John Barleycorn

John Barleycorn (1913) by Jack London is an autobiographical account of his lifelong relationship with alcohol, tracing his first encounters with drink as a young boy through decades of heavy use and repeated attempts to quit. Written with characteristic directness, the book is less a temperance tract than an honest examination of alcohol's grip on a particular kind of masculine social life, and of how thoroughly London understood his own situation without being able to change it. First edition, published by The Century Company in 1913. Lacking the dust jacket.

Hardcover. First Edition, First Printing. Octavo, cloth. Stamped in gilt on front and spine. 2 blank leaves in rear. New York: The Century Co., 1913. BAL 11946. #10286.
A good copy, well-read and quite worn, with both hinges starting, and pencil writing in the back. There is a small previous owner label on the front pastedown. The internal pages are clean and unmarked.