# Is "Pic" by Jack Kerouac a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Pic by Jack Kerouac (Grove Press, 1971) is identified by: First edition, first printing published posthumously by Grove Press, New York, 1971 (Kerouac died 1969). The true first is the 1971 Grove Press hardcover.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing published posthumously by Grove Press, New York, 1971 (Kerouac died 1969)
- Issued in cloth with dust jacket and also in wrappers; no statement of later printing
- Publisher imprint reads Grove Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jack Kerouac |
| Publisher | Grove Press |
| Year | 1971 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing published posthumously by Grove Press, New York, 1971… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing published posthumously by Grove Press, New York, 1971 (Kerouac died 1969). Issued in cloth with dust jacket and also in wrappers; no statement of later printing.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the 1971 Grove Press hardcover. Note: the edition combining Pic with The Subterraneans is the UK Andre Deutsch printing of 1973, not a later Grove issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Pic* by Jack Kerouac a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/pic
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.