# Is "Shakespeare Never Did This" by Charles Bukowski a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Shakespeare Never Did This by Charles Bukowski (City Lights Books, 1979) is identified by: Oblong quarto, travel prose with photographs by Michael Montfort. The 1979 City Lights edition is the true first (first US and first overall).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Oblong quarto, travel prose with photographs by Michael Montfort
- The 1979 City Lights first was issued both as a hardcover bound in black cloth with gilt spine lettering (roughly 300 copies, in dust jacket) and in stiff paper wrappers, first printing with no later-printing statement
- An expanded edition followed in 1995
- Publisher imprint reads City Lights Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Bukowski |
| Publisher | City Lights Books |
| Year | 1979 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Oblong quarto, travel prose with photographs by Michael Montfort |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Oblong quarto, travel prose with photographs by Michael Montfort. The 1979 City Lights first was issued both as a hardcover bound in black cloth with gilt spine lettering (roughly 300 copies, in dust jacket) and in stiff paper wrappers, first printing with no later-printing statement. An expanded edition followed in 1995.

## Is this the true first?
The 1979 City Lights edition is the true first (first US and first overall). Copies signed by both Bukowski and Montfort are the most desirable.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Shakespeare Never Did This* by Charles Bukowski a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/shakespeare-never-did-this
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.