The First Third

The only book Neal Cassady ever wrote

This volume was originally published by City Lights Bookstore in 1971. It includes an introduction by Lawrence Ferlinghetti. It is a collection of autobiographical writings about his life prior to meeting up with Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. He never got to live "the last third". This book contains letters to Jack Kerouac and Ken Kesey, as well as fragments of other writings concerning topics ranging from "Autoeroticism" to "The History of the Hip Generation". Related:

• Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
• Furthur
• Wanderlust
• Do you want to die without any scars?
• Beat Generation
• Road Trip
• Ken Babbs
• Carolyn Cassady

Remember, Travel changes your brain!

With all due respect to the other poster, there seem to be no shortage of used copies at very reasonable prices, look on Amazon. I bought mine for $4.

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Source: Cassady, Neal, First Third, The, City Lights, San Francisco, 1981 http://www.kerouac.com/cassady/cassady_first.html Last Updated 07.11.03

In the newly published version (it was re-released by City Lights Publishers in 1995), there is also a fairly large section concerning Neal Cassady (Sr)'s life ... yes, there was a senior. It's an addition of about sixty pages that were found not only after his death, but also after the first version of the First Third.

This book is pretty hard to find, unless you go to City Lights Booksellers in "San Francisco," pretty much nobody sells it.