Bukowski, Charles (Cupidi, Richard)

Exhibition Archive — Tales of Ordinary Madness, Public House Bookshop (May 4-25, 1996), with: The Urgency Rip-Off Press Edition of "Notes of a Dirty Old Man"

Brighton, England: Public House Bookshop in Conjunction with Urgency Rip-off Press Publications, 1996. Limited First Edition; First Printings. Tack-bound Softcover; Single Sheets. An archive of materials relating to a Charles Bukowski (1920-1994) exhibition that took place in England in May 1996. The exhibition was the first of its kind to happen in England & gathered together numerous “Special Bukowski Items” & “Bookworks” (to use the language appearing on the promotional materials) in support of its commemorative focus. The great American bard of the Los Angeles underworld had died only two short years before, so this was effectively a memorial in support of the poet & his truly international impact & legacy. While the promotional materials included here are desirable (many of which are frameable, for example), the crown of this listing is the Public House Bookshop/Urgency Press Rip-Off edition of Notes of a Dirty Old Man, which was printed in an edition of 3 (!) and remains one of the rarest Bukowski collectibles ever produced. Collectors & the curious should be aware that this is no ordinary edition of Notes of a Dirty Old Man, however, as the publisher of this edition explains in his Introduction, part of which reads as follows. "These are articles from the LA FREE PRESS, where Bukowski contributed a column in the early 1970’s. His columns have been partly collected in “South of No North” and in his City Lights publications (collected from “Open City” column” [sic]. I think these columns have not appeared yet. I extracted them several years ago, and it was Bukowski’s recent death which has prompted this completely unauthorised [sic] pirated publication (if you can call photocopying the paste-ups a ‘publication’). The columns were untitled” (from “Introduction”). View the photographs attached to this listing for a full list of the columns compiled here. Also included in this bundle is a broadside that was part of the original exhibition, TMB Item No. 8671, a broadside (measuring approx. 6 1/2" x 13”) entitled Pulp. Not all of the items included in the original exhibition are available, here — however, a potent smattering of them, including the all-but-unobtainable Urgency Rip-Off Press edition of Notes of a Dirty Old Man, make this listing of immense interest to collectors & institutions, worldwide. A once-in-a-lifetime Bukowski bundle in its singularly rarest contemporary form. From the collection of Richard Cupidi (b. 1945), our esteemed mate in the UK who was the manager of the fabled Unicorn Bookshop in Brighton, England founded by Bill Butler (1934-1977, the famed American-expatriate poet, bookseller & publisher). From the late 1960s through the early 1970s, Unicorn proffered & published many outstanding productions by William S. Burroughs, J.G. Ballard, et al., some of which have become the scarcest, all-but-unobtainable Beat-&-Beyond collectibles (see for example our item No.s 8217, 8366). After prevailing against censorious harassment efforts, Unicorn closed & Butler died in short order. Cupidi went on to found the Public House bookshop in Brighton, which had a long & successful run but which is also now closed, & he still resides there. We have been privileged to obtain what Cupidi has termed "The Last Hurrah," all the remaining treasures of Unicorn & Public House, including this gem. Third Mind Books proceeds to reverently curate & incrementally present the Butler-Cupidi-Unicorn-Public House Legacy which is in our custodial hands- until it passes to yours. [1] Large-format, tack-bound softcover in vinyl overwraps: 1 of 3 unnumbered copies, per publisher’s notation beneath introduction, with: [3] Folded Single Sheets, [3] 4” x 5” Postcards; & [28] A4-sized single sheets, all First Printings & housed within a blue, A4-sized Manila Envelope. In strong Near Fine condition with only minute-to-pronounced shelf-wear, some light bumping & occasional bump-creasing to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge; some nicks, scuffing & nick-indentations present at/along same; one large, since-flattened diagonal crease-indentation present at back cover (see pictures); two exhibits of an unintentionally dog-eared page (on the work’s title page) at topmost & bottommost left-hand corners (see pictures); some rusting & contained light bleeding to visible end of tack near leftmost fine-edge of same; light-to-moderate age-toning (spotting, foxing, etc.); a few instances in magazine of red pen (added by the publisher) to fill out sections of the text his photocopying had missed; otherwise, generally clean with interior unmarked. All promotional materials in strong Fine-Very Fine condition with only slightest shelf-wear & some light bumping to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine-edge. Manila Envelope in strong Near Fine condition with some light bumping, creasing & crease-indentations to select locales along verso & recto sides; clear, strong moving tape affixed to envelope at same; & the works "BUKOWSKI EXHIB" written in thick, black felt pen ink on recto side; otherwise, clean. Near Fine; Fine-Very Fine / Near Fine. [Item #9342]

Price: $1,250.00 save 10% $1,125.00