You Can't Win

New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926. Red cloth boards with bright gilt lettering to front panel and spine. Ownership inscription to front endpaper, with minor spotting to margins of pp. 305-11, else a near fine copy. With a pleasing, unsophisticated copy of the scarce jacket; a damaged section to upper portion of spine and large chip to foot, but still very good. Housed in custom half-leather slipcase with pull-tab chemise, with gilt lettering to spine.. First Edition. Octavo. Autobiography from adventurer Jack Black detailing his experiences in the hobo underworld, freight-hopping around the still-Wild West of the U.S. and Canada. He tells of becoming a thief, burglar, and member of the yegg subculture, exploring themes of crime, vice, addiction, penology, and human folly from various standpoints. Cited by William S. Burroughs as an influence, with Black's mark quite clear in Junkie.