Overview

Details about the The Brautigan Library's "Special Collections" (SPC) category.

Background

These manuscripts and other items are included in the "Special Collections" (SPC) category of The Brautigan Library. Special Collections includes the following.
1). The 23
Brautigan described books submitted to his fictional library during a single day in a chapter of his novel The Abortion, entitled "The 23." Artist Andrew Knowlton imagined the text for most of these books, created them as one-of-a-kind artist books, and donated them to The Brautigan Library.

2). Brautigania
Books by Richard Brautigan donated to The Brautigan Library. Information to come soon.

3). The Brautigan Library Papers and Such
Business papers, correspondence, and more from the first iteration of The Brautigan Library. Information to come soon.

Manuscripts within Special Collections are cataloged using The Mayonnaise System, a classification system developed specifically for The Brautigan Library. Manuscripts are cataloged according to fifteen general categories, the year of submission, and the order of acquisition into the category. For example, SPC 2019.23.005 indicates the manuscript was the fifth one cataloged as part of "The 23" in 2018 to the SPC (Special Collections) category. Author's Synopsis, Librarian's Comments, and a sample from the Beginning provide additional information for each book.

The 23

Background
In his novel, The Abortion: An Historical Romance 1966, Richard Brautigan describes a library where anyone can, at any time, deposit unpublished books. In Book 1: The Library, in a section entitled "The 23," Brautigan's unnamed narrator, the librarian, a thirty-one year old young man, recounts twenty-three books registered into the library during one evening.

Andrew Knowlton, an American artist living in Korea, imagined the text for twenty-one of these books. He substituted Growing Flowers by Candlelight in Hotel Rooms by Mrs. Charles Fine Adams and The Other Side of my Hand by Harlow Blade for Sam Sam Sam by Patricia Evens Summers and A History of Nebraska by Clinton York. Knowlton created a one-of-a-kind artist book for each of these titles, and donated The 23 collection to The Brautigan Library in August 2018. WATCH a video about this project.

Stats
Artist books in The 23 collection = 23
2018 = 23 books
Missing = 0 books

Books
In order as described in Brautigan's The Abortion.

Growing Flowers by Candlelight in Hotel Rooms

Mrs. Charles Fine Adams
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.01
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Author's Synopsis
I live in the Kit Carson Hotel and I've raised many flowers there in my room. My room doesn't have any windows, so I have to use candles. They work the best. Flowers seem to like the smell of burning wax, if you know what I mean. Just show a flower a candle and it starts growing (15).

Librarian's Comments
Drawings of her hotel room with the flowers growing in the room. Written in longhand with red, green and blue crayons.

My Trike

Chuck
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.02
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was five years old and had a face that looked as if it had been struck by a tornado of freckles. There was no title on the book and no words inside, just pictures (25).

Leather Clothes and the History of Man

S. M. Justice
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.03
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was quite motorcyclist and wearing an awful lot of leather clothes. His book was made entirely of leather. I had never seen a 290-page book printed on leather before" (26)

Beginning
In the tannery, all the men called by Garçon (boy) so I thought my name always was Garçon. The day I escape tannery, I decided by name is not Garçon anymore. My name is Homme (man). So now everyone call me Man. But before I tell all this story, I must ask you forgive my poor English. I am still learning.

Love Always Beautiful

Charles Green
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.04
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was about fifty years old and said he had been trying to find a publisher for his book since he was seventeen years old when he wrote the book. 'This book has set a world record for rejections,' he said. 'It has been rejected 459 times and now I am an old man'" (26).

Beginning
Nestled on the side of Mount Magdalena, some 2,750 feet above sea level, sits the town of Avita, population 899. On Avita's main street, there is a coffee shop called "Tinto," owned by an old man named James P.

Aventans take their coffee quite seriously, as the hills of Mounty Magdalena produce the majority of coffee consumed in the region, and "Tinto" is always filled with coffee aficionados and book lovers. Aventans are also knows as avid readers.

The Stereo and God

Reverend Lincoln Lincoln
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.05
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author said that God was keeping his eye on our stereophonic phonographs" (26-27).

Beginning
Ernest Fontainebleau turned in his small cot and reached for the book siting on the cardboard box he used as a nightstand. Ernest, though 27 years of age, had only learned to read recently—since his friend and boss, Ana Gupta, hired him to work in the library. She taught him with a hardback copy of Winnie the Pooh. Since then, Ernest had ripped through hundreds of children's classics and was feeling ready to graduate to more difficult material. Right now, he was on Robinson Crusoe. He flipped the book open and began to read, lying on his back, his index finger underlining each word. But his mind was not on the book now. He was focused on the voice of his favorite DJ, Ricky Peters. It only occurred to Ernest that he had gone sleepless just as long as Ricky Peters had [102 hours]. Since Peters started this crazy stunt [going after the Guinness World Record for the most sleepless hours], Ernest had spent his days working in (putting away books) and out (trimming the bushes and raking the leaves) of the library, and at night, he say by his tiny stereo, surrounded by piles of books, listening to Ricky Peters babble on and on for hours about nothing and everything. It hadn't even crosses Ernest's mind to try and get some sleep. He didn't even really feel all that tired. It was at this very moment, on his cot in his tiny room, that Ernest Fontainebleau decided that he would stay up as long as Ricky Peters was awake, and it he could go beyond Peters, he would.

