Bukowski, the most published author of the 60s (part II) (1 Viewer)

[cirerita]

Looks like he beat them all again. You can read about it here.

 

[Rekrab]

Very cool. Locklin is right below Lifshin in this sampling. Buk was clearly the king of the mimeo poets.

I wouldn't call mimeo printing extremely easy. You had to type up the master -- making corrections took extra work -- and the printing was iffy, with lots of bad copies that had to be tossed, creased pages, too light ink, or too dark blotchy ink. Photocopy publishing was truly easy, while mimeo was medium difficult. I bought a couple of used mimeo machines for about $10 each circa 1970. Neither worked correctly. I got some decent pages, but wasn't able to complete the book I was attempting to publish. A new machine would have been much easier, of course, but more expensive.

 

[cirerita]

If quality was not taken into account -and I think many mimeo editors didn't care that much about the quality of the final product- I think mimeo printing was quite easy and fast. At least that's what I read on most books on the subject, where many mimeo editors -such as Ed Sanders or d.a. levy- were interviewed and said as much.

Here's a larger version of the graph:

 

[Rekrab]

It probably was easy if you had a new machine or one in good working order. My two mimeos were basket cases. I also used a machine at the college, and it was more reliable. When I left California for the last time, I dumped my broken mimeograph machines in the trash. Wish I'd kept them for -- possibly -- rebuilding/repair. Or is that much harder than it sounds?

You're right about most mimeo publishers not worrying too much about quality of production. The main thing was to get the words out. "Get your name up there in lights" as Buk said.

 

[Johannes]

Interesting list of names. I didn't know that Larry Eigner was that popular in the 60's.

In fact I only know about him because Bukowski mentioned him in an interview.

 

[mjp]

I think mimeo printing was quite easy and fast.

Compared to letterpress or offset - which were the only other options at the time - yes. But David is right, it was not an easy process. Not the way sticking some pages into a Xerox machine and pressing a button is.

In the context of the 50s and 60s though, yeah, it must have seemed like a dream come true.

 

[cirerita]

That's exactly the point: it was easier than letterpress and offset, and there were no Xerox machines back then. Printing a chap in a single day was a miracle of sorts, I guess.