Signed, Very Early (1962?) Charles Bukowski Manuscript with Drawing: Meanwhile

This is a very early typescript for the poem “meanwhile” by Charles Bukowski. Making it even more unique is that Bukowski signed the manuscript and illustrated it with a scene in the poem.

The poem was written while Bukowski was still living at 1623 N. Mariposa Ave. Bukowski moved to this address after his divorce from his first wife Barbara Frye in 1958. During his time there he slept on a Murphy bed that folded up into a wall and wrote on a small metal typewriter table. He would stay there until May 1964 when his girlfriend Frances Smith became pregnant and the two moved to his famous DeLongpre Ave. address.

It's important to note that Bukowski rarely signed any of his work during this period, especially manuscripts. While he would occasionally sign chapbooks at the request of collectors and associates, Bukowski felt that it would appear pretentious for him to sign his work.

Another part of the Bukowski manifesto during this period was not to make carbons of his poems. He felt it was pompous to assume a poem was worthy of having a copy. At the same time, however, he’d get extremely upset when the only version of the poem was not returned to him.

“The least these fly-by-nighters could do is return submissions,” Bukowski wrote in a letter published in the March 1960 issue of TRACE magazine. “You list them in TRACE, and we send – many of us not egotistical enough to keep carbons. How cold can a man or woman be, simply to wastebasket poetry sent in good faith with return postage and envelope? And it is not an ordinary occurrence, it is a continuous one.”

Because he was such a prolific writer, Bukowski was probably not exaggerating when he later claimed that hundreds of his poems were lost forever during those years.

Fortunately, this manuscript was not lost and the poem was later published in Bukowski’s seminal book, “The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills”. It’s possible that Bukowski had originally sent the manuscript Jon T. Griffith of Gallows magazine and was later returned to Bukowski by Jon’s brother, E.V. Griffith.

In his book, “Charles Bukowski, King of the Underground”, author Abel DeBritto writes:

“In 1969, (E.V.) Griffith found a group of poems that Bukowski submitted in the early 1960s to Gallows, a little magazine run by Griffith’s brother. The poems had not been printed and, as usual, they had not been sent back to Bukowski.”

This would explain the poem vanishing for several years before “The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills” was published. It might also explain Bukowski’s signature on the manuscript. By 1969, Bukowski was making carbons and signing his manuscripts.

Regardless of its history, this is a very early manuscript that likely had no carbon, making it the only copy in existence. The fact that it’s signed and illustrated with a drawing makes it a very rare and unique Bukowski work.

The manuscript was folded twice at one point, then folded in half at another point. There are a few wrinkles surrounding the upper fold, but considering Bukowski used cheap typing paper in those days, the manuscript is still quite white and there are no tears.

The manuscript comes with a letter of authenticity from The Buk Shop.

Case 5