Same Old Thing, Shakespeare Through Muller -- Signed (#24/29)
Same Old Thing, Shakespeare Through Muller -- Signed (#24/29)
According to Krumhansl, this was a promotional mailer Marvin Malone published in 1963 to promote his poetry journal, Wormwood Review. A total of 500 copies were printed.
And that part is true. But the signed copies were not from 1963.
According to legendary collector and bibliographer Al Fogel, it was he who was responsible for getting them signed, but it wasn’t until the early 1980s. As Fogel tells it, this was yet another situation in the 1980s when John Martin was trying to crack down on any Bukowski item that wasn’t issue from Black Sparrow Press.
“When I was about to publish my first Checklist in the early 1980s I had contacted Bukowski to ask if he would sign a few copies (25) of "Same Old Thing, Shakespeare Through Mailer" a broadside I had gotten from Marvin Malone (Wormwood Review) & which I was going to insert & paste into my Checklist which wd constitute a limited edition. Bukowski agreed to sign the 25 copies. He signed them and was about to send them off to me, when JM intervened & told the Buk not to send. Buk --in turn--notified me that upon the advice of his Publisher, he would not be sending the 25 signed broadsides. I had already pre-sold the limited edition, so when I received the news I was LIVID, FUMING. I let Buk have it in a verbal attack--and it was the only time that the Buk & I had a flare-up (lasted about 6 months of no correspondence). But then--unexpectedly-- I received a rather large package from (none other than) the BUK & along with the 25 signed Broadsides there was a letter that read "I'm sorry and I apologize..Send me anything you need signed. To me a guy like you knows a hell of a lot more about life than the first 5000 I follow on the freeway.”
The boaside features the Bukowski poem “Same Old Thing, Shakespeare Through Muller” and Bukowski has signed his name in black ink underneath it. The poem originally appeared in Wormwood 11.
This copy has some very visible wrinkles and a bit of toning, as well as small creases to the corners and a tiny chip to the lower-left corner. I’m going to grade it Very Good ++ because I’ve seen a lot better copies out there.
Wormwood Review was published by the legendary Marvin Malone (1930-1996). Malone was a pharmacologist, scientific researcher, educator, artist, poetry collector, and editor. Upon arrival to Storrs, Connecticut in 1960, Malone discovered the second issue of Wormwood Review and soon took over the publication as the sole editor, publisher, and designer (alias A. Sypher), producing quarterly issues until his death in 1996.
Wormwood Review ran for 144 issues (1959-1997). Christa Malone, Marvin's daughter, co-edited issue 144 after Marvin's death, and released issue 145/146 as a special tribute issue to Marvin in 1999.
Case 3