The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test

New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux, (1968). First edition, 1st printing. 8vo. 413 pp. Original white cloth boards, stamped in rainbow colors, in original unclipped ($5.95) dust-jacket. Mild wear to edges - particular to spine ends and corners. Soiling evidence throughout with some staining to the rear. A few small tears, chipping and rubbing at edges, tips. Mild handling and shelf wear. Smudges to panels with small stains - particular to rear. Some droplet/spray evidence to top text block, top-stain faded. Protected in archival mylar. Book is tight, square and firm. Light curling to spine ends, abrasion to front panel, small scratch the front panel fore edge, faint bowing. Light page toning and some trace foxing, nicks to page edges.

Dust Jacket: Good

Hardcover: Good

“The book is an example of the New Journalism literary style. By 1970, this style had become established as Gonzo Journalism, a term coined in 1970 for the work of Hunter S. Thompson, although Wolfe was already a pioneer in the field. The book presents a firsthand account of the experiences of Ken Kesey and a group of psychedelic enthusiasts, known as the Merry Pranksters, who traveled across the United States in a colorfully-painted school bus they called Furthur. Kesey and the Pranksters became famous for their use of psychedelic drugs (such as LSD) to achieve expansion of their consciousness. The book chronicles the Acid Tests (parties with LSD-laced Kool-Aid) and encounters with notable figures of the time (Hells Angels, Grateful Dead, Allen Ginsberg), and describes Kesey's exile to Mexico and his arrests.”