Pancake Pretty

Barbara Jones
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.06
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was seven years old and wearing a white dress. 'This book is about a pancake,' she said" (27).

Beginning
There once was a pancake that was very plain. The plain pancake rolled across the table and met a banana pancake. "You're so pretty and I'm so plain," the plain pancake said. "May I have a slice of banana, too?"

"Sure!" the banana pancake said.

He Kissed All Night

Susan Margar
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.07
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was a very plain middle-aged woman he looked as if she had never been kissed. "it's about kissing,' she said" (27-28).

Beginning
He kissed all night and when the sun came up and filled the bedroom with light, he realized that it wasn't her lips that he had been kissing all night but her feet. It was probably the lowest point in his entire life. How could he have gone from being a legend in the world of professional kissing, to a fool who couldn't even tell whether he was kissing lips or feet.

Moose

Richard Brautigan
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.08
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was tall and blond and had a long yellow mustache that gave him an anachronistic appearance.This was the third or fourth book he had brought to the library. It seems to me that the first book had something to do with America (28).

Beginning
Her name was Pickles and her life was great. That is, until she won the lottery.

It's the Queen of Darkness, Pal

Rod Keen
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.09
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
"I work in the city sewers," he said. "It's science-fiction," (28).

Beginning
My face is pretty ordinary, No one would stop on the street to say to their old friend, "Hey! Look at that man's nice face."

But they might, they most likely do, make mental note of my above average mustache, so that they can tell their loved ones about it when they get home. And when they get home and begin to describe my mustache, they certainly mention how nice and thick it is. 'Like a carpet," they might say.

Your Clothes are Dead

Les Steinman
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.10
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author looked like an ancient Jewish tailor" (29).

Beginning
I'm an old man and I'm no good at writing books and I'm no good at any other part of life but I feel the need to write this book to warn people that cheating on your wife is a very terrible, terrible thing to do and you'd better not do it or you'll end up old and lonely and sad.

Jack, the Story of a Cat

Hilda Simpson
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.11
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was a girl about twelve years old. "It's a book about my cat Jack," she said. "He's a really noble animal. I thought I would put him down in a book, bring it here and make him famous" (29).

Beginning
Jack is a noble cat, and since Jack can't tell his own story (because he is a cat) I will tell it for him.

I once heard this quote from John Wooden. It goes: "The true test of a man's character is what he does when no one is watching."

Replace the word "man" with "cat" and this quote applies directly to Jack and why Jack is such a noble cat. Because Jack does marvelous things when no one is watching.

How do I know this? Because I have watched Jack do marvelous things when he thought no one was watching. I'm good at not being seen by Jack. I guess you could say I'm pretty stealthy, in my own way.

The Culinary Dostoevski

James Fallon
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.12
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author said the book was a cookbook of recipes he had found in Dostoevski's novels. "Some of them are very good," he said. "I've eaten everything Dostoevski ever cooked" (29).

Beginning
The following recipes are all inspired by passages from the words of the world's greatest writer, Fyodor Dostoevski. I have read all of Dostoevski;s novels and short stories, and I have also eaten everything food mentioned in his books. Some of them are very good, and I hope you will enjoy the recoilless I have included in this book.

My Dog

My Dog
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.13
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was seven years old and said thank you when he put his book on a shelf (29).

Beginning
My dog is the best better than yours
and his and hers and theirs.

My dog is cute and
my dog is soft
and sometimes he farts
but only
when he's sick.

Hombre

Hombre
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.14
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was a Chinese gentleman about seventy. "It's a Western," he said. "About a horse thief. Reading Westerns is my hobby, so I decided to write one myself. Why not? I spent thirty years cooking in a restaurant in Phoenix" (30).

Beginning
Leroy Bushman was right about one thing: Canton "Hombre" Lee was on a long lucky streak. In the past six months, "Hombre" had stolen hundreds of horses all over the West and made thousands of dollars selling them to Old Man Buck Walter (who didn't ask or really even care where the horses were coming from) in town. Canton was a one-man horse thieving army and no one could steal horses quite like him, but ask Canton and he'd say: "It's got nothin' to do with luck, Murph. Everything to do with skill and lightning speed."

Vietnam Victory

Edward Fox
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.15
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was a very serious young man who said that victory could only be achieved in Vietnam by killing everybody there (30).

Beginning
If I were to be sitting with you around a campfire telling you this story, as opposed to telling it to you in writing, it would take a very long time and that's because I don't know you and I would be nervous and when I become nervous I have chronic hiccups.

Printer's Ink

Fred Sinkus
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.16
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was a former journalist whose book was almost illegibly written in longhand with his words wrapped around whiskey (30).

Beginning
Dorian Gobert interlocked his fingers, cracked his knuckles, placed his hands on the back of his head and leaned back in his chair. He was happy.

