The Bukowski/Purdy Letters
Charles Bukowski
The Bukowski/Purdy Letters
The Paget Press book from three years earlier, also carrying Bukowski's drawings.
Read our takeThe Day It Snowed in L.A.
Charles Bukowski
The Day It Snowed in L.A.
One short story published on its own as a book, illustrated throughout by Bukowski, with eleven copies carrying an original drawing done by hand.
- 1986
About Charles Bukowski
The story, briefly
Spoiler-freeThe Day It Snowed in L.A. is a single Charles Bukowski short story issued as a book by The Paget Press in 1986, illustrated throughout by Bukowski himself. It is a short book, printed from Sutton West, Ontario and Santa Barbara, California by the same press that had published his correspondence with the Canadian poet Al Purdy three years earlier. The subtitle names the story's character, Clarence Hiram Sweetmeat, who is Bukowski's invention. Alongside the ordinary printing, Paget produced a signed deluxe issue; rare-book listings describe eleven copies of it as carrying an original Bukowski drawing done by hand rather than a printed one.
The story, in more detail
Bukowski's stories normally reached readers in collections of twenty or thirty, or in the magazines before that. Publishing one story on its own, with drawings, is a decision about the book as an object rather than about the writing. The Paget Press had made a similar object out of the Purdy correspondence in 1983, printing those letters as photographs of the original sheets.
Why we recommend it
Bukowski illustrated it
The drawings are his, and eleven deluxe copies carry an original rather than a reproduction.
A one-story book
An unusual shape in the bibliography — a single short story published on its own by a small Canadian press.
What this book explores
Timeline
1983
The Paget Press publishes The Bukowski/Purdy Letters.
1986
The same press publishes this story on its own, illustrated by Bukowski, with a signed deluxe issue.
Book editions
- Hardcover
- The Paget Press
- 1986
- 9780920348628
Hardcover
- Hardcover
- The Paget Press
- 1986
Reader reviews
Readers may also like
Septuagenarian Stew
The 1990 volume mixing stories and poems, from the same late period.
Read our takeThe Day It Snowed in L.A.: frequently asked questions
What is The Day It Snowed in L.A.?
A single Charles Bukowski short story published as a book by The Paget Press in 1986, illustrated throughout by Bukowski.
Who is Clarence Hiram Sweetmeat?
The character named in the subtitle, The Adventures of Clarence Hiram Sweetmeat. He is a fictional creation of Bukowski's.
How long is it?
Short. It is a single story printed as a book rather than a collection, and the listings that describe it disagree on the exact page count.
What is the deluxe issue?
A signed limited printing. Rare-book listings describe eleven copies of it as containing an original drawing Bukowski made by hand instead of a printed illustration.
Is it worth tracking down?
Only for collectors. The story is a minor one, and the interest is in the object — the illustrations and the signed copies. Readers wanting the stories should start with Hot Water Music or South of No North.
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References
References
The sources below include the primary text, editions, scholarship, archival materials, and other records that informed this page. They document The Day It Snowed in L.A., its publication, and its place in literary history.
1The Day It Snowed in L.A.
NovelCharles Bukowski, 1986Used forThe primary text represented by this page, used for descriptions of the work’s contents and for any quoted passages shown here.
2The Day It Snowed in L.A.: The Adventures of Clarence Hiram Sweetmeat — edition record
Official recordOpen Library, Internet ArchiveUsed forEdition record: publisher, year and ISBN.
3Charles Bukowski: books and chapbooks (Verdant Press checklist)
WebsiteUsed forBibliographic details checked against the checklist.
4Charles Bukowski timeline (bukowski.net)
WebsiteUsed forWhere the book falls in the late chronology.
5Charles Bukowski
BiographyReaktion Books, 2012Used forThe small-press publishing pattern of the 1980s.
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Why these sources are here
The primary text is the baseline reference for every book page. Additional references document publication history, interpretation, and historical context where that evidence is available.
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