Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts with Book Announcement: First Book of Prose by Charles Bukowski (1965)

Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts was published by OLE magazine publisher Doug Blazek in1965. This was Bukowski’s first book of prose, a long short story spanning 48 pages. It was also the first appearance of Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s most famous character, featured in short stories, novels, and the film Barfly.

This is the finest copy of the chapbook I’ve ever owned and probably ever seen. This was likely one of the first covers printed because the pink ink is evenly distributed, and the black ink is much bolder than other copies. This unread copy was also very well preserved. The corners are sharp, the pages are vibrant. Rather than Fine condition, this copy is closer to Mint condition.

This copy also comes with a flyer announcing the book, along with a book for William Wantling that would eventually be titled DOWN, OFF & OUT. Here is how Blazek described the types of chapbooks he was now excited to begin publishing:

these bks will be long enough
so as to have cohesion & get
the reader involved, yet short
enough so as to not grow tedious.

Below is how Blazek described Bukowski’s chapbook, which did not yet have the title Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts:

CHARLES BUKOWSKIWILL BE THE AUTHOR OF THE SECOND BK – a long rambling essay of the type which appears in OLE # 2.

Unlike the chapbook, the ink must have been sparce when this copy came off the mimeo. I have seen two other copies: One less readable, one that is very readable with plenty of ink. It has one fold for insertion into OLD #2.

Confessions of a Man Insane Enough to Live with Beasts was limited to no more than 500 copies, but it is uncertain how many copies were actually printed.

The chapbook was printed on a mimeo press with different color pages. While not exactly a publishing masterpiece, this is a very important artifact from the mimeo press movement. It is also one of Bukowski’s most important books, when he began adding short stories to his output and eventually novels.

Blazek was an accomplished poet and the publisher of OLE magazine. Eight issues of OLE were produced between 1964 and 1967, and in a way it started where the Outsider left off, in terms of giving exposure to underground poets. Even if the magazine was primitively produced on mimeo, the quality of the writing itself set a standard for the period, rivaling only Marvin Malone’s Wormwood Review.

Case 6