BUKOWSKI, CHARLES. The Genius of the Crowd. [22] pp. Illustrated with 5 linoleum cuts by Paula Marie Savarino. 12mo, publisher's green illustrated wrappers printed in black, blue, and reddish brown, majority of the sheets are letterpress printed envelopes stapled and glued into wrappers. Fine. [Cleveland:] 7 Flowers Press, (1966)
first edition, one of a stated 103 copies. Very scarce copy of this legendary chapbook, printed by Cleveland poet d.a. levy and Asphodel Bookshop proprietor Jim Lowell. Both were subject to constant harassment by Cleveland authorities, who eventually raided Lowell's shop in 1966, confiscating nine cartons of books and periodicals. "Among the seized items was Bukowski's The Genius of the Crowd. In true mimeo tradition, levy printed only 103 copies of Bukowski's chapbook, and 63 of them were confiscated and destroyed by the Cleveland police. Bukowski did not forget this episode, and he penned a prose piece for A Tribute to Jim Lowell (1967), where he claimed that 'obscenity is the word they use to excuse their own rot in order to raid the works and outposts of creative men...the creative artist has always been continually harassed by officialdom,' an obvious reference to the police operation" (Debritto, Abel. Charles Bukowski, King of the Underground: From Obscurity to Literary Icon, p. 83). among the most elusive of bukowski's publications, seldom found so exceptionally preserved. OCLC/WorldCat locates 20 institutional copies. Krumhansl 21.
