A Picture Book for Marina Bukowski by Charles Bukowski

This is one of my Top 5 Bukowski favorites. It’s sentimental, clever, and I’m a sucker for Bukowski drawings.

It was published on the front and rear covers of the May 1968 issue of Renaissance, A Magazine of the Arts #1. Renaissance was a literary supplement in Open City, the Los Angeles weekly where Bukowski’s Notes of a Dirty Old Man columns were first published.

It was created for Marina Bukowski, Bukowski’s only child. She would have been almost four years old at this point, but according to Bukowski scholar Abel Debritto in his book “Every Piece of the Puzzle”, Bukowski created the picture book in January 1966, when she was less than a year and a half.

The picture book features 11 Bukowski illustrations with satirical captions, most likely aimed for a future edition of Marina.

Considering it’s a 57-year-old newspaper, I think I can fairly grade this Near Fine. It has a bit of foxing and the original fold, but it’s really in great shape.