Happened upon this one on ebay. I'm no expert but this looks like a pretty obvious forgery. Not only does the signature look wrong (it has a 32 in it to start with), but why would Hank inscribe an 80s paperback to John Martin? It's a BSP book from the 60s, just doesn't make any sense. And even if it is from John Martin's collection, why is it so trashed?
I contacted the seller to let them know that I was dubious about the inscription and that they might consider comparing with signed books listed here at bukowski.net. To my surprise, they did and maintain that the inscription is authentic. Here's their response:
We base our item attributions upon close comparison with known examples, including many of those found at the website you mentioned which was consulted. There are several examples of him using the "Buk" short hand signature, sometimes with various doodlings and scribblings such as suns, dogs, and so forth. No attribution is 100% guaranteed but we make sure to include a clear and close up photograph of the writing(s) in question so that potential purchaser can make up their own minds. We do not list an item if we are not fairly confident of its authenticity.
Examples of his use of "Buk" from the website, w/various doodles:
http://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=letter1973-03-23-weissner.jpg
http://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=letter1982-05-25-stevenson.jpg
http://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=letter1985-03-19-wilson.jpg
What do you folks think?
I contacted the seller to let them know that I was dubious about the inscription and that they might consider comparing with signed books listed here at bukowski.net. To my surprise, they did and maintain that the inscription is authentic. Here's their response:
We base our item attributions upon close comparison with known examples, including many of those found at the website you mentioned which was consulted. There are several examples of him using the "Buk" short hand signature, sometimes with various doodlings and scribblings such as suns, dogs, and so forth. No attribution is 100% guaranteed but we make sure to include a clear and close up photograph of the writing(s) in question so that potential purchaser can make up their own minds. We do not list an item if we are not fairly confident of its authenticity.
Examples of his use of "Buk" from the website, w/various doodles:
http://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=letter1973-03-23-weissner.jpg
http://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=letter1982-05-25-stevenson.jpg
http://bukowski.net/manuscripts/displaymanuscript.php?show=letter1985-03-19-wilson.jpg
What do you folks think?
