POST OFFICE. A Novel.

First UK edition, first printing. Publisher's original red cloth with black titles to the spine, in the illustrated dustwrapper. Illustrated endpapers. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm with a small bump at the base of the spine and a touch faded to the upper edge. The text block is a little toned, with some mild spotting to the top edge. The contents, with a small gift inscription in blue ink on the half-title, are otherwise clean throughout. Complete with the better than very good, rubbed and creased dustwrapper, which is mildly toned to the upper edge and folds, and has a couple of spots to the front panel. Not price-clipped (£2.50 to the lower front flap).

The debut novel of iconic German-American poet, novelist, and short story writer Charles Bukowski (1920-1994), first published in 1971 by Black Sparrow Press, Los Angeles. Black Sparrow Press was founded in 1966 by rare books collector and successful American businessman John Martin explicitly to publish Bukowski's work, whom Martin considered to be "the new Walt Whitman". In 1969, after he accepted a salary of $100 per month to quit his job and write full-time for Black Sparrow Press, Martin suggested to Bukowski that selling a novel would be easier than a poetry collection, and 'Post Office' was submitted just one month later. An autobiographical memoir of Bukowski's years spent working for the United States Postal Service as a carrier and sorter, the novel introduces anti-hero and literary alter-ego, Henry Chinaski, a womanising, nihilistic alcoholic. Chinaski would go on to appear in five of the author's novels and several short stories and poems.