The Observer observed

Scroll focus in world's oldest Sunday

THE OBSERVER, the world’s oldest Sunday newspaper, had its finger very much on the pulse this week when it reported in fulsome style on the sale of Jack Kerouac’s Original Scroll of On the Road as a leading country singer scooped up the manuscript at a prestigious New York City auction.

In a report by British Beat commentator David Barnett, the news about Zach Bryan’s $12.1m purchase of the legendary document at a Christie’s sale was given pride of place in a publication that first saw the light of day in the UK in 1791, as the French Revolution continued to rage in Europe.

And we were delighted that Rock and the Beat Generation (vintage 2021) and its Founding Editor Simon Warner were quoted in the columns of this venerable English media institution alongside that hippest of Canadian scribes Brian Hassett, Kerouac expert, counterculture commentator and also a regular presence in these digital pages.

Barnett wrote in the Observer that Kerouac scholar Simon Warner, founder of R&BG and a Visiting Research Fellow in Popular Music Studies at the University of Leeds, had been ‘staggered’ by the sale.

‘Six times more than the record-breaking sale price in 2001,’ said Warner. ‘I suppose this absolutely unique document is going to be coveted by the extremely wealthy. What also amazes me is that, in a relatively depressed music market, a singer-songwriter has a spare $12m to invest in a venture like this.’

But Warner pointed out that music stars have a long history of following the Beat trail. ‘Dylan, the Grateful Dead, the Doors, Van Morrison, Bowie, Tom Waits, Joe Strummer, Sonic Youth are only some of the major names who have knelt at the altar. Bryan is just the latest in a long line.’

Barnett commented in his write-up: ‘With any auction of a beloved and important artefact, the danger is that it will go into the hands of a private collector and be locked away. All signs are that Bryan will continue the tradition of making the Scroll accessible to fans as former owners the Jim Irsay Collection did.’

Warner said: ‘The late previous owner made the Scroll available around the world. I was involved in 2008 when Birmingham University played host in England for the first time. A permanent home for the manuscript might make curation easier to achieve: the transport and storage costs for the item on the move were immense and there was always some risk of damage or deterioration.’

Brian Hassett, author of several books on Kerouac and the Beats, said the sale shows Kerouac still has relevance with young people almost 70 years after On the Road was published.

He told the Observer: ‘I love that it’s a 29-year-old country singer and navy veteran who grew up in Oklahoma that stepped up to save both Jack’s church in Lowell to turn into a museum and saved his scroll from going to some collector who’d hide it away. It really speaks to how Kerouac still connects with young people of disparate backgrounds and not just the stereotype of old bohemians in New York or San Francisco.’

See also: ‘Kerouac Scroll goes to country singer’, March 13th, 2026; ‘Generation Beat #1: Brian Hassett’, February 28th, 2026