One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

1962. New York: The Viking Press, 1962. 8vo. Original bright green cloth, spine lettered in yellow; in the original unclipped ($4.95) first state dust wrapper designed by Paul Bacon, with a black-and-white photograph of the author to the lower panel; pp.[x], 3-311, [i]; a fine copy, with only slight compression to spine ends; the cloth totally unfaded; in the vibrant dust jacket which is very good, ever-so-slightly sunned to spine, with nicks and creases to extremities, particularly to the upper edge of the upper panel, and along the spine; slightly toned, internally, but entirely unrestored; scarce, nonetheless, thus. First edition in the first issue dust wrapper, distinguished by the five word Kerouac quote on the front flap. This copy is the first state with the associated "that fool Red Cross woman" on p.9, lines 12-13; and with "It's the plump Red Cross woman named Gwen-doe-lin, with the blond hair the patients are always arguing about." on pp. 85-86. Basis for the classic 1975 film directed by Milos Forman and starring Jack Nicholson, and a book that has emerged as a cornerstone of 20th century literature. A direct product of Kesey's time working the graveyard shift as an orderly at a mental health facility in Menlo Park, California. Not only did he speak to the patients and witness the workings of the institution, he took psychoactive drugs (Peyote and LSD) as part of the US government operation, Project MKUltra.