Signed by Charles Bukowski: Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window (1968).

Published in 1968 by Litmus Press, this is a signed copy of Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window by Charles Bukowski. It’s a period signature and Bukowski has signed it neatly with a nice marker on the title page.

This copy is unread, so the binding is nice and tight. There are a couple of scratches in the middle of the face on the cover, starting at the rear bottom of the helmet going down just below the nose. This could simply been part of the printing process. Small white spots are common on other copies.

The covers are bright, but there’s some very light toning here and there, mostly near the spine. There is also a tiny bump on the bottom of the spine.

Overall, I’d grade this Near Fine.

Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window was printed by Litmus Press in 1968. Litmus was the brainchild of Charlie Potts who had published Bukowski in Litmus magazine. He also was the promoter of the 1974 Underwater Poetry Festival, which Bukowski headlined.

Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window was limited to 400 copies and contains 18 poems, four of which were never collected in the Black Sparrow books. There is also a very nice centerfold featuring a printed drawing for the poem “Cows in Art Class”.

These poems were written prior to 1965. The book was originally supposed to be published by Blitz/Mad Virgin Press in 1965, but the project stalled until it was finally published by Litmus three years later.

The poems in the chapbook include:

Kite String, Weary Curls The Worm, Poem For The Future, and Red Violets Boiling have yet to be published again.

Case 1