Ole Number 1 (2 Viewers)

Pogue Mahone

Officials say drugs may have played a part
I bought a really nice copy of Ole #1 online.

On the poem Watchdog, the last word was missed in the printing and was later added in pencil with “- Buk” underneath it.

The dealer thought Bukowski had done this, but now that I have it, I’m thinking it was Blazek. The “B” does not look right to me. It looks like it was done with one stroke as opposed to Bukowski who did his in two typically.

Does anyone else have a copy of Ole #1? If Blazek did it, I’m assuming he did it to all 400 copies.

The end page is also colored by hand. Did he do this for all the copies?

Thanks in advance.

3.jpg
 
I agree that this isn't by Buk, since he usually used a capital "h" when writing in block letters.

Nice pull though.
 
My copy also has the last word added in but it's clearly part of the mimeo and not in pencil. Also, in your copy it is added as "ThAT" and in my copy it is added as "that." In my copy, the "-Buk" is hand-written, but pretty clearly part of the mimeo, and is physically much closer to the word "that." I own Blazek's copy of South of No North and I also have a couple of other items signed by him, and both of these "Buks" do not resemble Blazek's signature, which is rather loopy and the letters are connected in a very specific way. So, either Blazek did them in an attempt to make them look more like Buk did them, or someone else did them. To my eye, they aren't far from what Buk would have done, but I do agree that they look a bit off to be done by Buk.

Regarding the last page; mine has the words and the dachshund w/ TV head traced over in colored pen: brown, black, blue, green, orange, yellow, and red.
 
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The dealer thought Bukowski had done this, but[...]

Thanks in advance.

Really you will never know, but to my eye at least the A and second T in 'ThAT' could easily be Bukowski's hand writing.
 
Good stuff guys, thanks. I'm glad you have a copy Purple, that certainly helps.

Here's that back page in case anyone's interested.

4.jpg
 
My back page looks very similar, but the colors are switched around.

To add to the discussion, my take is that the added text, be it mimeoed or original, was due to a cut-off of the original during the mimeograph process. Those of us that remember taking a test in 1973-74 may have seen this problem: Uh, Ms. teacha, there ain't no last sentence on question foah.
 
Hey Purple,
I've had a chance to look at my copy further and there seems to be hand corrections on the pages.

Below is an example.

Does yours have these?

By the way, my copy is #310/400.

Thanks,
Mike

5.jpg
 
Regarding the Carl Larsen poem , the changes in my version appear to be part of the mimeo (based primarily on looking through the page from the opposite side against a light - no evidence of pen imprint, etc.); however, I have the same types of changes in my copy, but they were clearly done at a different time - I mean I have the same changes, but mine were changed independently from your copy - the script and letter locations are slightly different.

Sorry for the lousy photos; I tried three times!

Larsen.JPG



This would argue for the changes being in actual pen on the page, but I'm not convinced. I will say that the "oo" correction in my copy and your copy appears to be slightly blue in color, though. Dammed if I know for sure. In watchdog, your changes appear more like pencil on the actual page and mine pretty clearly look to be mimeoed. They are also clearly done at a different time, but likely in the same hand - the content is the same, but the letter shapes and word locations are different.

Watchdog.JPG

Yes, "watchdog" is at the beginning, following a four-page introduction, while "freedom" and "age" are at the end prior to the bios, etc.

Here's my last page:

Last Page.JPG
 
But you'd never see such a non-capital "h" if it was by Buk, would you?

I see your point, Roni. But then again, who would capitalize the rest of the letters? I don't think Blazek would have intentionally made it look like Bukowski, but who knows. I agree with Hank Solo that we'll never really know.
 
Frankly, I'm annoyed that you used this conversation, that pushes uncertainty as the focus, into an ebay listing that, at the very least, misrepresents my opinion. It's nearly impossible to compare, for the purposes of assessment of history, my copy in my hand to yours represented by photos. Yes, you eventually get around to mentioning that you're not sure. I thought I said "I'm not sure" several posts ago.
 
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From the said ebay listing:
I cannot guarantee 100% that this was done by Bukowski, but nearly all signs point to it.

i thought nearly all signs pointed to it not being done by bukowski, including expert opinions.

