An annotated manuscript copy of Charles Bukowksi’s celebrated second novel Factotum (1975) is offered at Sotheby’s.
The book follows Henry Chinaski, Bukowski’s avatar, in the aftermath of his rejection from the army during the second world war and his subsequent drunken stumbling across LA.
Factotum was Bukowski's second novel
The text features extensive revisions, with entire pages crossed out and changed.
There are also various notes from Bukowski to his editor, John Martin of Black Sparrow Books.
One reads: "John — (Note tire marks) This was lost in street for 4 hours — It fell off my hood when I started my car & drove off. Ta, ta. Buk."
In 1969, Martin offered Bukowski a stipend of $100 a month in return for his writing - allowing the author to leave his menial job at the Post Office.
Bukowski stayed loyal to Martin throughout his career, publishing all of his major work through him.
This text is valued at $50,000-70,000.
A sculpture Bukowski made in the 1970s recently tripled its estimate at PBA Galleries.
A handwritten manuscript by Samuel L Clemens, aka Mark Twain, is valued at $20,000-30,000.
The lot is essentially a collection of notes taken in Heidelberg, Germany for A Tramp Abroad, one of Twain’s most popular works.
It includes his famous section on “The Awful German Language”, which opens: "Malediction upon this intractable language! It is apparently so slip-shod & systemless, & so slippery & elusive to the grasp.”
Both lots appear in the sale of the Maurice Neville Collection of Modern Literature (Part III), which takes place on April 24.
We have this remarkable pamphlet signed by Mark Twain for sale, click here to take a look.
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