You Can't Win, Jack Black. First Edition.

You Can't Win, Jack Black First edition, first printing of this important autobiography by professional burglar and hobo, Jack Black, in the scarce original dust jacket. The book, which describes his days on the road and life as an outlaw, was written as an anti-crime book urging criminals to go straight, but it is also his statement of belief in the futility of prisons and the criminal justice system, hence the title of the book. You Can't Win would prove influential to the Beats and in particular William S. Burroughs, who would later write the forward to the 1988 reprint. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1926. Publisher's original red boards, gilt titles to spine; pp. xi,

, 394. A very good copy in an about very good, unclipped dust jacket. Binding remains sturdy with a slight lean, minor shelfwear and rubbing to boards. Faint offsetting to endpapers, else internally clean. Jacket shows light general wear and rubbing with a few chips at spine tips, a couple minor stains and a small closed tear to front panel, reinforced on verso. Presents well, protected in archival mylar.