The Road

xii+224+[4 ad] pages with 48 plates including frontispiece. Octavo (8 1/4" x 5 3/4") bound in original publisher's brown cloth with pictorial cover in black and gilt design with gilt lettering to spine and cover. Head end pages in gilt. 5,360 copies published. This is part of London's autobiography (BAL 11906) (Sissions & Martens 37). First edition.

The Road is an autobiographical memoir by Jack London, first published in 1907. It is London's account of his experiences as a hobo in the 1890s, during the worst economic depression the United States had experienced up to that time. He describes his experiences hopping freight trains, "holding down" a train when the crew is trying to throw him off, begging for food and money, and making up extraordinary stories to fool the police. He also tells of the thirty days that he spent in the Erie County Penitentiary, which he described as a place of "unprintable horrors," after being "pinched" (arrested) for vagrancy. In addition, he recounts his time with Kelly's Army, which he joined up with in Wyoming and remained with until its dissolution at the Mississippi River

Condition:

Inner hinges cracked, spine ends and corners rubbed, corners bumped, stain on back board, some internal soiling. Over all good to very good lacking dust wrapper.