Auctioneers expect $1 million-plus for Kerouac original

Kerouac's manuscript on a teletype scroll measures 119 feet long

By CNN Producer Shannon Troetel

NEW YORK (CNN) -- The original manuscript of Jack Kerouac's Beat generation classic, "On The Road," completed 50 years ago in a "20-day burst of energy fueled by caffeine," is to be auctioned at Christie's on May 22.

The tattered teletype scroll measures 119 feet long and is expected to fetch $1 million to $1.5 million, Christie's senior manuscripts specialist Chris Coover told CNN.

"For 50 years now, almost no one has really seen this manuscript, which is the basis for one of those really influential novels that we all read," Coover said. "Kerouac gave it to various friends to let them read it at the time, but it's never really been studied by scholars, and there are many Kerouac scholars."

"On The Road" is considered one of the most important novels to emerge from the Beat generation and has sold nearly 3.5 million copies in the United States, Coover said.

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Christie's

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