Flyer for Bukowski Reading at New Mexico University: Produced by LouJon Press

After leaving New Orleans, Jon and Gypsy spent Jon’s remaining years dragging their press, two dogs, and their belongings in circles around Arizona and Mexico, sometimes returning to New Orleans for short periods. They looked for their new Eden and never found it.

Around the time of Bukowski’s reading at the University of New Mexico May 15, 1970, they were somewhere around, exactly where is anyone’s guess. In any case, LouJon printed this Flyer for Bukowski’s reading. I seem to recall Jon Webb had some connection to the university, but I can’t recall.

This would be the last Bukowski work that LouJon Press would produce. By this time, Bukowski had distanced himself to a certain degree, still sending a letter now and then, but now thinking of them as needy in-laws who he kept at arm’s-length. He wasn’t alone. Many old friends dreaded finding another down-on-their-luck letter in the mailbox from the Webbs.

The classic Outsider banner style is used for Bukowski’s name at the top of the flyer. Above his name is a quote by Henry Miller, and between his first and last name is the Bukowski quote:

“Sexual intercourse is kicking death in the ass while signing.”

That should get the kids riled up…

Next is a reproduction of a classic Bukowski photograph, reminiscent of a mug shot of him at some sort of asylum after electro-shock therapy.

The rest of the text is as follows:

world-famed poet, critic and story-teller
whose notes of a dirty old man has so far sold 250,000
copies, & whose all the assholes in the world & mine
beserked the establishment to billy-club screams of out
rage - likewise his 16 other books, and 2000 poems in 191
“little” magazines and underground newspapers
WILL READ
(“Nope, doubt if I'll do THE FUCK MACHINE…
not coming here to upstage our lovable Lenore)
Friday, 8 p.m. May 15, at
The Kiva
The University of New Mexico Campus

It's a hell of a great bookend for the LouJon/Bukowski alliance, regardless of their relationship at the time.

This copy is in Near-Fine-minus condition, but better than any other copy I’ve seen.

It’s printed on a elegant paper for a flyer and has a decent weight to it. The mixture of fonts, spacing, quotes, use of caps, etc., are all signature LouJon, even if they may be getting outdated by 1970.

If you look at the accompanied pics closely, there is a crease on the bottom right corner, a bump on the upper right corner, and a straight-line crease under “Henry Miller” that may be difficult to see. There’s a faint crease under “Of New” on the bottom edge. Other than that, it’s just about perfect.

Crate 1