OPEN CITY PRESS - VOL.1, NO.6 (JANUARY 6-13, 1965) - INSCRIBED BY JOHN BRYAN
San Francisco: Open City Press, [1965]. First Edition. Item #8002
Small tabloid (26cm); pale yellow sheets (measuring 10" x 14"), with text and illustrations offset printed in black, side-stapled; 8pp; illus. Inscribed by editor John Bryan along the lower margin of p.7: "John Bryan, editor / Printed with Neal Cassady in my Potrero Hill Basement." Horizontal fold at center, subtle toning along the fold, with some mild wear and handling, and a few tiny spots on terminal leaf; Very Good+.
The first and only appearance Bukowski made in John Bryan's short-lived Open City Press, the precursor his long-running LA underground newspaper Open City. "if I could only be asleep" is a short story about the interaction between Bukowski and a woman he's sharing a bed with. While lacking some of the raunch of his later work, the contribution marked the start of a long and productive relationship with Bryan, who would go on to publish Bukowski's "Notes of a Dirty Old Man" column in his newspaper. While issues of Open City appear with regularity in the marketplace, Open City Press issues were produced in considerably smaller numbers, appearing infrequently. A well-preserved copy, with a particularly revelatory inscription. Debritto B175; Dorbin D28.
Price: $300.00