my personal recollection, as I recalled in a different thread:
I'll tell you a little story: when I was at the UCSB Special Collections Department I had the chance to copy all the Targets issues. They kept them in the "regular" Bukowski section. One day I was taking a look at Al Fogel's book and I noticed that the Targets mags where the most valuable Bukowski items.
I became a close friend of most people working there -you know, I spent 3-4 months there, and I went to that Department DAILY- and one day I told one of them -a real nice guy who also liked Bukowski's work- that those Target mags. were too valuable to be there, in the regular Bukowski section. I can't recall how many they had, but I would say there were 2-3 SIGNATURE #1 issues. Anyway, this friend of mine talked to the head of the department and the following day ALL the Targets issues were moved to the Vaults. You need a special permission to take a look at the material held there.
So there!
as Jason pointed out, there's some controversy as to whether
A Signature was a separated publication or not.
My recolection (I haven't read it in some time) is that there was some conjecture about the Signature and whether or not Targets created it as a separated publication or not.
There's a chapbook by Nicky Drumbolis which discusses this issue; unfortunately, it's not a widely known item and it's really pricey.
A Signature of Poetry.
BUKOWSKI, Charles.
[Canada: Letters, 1987]. Pamphlet. First edition. Limited to 67 numbered copies. Prints material that originally appeared in Targets a Quarterly of Poetry. Fine.
You can read Jason's comments here:
https://bukowskiforum.com/showthread.php?t=37
Finally, I'll tell you another little story regarding
Signature #1.
When I was at the UCSB researching into B's poetry, as I said, I read in Al Fogel's book that the
Signatures were the most valuable B items. I told that to the staff working there and they moved them to the Vaults, as you already know. But before I told them that, I made a SURPRISING discovery. They had 2 copies of
Signature #1 and they only had one of them listed. They had a comprehensive catalogue of B's items, which I used to consult both online or using the paper catalogue. In both places they had something like this:
Signature #1, Quantity 1.
You know, I felt the evil temptation of keeping one of them in my backpack -by then they thought I was a "cool" guy and didn't watch closely what I read or copied; they just handed me stuff and then went back to whatever they were doing-. It would have been VERY EASY to put it in the backpack and quietly walk away and they wouldn't have even raised an eye.
But I didn't do it. I told them they had an "extra"
Signature #1, and they said something like: "oh, thanks, we'll correct that in the catalogue", as if it were an ordinary chapbook :D