Ham on Rye
Language: English
Published by Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara, 1982
- First Edition
- Hardcover
- Used
Seller: Red Fox Rare Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.Red Fox Rare Books
AbeBooks seller since January 15, 2026
Condition: Used - Near fine
£ 1,547.76
Quantity: 1 available
Add to basketItem description from seller
Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, (1982). First edition, 1st printing. #83 of 350 copies. 8vo. 283 pp. Original cream paper boards over yellow cloth, spine label in blue and red, in original acetate dust-jacket. Acetate jacket shows light edge wear with surface scratches to gloss, rubbing, mild fading. Book is tight, square and firm. Interior clean and unmarked, sans droplet to ffep. Boldly signed by the author, with doodle of man and beer bottle in black pen on the rear colophon page. Also accompanied is the Ham on Rye promotional broadside/flyer No. 8 [but is actually No.9] (17 x 10 1/16”) printed in four colors on pale yellow paper. Folded into fourths, else fine. Dust Jacket: Acetate: Near Fine Hardcover: Fine “Ham on Rye is a 1982 semi-autobiographical novel by American author and poet Charles Bukowski. Written in the first person, the novel follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski's thinly veiled alter ego, during his early years. Written in Bukowski's characteristically straightforward prose, the novel tells of his coming-of-age in Los Angeles during the Great Depression. In 1969, Bukowski accepted an offer from Black Sparrow Press publisher John Martin and quit his post office job to dedicate himself to full-time writing. He was then 49 years old. As he explained in a letter at the time, "I have one of two choices – stay in the post office and go crazy . or stay out here and play at writer and starve. I have decided to starve.".…
Seller Inventory # ABE-1769566048933
- Title
- Ham on Rye
- Author
- Charles Bukowski
- Publisher
- Black Sparrow Press, Santa Barbara
- Publication year
- 1982
- Condition
- Near fine
- Signed
- Inscribed by Author(s)
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 0876855591
- ISBN 13
- 9780876855591
- Edition
- 1st Edition, Limited Edition
- Printing
- 1st Printing
"Synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review
Sadly, best known as the alcoholic inspiration for the film Barfly (an experience he reflected on in his book Hollywood), it is as a poet, rather than a drunk, that Bukowski should be best remembered. His bitter, caustic, direct, humane, damaged poetry reflects a life dominated by poverty and booze. His poetry stretches over many, many volumes but Bukowski also wrote great novels: all of them have many faults but the first four books he wrote shine for similar reasons. Post Office and Factotum both dissect, quite brilliantly, the life of an angry, poor man forced to do mindless jobs, pushed around and considered mindless by the fools who force him to do them. Women, as Roddy Doyle points out in his short introduction, continues the themes but focuses on the numerous women who share his hero's bed and bottle. --Mark Thwaite
"About the title" may belong to another edition of this title.
Red Fox Rare Books
Portland, OR, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since January 15, 2026
Shipping rates within U.S.A.
| Item | 5 to 10 business days | 2 to 4 business days |
|---|---|---|
| First item | £ 9.77 | £ 22.54 |
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- Paypal
Store description
First editions for the modern book collector.
Specialty
Modern First Editions, High Points of Fiction & Literature, Out-of-Print booksSeller's business information
OR, U.S.A.
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