Flower, Fist and Bestial Wail (First Edition, author's edition with original illustration by Bukowski) by Bukowski, Charles - 1960

Eureka, CA: Hearse Press, 1960. First Edition. First Edition. One of no more than five "author's edition" copies with an original illustration by the author bound in. During the 1970s, Bukowski still had a number of copies of this book and decided to make between three and five unique copies by binding in original artwork or poetry-beginning a practice that would continue later with the author's Black Sparrow Press publications. The author's literary debut, a chapbook of poetry, preceded by two broadsides. The illustration in this copy shows an old man pointing his cane (or possibly gun) at a young boy and growling: "What do you know about sex?" Bukowski would go on to international fame and become one of the most prolific modern writers on the west coast, continuing an ethos begun by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and John Fante. Publisher's illustrated saddle-stitched wrappers, 8.25 x 5.35 inches, 28 unnumbered pages. Fine. In a cloth clamshell box, Near Fine. Krumhansl 3.