In 1952, when the quintessential Beat writer Jack Kerouac began marketing his second novel On the Road to publishing houses, he designed his own book cover. He sent it to a potential publisher A.A. Wyn, with a little note typed at the very top:
Dear Mr. Wyn:
I submit this as my idea of an appealing commercial cover expressive of the book. The cover for “The Town and the City” was as dull as the title and the photo backflap. Wilbur Pippin’s photo of me is the perfect On the Road one … it will look like the face of the figure below.
J.K.
The publisher turned down the book, and it didn’t get published until 1957. It would, however, become a bestseller and be published with many different covers through the years. They’re all on display here. I still remember reading a battered Signet paperback edition of the classic when I was in high school. Not exciting cover art, but still better than Jack’s.
Travel Between The Pages 
Kerouac’s cover design is busy, especially by repeating his name several times. The Signet cover is also busy, and has the unnerving illustration of the man with fist clenched standing over the woman on the ground. Thanks for the link to the webpage with different covers of the novel. Neat to see so many variations of cover design for the same book.