I posted picture on bukowski.net and it was a toss up among the experts, but leaning toward Bukowski.

again, i got the impression the experts were leaning away from bukowski.

kind of a weasly listing, and uncool to skew other peoples opinions to help your cau$e.

not that it matters, but it doesn't look like buk's hand to my non-expert eyes.
 
I stand by this part of my earlier reply at least:
Really you will never know,
If I picked it up for a fair price (solely as a copy of Ole #1) then I'd be happy. I wouldn't personally pay any premium with regard to the hand correction.
 
I don't see why anyone is uncertain about the corrections. Blazek did not send 400 copies of the mag (or the page) from Illinois to Los Angeles to have Bukowski write "that. - Buk," and Bukowski did not get on a train and travel 2000 miles to pencil in "that. - Buk."

I don't like that listing either, Pogue Mahone. You're using the forum to misrepresent something. Please be a mensch, yo, and take the bukowski.net line out of the listing.
 
don't throw us under that bus. vague suppositions aren't going to add any value to your listings. and you're unjustly pissing off a valuable resource here when you don't have to.
 
Mike will undoubtedly do the right thing. He sells with a high degree of integrity, before and also after sales. In my experiences he has been wholly aboveboard.

I believe that listing has now been pulled.
 
Really you will never know....

Don’t mean to open old wounds on this one, but it needed some closure.

I managed to track down Blazek through a publisher and he was nice enough to respond to me.

It was he who made the annotations, not Buk. So, that much is settled, although I think it’s still a pretty interesting piece.

He was nice enough to respond to my questions, so I don’t want to give his response too much detail because he wants and needs his privacy.

But it was interesting, because he didn’t understand why anyone would reach out to him about this chapbook. He seemed embarrassed that he put it out in the first place. He put down the whole mimeo scene and said he didn’t understand the interest today.

I invited him here, saying he was a “hero” for some of us, but I don’t think he will show up. I honestly don’t think he understands (or maybe self-appreciates) what he did.

He feels very strongly about his own poems and that’s what he wants his legacy to be. If you like his poems or not, I shared this and ask that you don’t post negative comments if you’re not a fan.

For me, he’s old Meat School and that’s OK…Sure…
 
I like Blazek's poems, and I really like his pioneering work in a genre (mimeo) that I can see would/could be looked back upon with embarrassment. I probably would too. But that doesn't change the impact his writing and his publications have had on that era and the subsequent era of small press. Despite the "off-the-cuff" quality of many of the OPEN SKULL PRESS publications, Ole is a cornucopia of good stuff (a bit like Loujon without the pageantry) and he published All the Assholes in the World and Mine, which is not only the best title of any chap about hemorrhoids, it's also my favorite Buk short story. Blakek signed my copy as editor, and I treasure it. I hope he drops by.
 
I met Blazek in Sacramento in about 2008. Really nice guy, but REALLY not interested in Mimeo and the old times. I brought my mimeo and we were printing at a bookstore. My friend asked him if he wanted to turn the crank and he said NO. The one thing that stuck with me was that he commented that the mimeo printing that we were doing was the worst that he has ever seen. It was true. It was more the fun of it than trying to master this method of printing. Some of it was passable, but most of it was really bad.

We got a picture of us with him. It is on facebook, I think.

If you read his biblio, in the intro, it is mentioned that he has rewritten most of his old poems, so it seems that he is moving forward and not interested in the past.

Bill
 
He probably didn't want to lose a finger, even though letterpress is a bigger risk for that. Mimeo makes me think of 5th grade social studies tests. They smelled better than they read.
 
The smelly printing was not mimeo. Mimeo does not smell like much. This is a common misconception, though, the really stinky stuff (usually purple) was spirit duplicator, similar printing method, but different chemicals.

The machine that we had was manual and lightweight metal, so no chance that he would hurt himself even if he tried. I think that he did not want to for two reasons: 1) did not want his name associated with such amatuer printing and 2) is really not interested in glorifying the past.

Bill
 
It was the purple stuff I had in mind. The teachers all referred to them as mimeos, so I guess the whole foundation of my education was based on a misnomer. Great.
 

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