Kerouac wrote Visions of Cody between October 1951 and April 1952, in New York and San Francisco. A 23-page section entitled "October in the Poolhall" was written in October 1950, six months before the scroll version of On the Road, and incorporated into Visions of Cody in 1952.
Although Kerouac considered Visions of Cody to be his masterwork, a view now shared by most Kerouac scholars, Allen Ginsberg, on first reading the book in 1952, declared it "a holy mess" and stated that he did not think it could be published anywhere. Publishers apparently shared that view, and although various short extracts appeared in magazines, the book remained unpublished until January 1960, when Excerpts from Visions of Cody appeared in a limited, signed edition of 750 copies from New Directions. This version comprised about one third of the total text, and the book was not published in full until January 1973, more than three years after Kerouac's death.
New Directions, 1960
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| Front cover | Introduction | First page | Signature page |
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| McGraw Hill 1973 | McGraw Hill 1974 | McGraw Hill 1989 | Penguin 1993 | Penguin 1996 |
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| Deutsch 1973 | Granada 1980 | Flamingo 1992 | Flamingo 1995 | Flamingo 2001 |
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| France 1990 | France 1993 | France 1997 | Italy 1974 | Italy 1979 | Italy 1995 | Italy 2005 |
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| Spain 1975 | Spain 1987 | Bulgaria 2004 | Hungary 2007 |
Before the publication of Excerpts from Visions of Cody in 1960, some extracts from the book had been published by magazines, including the "Neal and the Three Stooges" and "October in the Poolhall" sections.
Kerouac had retitled the Poolhall section (pages 47-70 of the 1973 edition) as "The Early History of Dean
Moriarty" in an attempt to interest magazine publishers. It was eventually taken up by Playboy.
"Neal and the Three Stooges," as recorded by Kerouac the following year for the LP Readings on the Beat Generation.
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| New Editions 1957 | Text | Italy 1993 |
Playboy followed up on the success of On the Road by publishing the complete "October in the Poolhall" section of Visions of Cody as "Before the Road: The earlier adventures of Dean Moriarty".
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| Playboy 1959 | Illustration | Text |
Following the publication of Excerpts from Visions of Cody, extracts from the book appeared in some magazines, while others preferred to publish sections omitted from the Excerpts.
Three extracts from the Excerpts which follow on from the "October in the Poolhall" section.
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| US Gold Medal 1960 | US Gold Medal 1963 | Text | Text (cont) |
"The mad road" section, from the Excerpts, which was also used in Kerouac's introduction to Robert Frank's book of photographs, The Americans (1960). The first half also appeared in Madrugada (1970).
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| Escapade 1961 | Text |
The "Joan Rawshanks in the Fog" section, which had not been included in New Directions' Excerpts.
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| TR 9, UK 1962 | Text |
This anthology included the "Manhattan Sketches" section from the beginning of Visions of Cody, which had not been included in New Directions' Excerpts.
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| US 1963 | Text | UK 1967 |
The New Directions Reader, in a piece titled "Meet Cody," used the first half of the Poolhall section from the Excerpts, but, unlike Playboy, kept the hero's name as Cody Pomeray.
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| ND Reader 1964 | Text | Text (cont) |
Some extracts from the Poolhall section from New Directions' Excerpts.
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| UK 1966 |
The same complete Poolhall section as published in Playboy, but preserving the hero's name as Cody Pomeray.
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| UK Penguin 1967 | Text |
Although some of the later tape sessions were included in the Excerpts, this "First Night of the Tapes" section was not. Here, the real character names are preserved.
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| TR 33/34, UK 1969 | Text |
The second half of the "October in the Poolhall" section.
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| Oui 1973 | Illustration | Text |
The same sketches from the first section of Visions of Cody, as published in The Moderns (1963), from Pirate Edition, an earlier name for Hanuman Books.
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| US/India Hanuman 1987 |
The first edition of this book included the same "Manhattan Sketches" as before. When it was realised that these were already available in Visions of Cody the section was withdrawn in subsequent printings, being replaced by Kerouac's short Science Fiction story "cityCityCITY."
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| US Grey Fox 1993 |
The original notebooks in which Kerouac wrote Visions of Neal, 1951-1952, now housed at the New York Public Library.
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