Thinking back to 125th Street - photo 1

Thinking back to 125th Street

Starting price
$ 5 500
Auction dateClassic
07.12.2022 10:00UTC -04:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
USA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 859752
Lot 233 | Thinking back to 125th Street
KEROUAC, Jack (1922-1969). Typed letter signed (“Jack”) to Ed White, 7 August 1961.

Quarto. Single leaf; recto only; one autograph correction. With envelope addressed in autograph, postmarked Orlando, Florida.

"Did you know you were the one who gave me the idea about my new prose? Just sketch, ‘from memory’ etc.”

Kerouac recounts at length drama with his ex-wife Joan Haverty; their relationship had changed rapidly from ecstatic love to misery and rejection, an exaggerated version of a familiar pattern. In this letter he refers to her: “Yes, that Joan ex-wife, after throwing me out, got herself pregnant, then got me arrested and has been harassing my life (and my ma’s) all these years. She’s a victim of litiginous paranoia.” It was a sad period in Kerouac’s short life; he thinks back to their time in college and White's influence on his writing.

He dreams of better days: “Well, maybe you can take a vacation some day and build me a log cabin in the Vermont Hills, with bookshelves, woodstove, kerosene lamp and outhouse.” White would reply with a preliminary floor plan, an answer (at least on paper) to his need for a quiet retreat. “I’m getting sick of writing true stories out of my life, they get so sordid sometimes and scare my family.”

Toward the end of his letter, he writes,

Sometimes I feel like just dropping dead. But I think I’ll manage and not only that, a bright Fall will come, Autumn, golden hills, me on a hill in a mackinaw, me with a bottle of wine beneath the moon, a new world, a new start. It’s been terrible. I shoulda been an architect. But somehow I feel it will suddenly all work out. Also there won’t be no war. I’m feeling that too. So don’t worry about your kiddies.
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
20 Rockefeller Plaza
10020 New York
USA
Preview
23.11.2022 – 07.12.2022
Phone +1 212 636 2000
Fax +1 212 636 4930
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase
Shipping Postal service
Courier service
pickup by yourself
Payment methods Wire Transfer
Business hoursBusiness hours
Mo 09:30 – 17:00   
Tu 09:30 – 17:00   
We 09:30 – 17:00   
Th 09:30 – 17:00   
Fr 09:30 – 17:00   
Sa closed
Su closed

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.