HEAT WAVE - REVIEW COPY by Bukowski, Charles (poems); Price, Ken (illustrations) - 1995

Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Graphic Arts, 1995. First Edition. Advance issue of this collaborative work between Bukowski (1920-1994) and Kenneth Price (1935-2012), a poetic and artistic ode to the City of Los Angeles. Among the towering achievements of John Martin's Black Sparrow Press - the regular and deluxe issues were produced in a special binding with a traycase holding serigraph prints by Price, housed in a thick Plexiglass slipcase. The Review Copies were produced in an entirely different binding, some numbered, some signed, some including the one-hour CD of Bukowski reading his poetry. Considering the high cost at publication ($1250 for the regular issue, $3500 for the deluxe), there is every possibility that only a few of the 20 Review Copies were sent out. Additionally, according to the binder, the books, prints, slipcases, CD's, and even the foam-lined cardboard boxes were produced in different locations. This copy (unnumbered, unsigned, and without the CD) comes from the holdings of Earle and Larry Gray (of the Earle Gray Bookbinding Company), who bound most of the Black Sparrow Press titles produced between 1967-2001. Uncommon in this state, not mentioned in Aaron Krumhansl's descriptive bibliography. One of 20 Review Copies, this one unnumbered on the colophon. Folio (37.75cm); original cream cloth, with titling and pictorial elements silkscreened in colors on front cover; brown endpapers; [ii],[6],7-71,[3]pp, with black & white illustrations by Ken Price throughout the text. Some light, scattered dust-soil to cloth (particularly along the right edge of the front cover), else clean internally; Near Fine.