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Trade Open City Press, San Francisco, 1965 (1 Viewer)

Pogue Mahone

Officials say drugs may have played a part
I feel like this one needs a good home. So before I put it up on eBay, I thought I’d post it here first.

For some reason, it makes me feel nervous to have it around– I feel like it belongs in some archives rather than my home. Ideally, I’d love a trade rather than a sale. Email me with your thoughts and interest.

Before he moved to Los Angeles, John Bryan published 15 issues of Open City Press in San Francisco between Nov. 18, 1964 and March 17, 1965.

This issue from January 1965 includes Bukowski’s “If Only I Could Sleep.” This poem wouldn’t be published again for 45 years, until it appeared in Absence of the Hero.

This is also well over two years before “Notes of a Dirty Old Man” appeared in Open City.

This issue is in remarkable shape. Back then, Bryan used a much heavier stock than newsprint, so there are no wrinkles. It is made up of four individual pages (printed on both sides) and bound together with two staples. But this is no chapbook -- it measures 10" x 14".

In terms of condition, it has a little discoloration where it was folded (for apparently many years) and a little more in the upper right. The printing ink looks a little weak in spots, but I am 90% sure that is original and not due to age. Most church bulletins have a better production value than this baby.

I’d include more pics/scans, but it is folded so crisply that I don’t want to screw it up. That being said, it is a sturdy piece of print.

According to the person I bought it from, it was part of John Bryan’s collection.

Open_City_1.jpg
Open_City_2.jpg
 
[...] I feel like it belongs in some archives [...]
that's definitely true.

So, may I ask you to do an HQ-scan of the pages and send or dropbox them to the Charles-Bukowski-Society before you sell this gem?

Ah! Wrong! How can I say "MAY I ask" when at the same time I Am actually asking?!
So: yes, I am asking.
 

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