The Town and the City.

First edition of Jack Kerouac's first book. Octavo, original red cloth. Boldly signed by Lucien Carr, Carolyn Cassady, and Kennett Love on the front free endpaper, and by Helen Weaver on the title page. Lucien Carr, fictionalized in the novel as Kenneth Wood, played a central role in shaping the early Beat circle by introducing Jack Kerouac to Allen Ginsberg at Columbia University and reconnecting him with William S. Burroughs, a friend from Carr’s youth. Helen Weaver was Kerouac's girlfriend from 1956 to 1957, and was given the nickname "Slugger" by Carr after a scuffle between her and Kerouac at her apartment. Carolyn Cassady—Neal Cassady’s second wife—later recounted the formative period of Kerouac and Neal’s friendship in her memoir Off the Road, offering an intimate perspective on their intertwined lives. Kennett Love, born and raised in St. Louis, was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times and was a student at Columbia University. Love was the original owner of this volume, and it was he who asked Helen Weaver to contact Lucien Carr to sign the book, among other Kerouac titles in his possession. Very good in a very good dust jacket. Ownership signatures on the verso of the dust jacket at the crown of the spine. Accompanied by an article regarding Kennett Love laid in. A truly unique copy of Kerouac's first book, signed by three figures who were a large part of Kerouac's life as he began his writing career.