Limited Edition (186/243) Charles Bukowski Drawings and Essay

This is a beautiful little chapbook produced by the Synaesthesia Press in 1995.

It is hand numbered 186 out of an edition of 243.

The editor makes it a point to note that “all work used without anyone’s permission.”

Once Bukowski’s editor learned about this chapbook, he threatened legal action, so very few copies were actually sold.

The covers (back and front) feature a drawing by Charles Bukowski and there are four more previously unpublished drawings inside.

There is also an essay written by Bukowski in 1964 entitled "A Depressive State of Affairs for Kings, Witches, and Elevator Boys." In it, Bukowski expresses his disgust for the university professors and schools of poetry that are supported by the establishment.

The essay by the editor in the beginning of the chapbook discusses how the idea came about with his friend Steve Fisher. Although they managed to get a poem from Denis Johnson and Lawrence Ferlinghetti, the project stalled until after Fisher’s untimely death.