You Can't Win -
Jack Black, Robert Herrick (Foreword)
1926 - The Macmillan Company, New York - First Edition
The classic American anti-hero narrative of West Coast hobo safecracker and petty thief, Jack Black—a work which William S. Burroughs cited as one of his favorite books. The acknowledgment page sets the tone for Black's journey through the American underworld, "This book is dedicated to Fremont Older, to Judge Frank H. Dunne, to the unnamed friend who sawed me out of the San Francisco jail and to that dirty, drunken, disreputable, crippled beggar, 'Sticks' Sullivan, who picked the buckshot out of my back—under the bridge—at Baraboo, Wisconsin".
‘A journey into the hobo underworld, freight hopping around the still Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, doing stints in jail or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges.’ - A K Press. See - https://pleasekillme.com/burroughs-jack-black/ - for a wonderful article on Jack Black.
Provenance: Neat name to rear endpaper.
Octavo (book size 19.6x14cm), pp. xi [3] 394. In publisher’s red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, foredge untrimmed others trimmed. Condition: Near fine toning to endpapers, slight sunning to spine and light ink line to upper board, minor rubbing to corners and spine ends. Ref: 111451 Price: HK$ 7,500
‘A journey into the hobo underworld, freight hopping around the still Wild West, becoming a highwayman and member of the yegg (criminal) brotherhood, getting hooked on opium, doing stints in jail or escaping, often with the assistance of crooked cops or judges.’ - A K Press. See - https://pleasekillme.com/burroughs-jack-black/ - for a wonderful article on Jack Black.
Provenance: Neat name to rear endpaper.
Octavo (book size 19.6x14cm), pp. xi [3] 394. In publisher’s red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, foredge untrimmed others trimmed. Condition: Near fine toning to endpapers, slight sunning to spine and light ink line to upper board, minor rubbing to corners and spine ends. Ref: 111451 Price: HK$ 7,500