Ham on Rye

Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press. 1982.

Limited edition number of 67/100, signed by Bukowski and with an original oil painting by Bukowski on a blank preliminary. 228x150mm. pp. 283 [5]. Half blue cloth, illustrated paper covered boards, protected by original acetate wrapper. In very good condition throughout. The painting is of a human head in profile. Owing something to cubism (in its structure), Mondrian (in its colour) and Gaudier-Brzeska (in its monumentality), this is a striking work in thickly applied oils.
Ham on Rye is widely regarded as among Bukowski's finest works. A semi-autobiographical novel which deals with family and societal dysfunction and the decline of the American dream. "A whole god-damned nation of assholes driving automobiles, eating, having babies, doing everything in the worst way possible, like voting for a presidential candidate who reminded them most of themselves". However redemption and solace can be found, Bukowski assures us, in great literature. A comforting thought.