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How I Started My Collection: David Kotthoff

22nd October, 2024

David Kotthoff is a collector of all things Charles Bukowski and will be selling part of his collection in Bellmans’ rare book auction in December. He first came across Bukowski in Germany where he was brought up, but he then travelled the world and now lives mainly in Malaysia.

‘The day that I first came across Bukowski is a day I will never forget. I was 19, in the military (service was mandatory in Germany in those days), and “hardly charmed by the world”, to quote one of my favourite Bukowski poems.

I was a confused teenager, not knowing my place in the world, and unsure how to go about finding it. One late evening, I was allocated a night shift of security detail in my barracks. A fellow soldier, who I wasn’t particular close to and who didn’t know me particularly well, came to me and handed me a book with the words “Kotthoff, check this out, you’ll like it.” I took the book, opened a random page, landed on the end of a chapter, read the lines, and was instantly mesmerised by the rawness of the words, their honesty and power. It was Bukowski’s second novel, Factotum, which is a semi-autobiographical account of his youth, and I very much found a reflection of my own struggles in it. Until this day I have no idea what made that fellow soldier hand me that book, but I strongly believe that it had a profound impact on my life in many ways.

Ever since that day, which still vividly lives in my memory, Bukowski has been a constant companion in my life. I re-read his novels, short stories and poetry collections regularly, I re-watch poetry readings and documentaries. A few years after first coming across Bukowski that night, having left my home country of Germany to explore the world with just a few bucks in my pocket, I developed a desire for owning a signed first edition. I don’t recall with certainty which was the very first Bukowski rarity I purchased, or who the seller was, though something tells me it likely was a signed and limited first edition of Hot Water Music, a 1983 collection of short stories.

Owning that very first signed copy developed a longstanding passion for collecting Bukowski, a passion that has never stopped. Over the course of around 20 years the collection has grown to contain over 600 items, and includes the rarest limitations of all of his primary publications, all of his early chapbooks, countless other publications, broadsides, private letters, drawings and poem manuscripts. Amongst rather ‘standard’ items for any reasonable Bukowski collector, there are some special items that are not easy to find, such as a first edition of his first novel, Post Office, in its lowest limitation, several early publications from the personal library of John Martin (his publisher), signed and inscribed copies dedicated by Bukowski to close friends and, probably the quirkiest item I have, Bukowski’s hospital bracelet from his last admission before passing.

I am a much older man now, essentially retired, and I feel it is time to part with at least some of these books, and to pass them on to other collectors who will treasure them as much as I did.’

Charles Bukowski was born Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Germany in 1920 to an American father of German descent and a German mother. He died in LA in 1994, where he had moved with his family in 1930.

Pictured: BUKOWSKI, Charles (1920-94). Hot Water Music. Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1983. 8vo (230 x 152mm). Title printed in colours, monochrome photographed portrait of the author by Michael Montfort at the end (dedication and contents leaves spotted, some other light spotting and staining). Original cloth-backed coloured paper boards by Earle Grey, red endpapers, original acetate wrapper (some light spotting). Provenance: from the Collection of David Kotthoff. FIRST EDITION of this collection of short stories. NUMBER 97 OF 126 COPIES SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR AND WITH AN ORIGINAL OIL PAINTING INSERTED AT THE FRONT SIGNED “BUK.” Krumhansl 80e. Estimate  £1,800-2,200.

The Auction is on 4 December at Bellmans