JACK KEROUAC HANDWRITES A LETTER TO HIS GIRLFRIEND LOIS SORRELLS, ASKING FOR A SHORT STORY AND REMINDING HER “START CHECKING ON THAT VERMONT CABIN!”

JACK KEROUAC (1922-1969).  Kerouac was an American novelist who was one of the preeminent members of the Beat Generation; he is best remembered for On The Road. 

ALS. 1pg. 4” X 6”. No date. No place.  An autograph letter signed “Jack” in pencil to Lois Sorrells Beckwith, one of his lovers.  The author wrote in pencil: “Here's some money - Please bring that short story by Bob Donlin, "10 Days in May" I left there - Also start checking on that Vermont cabin! Jack XXX”.  Beckwith is a poet; she was the model for the the character “Louise” in Big  Sur.  She and Kerouac lived together for a few years and the Vermont reference was likely to a romantic getaway.  Bob Donlin (1924-1996) was a Kerouac friend and the person after whom the character “Rob Donnelly” in Desolation Angels is modeled.  Donlin ran the renowned Club Passim in the 1970s in Harvard Square.  There is an horizontal fold and light smudging to parts of the pencil writing.