{"product_id":"signed-very-early-charles-bukowski-manuscript-with-drawing-meanwhile","title":"Signed, Very Early (1962?) Charles Bukowski Manuscript with Drawing: Meanwhile","description":"\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThis 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIt'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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eAnother 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“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.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eBecause 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eFortunately, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eIn his book, “\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Charles-Bukowski-King-Underground-Literature\/dp\/1137343540\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\"\u003eCharles Bukowski, King of the Underground\u003c\/a\u003e”, author Abel DeBritto writes:\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e“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.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThis 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eRegardless 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eThe manuscript comes with a letter of authenticity from The Buk Shop.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003eCase 5\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"The Buk Shop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47649403502757,"sku":null,"price":4000.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0638\/9288\/1573\/files\/IMG_20260319_0029_04455c8d-f16b-4d64-b1f0-9a0ada6daa1b.jpg?v=1775141662","url":"https:\/\/thebukshop.com\/products\/signed-very-early-charles-bukowski-manuscript-with-drawing-meanwhile","provider":"The Buk Shop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}