You Can't Win (First Edition) by Jack Black - 1926

New York: Macmillan, 1926. First Edition. First Edition.

Black was raised in Missouri, was a hobo and a burglar in the late 19th and early twentieth century, outliving the last days of the Wild West. "You Can't Win" is his fictionalized autobiography of those days, emphasizing the futility of criminal endeavors while disparaging the state of prisons and the criminal justice system, hence the title. A novel that is equally legendary in proletarian, hard-boiled, and beat camps, notoriously difficult to find in jacket.

Offsetting to endpapers, else easily Near Fine in a strong Very Good plus jacket. Contemporary penciled owner name on the front endpaper, with only a few faint creases and nicks at the corners and a dime-size stain on the rear panel to note. An exceptional copy.