energy of
Cassady’s fast-paced, free-flowing, confessional prose pulsates through the 15,000 word missive; bringing
gloriously to life the personality of one of the most high profile figures in literary, and Beat movement, history.
This incredibly illusive artefact, which describes in explicit detail his relationship with Joan Anderson (‘a
perfect beauty of loveliness that I forgot everything else’), had been missing for 60 years when it was discovered in an attic in Oakland, USA, in 2014. Legal machinations over its ownership ensued and it has not been published in its entirety.until now.

This much-anticipated letter is now reproduced in full, with an introduction by Beat scholar Professor
A. Robert Lee. This jewel of Beat history also includes a range of photographs of the writers and a rare
sepia drawing of Neal by his former wife, writer and artist Carolyn Cassady.

UK Delivery:

• Free delivery on all orders of £10 or more.
• £1.49 delivery fee on orders below £10.
• UK orders are shipped via Royal Mail 2nd Class.

International Delivery:

• Flat rate delivery charges vary by country.

Dispatch and Delivery Times:

• All orders are shipped from our warehouse in Northampton, UK within 48 hours of receipt during working hours.
• UK mainland orders typically arrive within 3-5 working days via Royal Mail 2nd Class.
• International estimated delivery times:
• Europe & Channel Islands: 7 to 10 working days
• USA: 7 to 15 working days
• Rest of the World: 9 to 21 working days

View our full delivery infomation here.