First edition, first printing, presentation copy inscribed by the author on the title page, "For John Allen Cassady, with best wishes for past present future generations, Allen Ginsberg", with an elaborate illustration of a Buddha surrounded by stars and Ginsberg sunflowers. The recipient was Neal Cassady's son, named in honour of Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac (changed from "Jack" to "John" to avoid "Jackass-ady"). Neal features in six of Ginsberg's photographs in this book. This is an excellent association: Jack and Ginsberg were very fond of John, who appeared as Timmy in Kerouac's Big Sur (1962). John recalled that "Jack and Allen were sort of godparents. Ginsberg would introduce me as Allen and say, 'I'm his godfather. This is Allen Cassady'. He'd come to visit the city a lot when he was living in New York. He'd usually call me when he was in the Bay Area because he needed a ride somewhere. He'd have me take him to these events or deliver him to some boyfriend's house in the Sunset District" (quoted in Braun). While his parents endeavoured to give him a semblance of a normal childhood, John (b. 1951), a musician and writer, spent time on the Merry Pranksters Further bus with his father and Ken Kesey, much to his mother's chagrin. He recalls a vivid memory of his father and Kesey sneaking him out of school to attend a Grateful Dead concert: "I open the door and there's my dad and Kesey and they're leaning on the counter with the principal behind it and they're in these white jumpsuits painted all Day-Glo and stuff. I remember my dad was wearing Day-Glo orange Beatle boots and these American flag top hats. It looked like the circus was in town. The principal goes, 'This man claims to be your father!' My dad goes, 'You forgot about your dental appointment?' I quickly catch on and go, "Oh, yeah!" and play along" (ibid.). Roth notes the intimacy of the photographs included in this collection, Ginsberg's facsimile scrawl captioning images of "Legends at leisure. a 1957 picture of Peter Orlovsky and Jack Kerouac in swimming trunks on a beach in Tangiers, William Burroughs stretched out fully dress on the sand nearby, note not only the interested Moroccan boys in the background, but the fact that On the Road had just been published, that Kerouac was in the process of typing Burroughs's Naked Lunch, and that Orlovsky was about to write his 'First Poem'". Morgan, 155; Roth 101, 266. Laura Marie Braun, "Son of a Gun: Neal Cassady's Son John Tells All", Pleasekillme, available online. Folio. Original grey cloth, spine and front cover lettered in blind, black endpapers. With dust jacket. With photographic images throughout. Extremities faintly sunned; jacket unpriced as issued, with partial ring marks and tiny scratch to front panel, nick to head of rear spine panel joint, a touch of creasing to upper edges, fresh and sharp: a near-fine copy in like jacket.
