Another Academy from Black Sparrow Press

He chose the windmills, yes, from X-RAY Book Co.

“I saw a tramp last night” by Charles Bukowski

While books are the most popular way to collect works by Charles Bukowski, broadsides provide an equally satisfying way to build a Bukowski collection.

CHARLOTTE, NC, UNITED STATES, August 19, 2024 /EINPresswire.com/ – While books are the most popular way to collect works by Charles Bukowski, broadsides provide an equally satisfying way to build a Bukowski collection.

Over 60 broadsheets by Charles Bukowski are known, spanning the years 1946 to 2017. This includes Bukowski’s second published work, a short story entitled “20 Tanks from Kasseldown,” published in 1946 by Black Sun Press as part of Portfolio III. The portfolio included a total of 31 works, including broadsheets by Henry Miller, Jean Genet, and Kenneth Rexroth.

It is also worth noting that the first Bukowski poems published by Black Sparrow Press were in the form of a series of five broadsheets between April and July 1966. This was about two years before Black Sparrow Press published At Terror Street and Agony Way, its first Bukowski book. These broadsheets are considered the most valuable Bukowski broadsheets to collect: only 30 copies of each were produced, and they were all signed by Bukowski.

Typically, broadsheets are published in only a single edition, which removes some of the complexity involved in collecting books. They are also published in limited quantities, with many printed by hand on old printing presses that require a high level of craftsmanship. The whole idea is to create literary art to be displayed on a wall, rather than on book spines on a bookshelf.

To make things even more interesting for the collector, it’s not uncommon to find different variations of the same broadsheet – often the result of the designers trying out different colors and paper types before settling on the final design. And while some of Bukowski’s broadsheets had an official signed edition, many others did not. So finding a signed copy of an otherwise unsigned broadsheet makes the hunt even more exciting.

While some pamphlets were sold in bookstores, most were distributed naturally to friends of the printer or author, as an insert in a poetry journal, or at events such as readings. Pamphlets were used as a marketing tool for Black Sparrow Press, but profit was never a motive for the small printing operation. This is still true today.

Contemporary examples can be found in the work of Bill Roberts of Bottle of Smoke Press and Johnny Brewton of X-Ray Press, both of whom began producing broadsheets after Bukowski’s death.

Bill Roberts produced his broadsheets primarily as part of his Bottle series, a collection of folios that included works by Bukowski and other poets. However, Roberts also published the classic Bukowski poem “I Saw A Tramp Last Night” as a standalone broadsheet. He also created a portfolio of miniature broadsheets called AS BUDDHA SMILES, which included 20 Bukowski quotes printed in different colors and on different papers.

Bill is also known for creating separate variants for the numbered and lettered editions of his broadsheets, with the lettered editions obviously having a higher collector value.

In recognition of his craftsmanship, Bill’s work was recently added to the Yale University Archives.

Johnny Brewton is as talented a craftsman as he is an artist. His first work for Bukowski was a reproduction of a 1962 drawing entitled “Self Portrait of Inner Man.” Published in 1994, it was printed thermographically on heavy paper, which allowed the ink to protrude above the paper.

Many of Brewton’s works were published in his X-RAY magazine. But don’t let the term magazine fool you: Each issue of X-Ray was made up of individual pieces printed on different paper and in different colors, then bound together into a single volume. Copies of X-Ray sell today for $200 to $500.

Brewton has also produced several individual Bukowski broadsheets, his most recent being “HE WENT FOR THE WINDMILLS, YES.” He has also collaborated with Michael Montfort on a photography project called POOP. Housed in a decorative box, it consists of a very long broadsheet of the same name and 13 color photographs of Bukowski taken by Montfort.

No matter your reason for collecting them, broadsheets offer a combination of fine art and literary art that is equally satisfying to display and collect. In the process, you’ll be supporting small presses like Bill Roberts and Johnny Brewton, which is a worthwhile investment in itself.

Learn more about collecting Bukowski leaflets at the Buk Shop.

Michael Sharon
The Buk Shop
+1 704-726-8307
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