tip-toeing into this new place (1 Viewer)

I was just thinking about this thread the other day. Thank you mystery girl, I read the second note and I like it more than I've ever liked his writing. I just don't get poetry in general, but that was quite romantic what he wrote.

EDIT: Okay, I guess it wasn't exactly poetry (as poetic as it may have sounded), but it's writing of his that I understand without it really being a narrative.
 
Wow. I hadn't seen this thread before. Great stuff. Mysterygirl, please tell us more! The letter is wonderful (the non-upside down one; I'll have to flip the other over to read it). I hope someday your complete story of what it was like being his girl friend and his letters to you are published, assuming you'd want that. If not, if you've said all you'll say, then it would be good to at least read all of the letters. Thanks for sharing this with us.
 
Here they are with the upside-down one right side up.

May27-1975.jpg



May27-1975-2.jpg
 
Thanks, mjp. Another fine letter. He sure knew how to sweet talk them, although I think he was being sincere. No wonder women travelled to be with him.
 
It's nice to get some new feedback. I haven't been on here for a while. I just read that letter again and it gave me that "erkkk!" feeling, the one you get when you wish you had done ANYTHING but what you did. He was soo good at the b.s., hard to put into words the effect of HIS words. It would've probably been really great if we had just written the letters and never actually met. Anyway, my kids are in college and they are working but I could really use some extra cash to help them, and I'm thinking again of selling all, or part of the letters and other stuff. What do you guys think. I'm not going through any dealers.
 
The price for letters has gone up somewhat lately, but I still don't think it's where it should be (in relation to the poem manuscripts), or will be in the future. If you can hold on to them, I would.

When the poem manuscripts started selling for $1000+ plenty of people who sold them six months earlier for $100 were kicking themselves. Not that I would expect a similar overnight jump in the letter value, but in a few years...you never know.
 
Don't sell the letters. I think you will be sorry one day if you sell them. Maybe some day you would like to show them to your children and grandchildren or re-read them yourself and reminish ( and they will certainly not decrease in value as time goes by).
I speak from experience. Many years ago a famous artist send me a signed drawing. Some years later I needed money and sold it. To this day I still regret it! So if I were you I would keep them...
 
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Thank you guys so much for what you say. You're honest and kind. I believe you're right. I'll try to hang onto them at least for a while. I did have them appraised by a reputable person - the number he gave us for the 22 letters and everything else was $20,000 to $25,000. Of course an appraisal doesn't mean that's what you'll get, and he told me that, too. I also think that his poems, letters, etc. floating around out there aren't being sold for what they're worth. I'll try to be patient. Yes, hardship does build character! Thank you all again for your wisdom and advice.
 
Mystery Girl: Given the high interest content -- emotional love letters -- they should be worth at least $1,000 each and will only go up in value. Hang on as long as you can. It would be great to see them printed as a group someday.
 
Ahhhhh.
I hadn't seen this before. Mysterygirl, this was just fantastic.
Thanks for sharing.
Yeah, hold on to those letters as long as you can and let someone skilled restore the painting!
 
I agree with HankD -- let a pro open up the painting. If done carefully by a restorer, any damage that remains will probably not hurt the value because there's such a good story behind it -- folding and mailing it while still wet, in his excitment. It'll be like a bullet hole in a Warhol painting.
 
I have been away for a couple of weeks, and lordy! The things I missed! This is the best thread I have read on this forum. Thanks for sharing this mystery girl. The letters! Magnificent. Ok, I'm going to read them again!
 
Imagine of someone tried to do this today. Hook, line and sinker back in 2006; and many, many posts before a letter showed up to prove any kind of legitimacy...

And as to the upside down pdf: couldn't you just print it out and turn the paper rightside up? Just asking. There were printers back in 2006, if my memory serves.
 
that's what i was thinking while reading the first handful of posts: why is everyone falling for this? it seemed totally fake to me, like the person was just reading from Women or something. but as it went on it seemed to be legit. but, couldn't the person have bought that letter and pretended like it was to them? bit of a stetch, yes, and the story seems authentic...
 
There is an air of authenticity to it. Maybe mjp had tracked an ip address to a certain neighborhood, sent out a few bloodhounds (only those that have purchased orangutans earmarked for Buk's raid on Entebbe {memory fails here}), and see? I'm not as good as he is at this.
 
This other guy, Hank told me was the guy who wrote that kind of corny but very popular tune - it went - "Blah blah blah, I chase the bright elusive butterfly of love" - any of you 60's guys remember that one? Well, that was ALL he ever wrote, or so Hank told me. He absolutely couldn't stand this guy. Made horrible fun of him. I think he hated the song, too. Don't you?
Bob Lind.

Bukowski wrote a few poems about him and ridiculed him in Hollywood, I believe (don't quote me on that).
And as I just read in an unrelated article, Bob Lind opened for Bukowski at the Golden Bear in October of 1975.

It's the circle of life.
 
This thread is interesting.

How do you know for sure that it's authentic?

It seems pretty legit, but, one can never be too sure.
It's not far fetched to think that there are lots of women out there who've had similar experiences with Buk, however. He liked the 20-25 year olds. Someone who was 20 in 1974 would only be 60. Not like they'd all have died off by now.
 
We know through a lot of different means, including off-forum contact.

Don't be so suspicious. It makes you less attractive to potential mates.
 
1) Who is "jean cooney blake"?
2) If you mean Jane Cooney Baker, she died 13 years before @mystery girl went to California to meet Bukowski, so I'm not sure what you'd expect her to know.
3) No 3, just seemed like there should be one.
 

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