I was deadline day and all of his stories, captions and headlines were turned in with plenty of time to spare. He'd have a record seven articles in this week's issue of The County Herald and in exactly thirteen minutes, he gather his belongings, say goodbye to his coworkers, get in this car and drive hoe to a couple of TV dinners and Dragnet with his mother.

Bacon Death

Marsha Paterson
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.17
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was a totally nondescript young woman except for a look of anguish on her face. The book actually looked like a pound of bacon (30).

Beginning
I never thought I'd become a rock star, but I did. A pretty big one, at that. Life is weird, I guess. One day, you're driving a cab around Oakland, and the next, you're touring the world and ripping up stages in front of thousands of fans in pig costumes.

UFO versus CBS

Susan DeWitt
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.18
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was an old woman who told me that her book, which was written in Santa Barbara at her sister's house, was about a Martian conspiracy to take over the Columbia Broadcasting System (31).

Beginning
You ever been adducted by aliens? No, you haven't. But I have. So why don't you just shut up and let me do the talking here for a second?

The Egg Layed Twice

Beatrice Quinn
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.19
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author said this collection of poetry summed up the wisdom she had found while living twenty-six years on a chicken ranch in San Jose (31).

Beginning
Toilet Paper

I have a chicke
named Mo.

Mo wandered his way
into the house today,
into the bathroom

and got a piece of
toilet paper
stuck on his foot

and he walked around
all day like that

and I didn't tell him.

Breakfast First

Samuel Humber
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.20
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author said that breakfast was an absolute requisite for traveling and was overlooked in too many travel books, so he decided that he would write a book about how important breakfast was in traveling (31).

Beginning
My name is Samuel Humber and I am a world traveler. I have traveled to over sixty countries, and if there's anything I've learning in my travels, it's that breakfast is important. In fact, breakfast might be the most important part of your day as a traveler. As a youngster, I used to be like many Americans on the go, I would skip breakfast, or grab a piece of toast and swallow it in three bits on my way to school. Those days are long gone for me. Now, I sit down for a proper breakfast every single day. I do not rush breakfast. I like to take my good old time. Often, I breakfast for over two hours. It is quite ritualistic for me. And ever since I started taking breakfast seriously, the quality of my life has improved dramatically.

The Quick Forest

Thomas Funnell
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.21
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was about thirty years old and looked scientific. His hair was thinning and he looked eager to talk about the book. "I didn't write it," he said. "I stole it from my mother. Serves her right, too. The God-damn bitch" (32).

Beginning
It was the beginning of an unseasonably warm autumn when Thomas Funnel[l] first heard the rumor that Vernon G. Smith, the great American adventure novelist, would be returning to his birth town in Leonardtown, Maryland to do a reading at the local library.

The news came as both a shock and a thrill to everyone in town, especially Funnel, as it was well known in town that Smith had only spend [sic] a few years of his childhood here in Leonardtown before moving on to Chicago, and eventually New York to become one of the greatest selling authors our country has ever produced.

The Need for Legalized Abortion

Doctor O
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.22
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was doctor and very nervous in his late 30s. The book had no title on the cover (32).

Beginning
They treat me like hell and I'v had it up to her[e] with it. Just in the past week, I've been spit on (and not just any kind of spit, a thick, gooey blend of coffee, cigarettes and mucus loogie), had my leaves ripped out, the remains of a stale soda lured [poured] on me, and to top it all off Mr. K was drunk two nights ago and urinated all over me. Do these idiots not know that all these poisons are getting into my soil and killing me, little by little? And to make matters worse, it's November and temperatures are dropping very fast. It's nearly freezing at night and I'm not the type of plant that can handle that kind of cold. I need to be brought indoors soon. This little corner balcony on the 17th floor of this high rise in the middle of Gangnam gets not sun whatsoever due to the shadows of all the buildings across the street.

There is a glimmer of hope, and that glimmer of hope's name is O, or, Mr. O. He is a young intern here and he is the only person in the entire office who takes care of me. He waters me once a week and cleans out all the trash and cigarette butts that have been dumped on me. . . . O even talks to me sometimes. I think I'm his only friend. . . . Sometimes he talks about baseball. He's crazy about baseball. His uncle plays in the leagues in Japan. Sometimes he comments on the weather. That's about it. I wonder if he has any idea that I'm actually listening to every word he says.

The Other Side of my Hand

Harlow Blade
MS #***
SPC 2019.23.23
Registered 20 August 2018 by The Librarian

Librarian's Comments
The author was about sixteen and seemed a little sadder than he would have been for his age. He was very shy around me. The poor dear. He kept looking at me out of the corner of his eye (82).

Beginning
"Repeat after me," Fatima said. "I am Harold Blue and I am addicted to masturbation." Harold rolled his eyes and folded his legs. They were sitting across from each other on old busted chairs on the roof of the dollar store—their spot.

"Stop it, Fatima. It's not a joke," Harold whined. "And you know I hate that word."

"What? Masturbation?"