Two Typed Letters, Signed (TLS) to Author Jonathan Carroll

Los Angeles, 1972. Ephemera. Very good. Two short typed letters, signed "Buk" to then budding novelist Jonathan Carroll (the Answered Prayers sequence and the Crane's View trilogy, among others) in December 1972. In the first letter Bukowski agrees to sign a book; in the second, he writes about the difficulties of writing.

Letter one: "Dec. 6, 1972. Hello Jonathan Carroll: Sure, I'll sign MOCKINGBIRD. It's good as it goes for you. If possible, send along something to mail it back in. I don't have that kind of equipment around. If you're interested in prose, just have a book out (short stories) ERECTIONS, EJACULATIONS, EXHIBITIONS AND GENERAL TALES OF ORDINARY MADNESS. City Lights, $3.98. Dirty stories. all right, [signed] Buk." Bukowski then adds his new address, on DeLongpre Ave.

About 10 days later, Bukowski responds to another letter (not present) from Carroll: "Hello Jonathan: I'm afraid most of my stuff is o/p [out of print]. I'm in a blue funk shit right now, most of my words have gone into nebula hiding. I've got the dry heaves and my right eyebrow twitches in nervous spasms. done? finished? the end? [mabye a typed over with ####] maybe a good 5th. of whiskey will put my soul straight. luck with your novel. I don't have any advice. I'm stuck in the middle of one of those sons of bitches right now. [signed] Buk."

This is a nice pair of letters from the early 1970s. By then, Bukowski had been writing for more than two decades but he was just beginning to find some success.

The letters are accompanied by the original envelopes addressed to Carroll in Charlottesville, Virginia. Carroll apparently lived in Charlottesville in late 1972. The Charlottesville Daily Progress newspaper (Dec. 3, 1972, p. A10) mentions that he will be reading from his work as part of the Wakowski Workshop at the University of Virginia. Both letters folded for mailing; first letter with two spots (coffee?). With the original mailing envelopes (one with matching coffee spots).