The Hobo's Hornbook: a Repertory for a Gutter Jongleur

New York: Ives Washburn, Inc, 1930. First Edition. First printing. Octavo. Beige linen over boards, titles stamped in brown on spine and front cover; dustjacket; charcoal top-stain; decorated endpapers; 295pp; fore- and bottom text block edges untrimmed. Gentle toning to cloth at margins, still a tight, Near Fine copy. In the scarce original dustwrapper, clilpped by publisher on all for corner but price intact (priced $3.00 on front flap); somewhat worn and soiled, with old paper tape reinforcements to verso; just Good.

Seminal collection of hobo, tramp, and Wobbly verse, collected first-hand by the author in boxcars, hobo jungles, and lumber (truncated) camps. Milburn, a native Oklahoman who had alternated between riding the rails and college life through the 1920's, went on to publish a quantity of fiction, including a well-received collection of proletarian short-stories, No More Trumpets (1933). In later years he worked as a scriptwriter for radio and television, but the current work, unequaled as a sourcebook for vernacular American hobo lyrics, remains his most important contribution to American letters. With tail-pieces throughout by the prolific left-wing illustrator and cartoonist William Siegel. Quite uncommon in any sort of dustwrapper. (Inventory #: 85062)