OLE 1 -- Hand-Colored Page: One Uncollected, Two First Appearance Poems By Charles Bukowski (1964)

OLE 1 was Doug Blazek's first attempt at being a publisher. Perhaps in the vein of Marvin Malaone and his Wormwood Review, Blazek did a few copies of the first edition of OLE with a n extra touch. In this case, Blazek hand-colored the back page, which was printed in black type and is quite faint in standard copies.

Making this a one-of-a-kind copy.

Published in 1964, Ole 1 features three Bukowski poems:
Age
Freedom
Watchdog

Watch has yet to be published again.

Age was not published again for 43 years, when it appeared in The People Look Like Flowers At Last (2007).

Freedom would appear a few years later in The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over The Hills.

This copy is stamped #380 out of 400 copies.

In this copy, Blazek has also hand-colored the back page, which was printed in black type and is quite faint in standard copies.

Other contributors include Judson Crews, Ron Offen, Marvin Malone, and R.R. Cuscaden.

Blazek was a fellow poet and early proponent of Bukowski’s work. They were friends and had a lengthy correspondence between 1964 to 1968. As with several other writers, the relationship ended abruptly after their first meeting in person.

Blazek published Bukowski in all eight issues of Ole between 1964 and 1967, and was responsible for Bukowski’s return to prose, publishing the chapbooks CONFESSIONS OF A MAN INSANE ENOUGH TO LIVE WITH BEASTS and ALL THE ASSHOLES IN THE WORLD AND MINE.

In this issue, there are hand corrections throughout the chapbook by Blazek. In a letter to Blazek around the time of publication, Bukowski wrote:
“…don’t worry about the notched-up Ole, we are not mechanics, we are lazy, fumbling, aching from the shrill pipes and ugly whores, listen, try to get the CONTENT, that’s all…”

This copy is in Very Good ++ condition with some sunning to the covers. Binding is solid and pages are clean.

Box 3, Copy 1