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Apparently some people think that the recession is over (+ signed prints) (1 Viewer)

bospress.net

www.bospress.net
Hi,
I have noticed a rash of books being listed on ebay for well more than comparable copies on abe. There is, for example a copy of Septuagenarian Stew, HB 1st Signed 1/250 for $550. This can be had on abe for $375 (less some if you ask the seller!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/SIGNED-TWICE-BUKOWSKI-SEPTUAGENARIAN-STEW-W-SILK-SCRN_W0QQitemZ280389497122QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAntiquarian_Collectible?hash=item4148843122&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=773049309&searchurl=an%3Dbukowski%26bi%3Dh%26bx%3Doff%26ds%3D30%26fe%3Don%26sgnd%3Don%26sortby%3D17%26sts%3Dt%26tn%3Dseptuagenarian%26x%3D27%26y%3D14


AND

http://cgi.ebay.com/SIGNED-TWICE-W-...ible?hash=item414884295d&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/Boo...gnd=on&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=hollywood&x=23&y=15

Apologies to the seller, if he is here, but I hate to see people waste their time and money listing books that they will not sell.

As a rule, the list price on abe is the bookseller price. Ebay prices should never, approach that price. When a seller starts an auction at 150% of the book seller price, I have to wonder if they have any idea or if they are "fishing for fools*"

Bill


p.s. * quote by David Barker...
 
Fishing for fools works sometimes. I've seen rare books sell for $100 or more over the ABE price, even for a trashed copy when the ABE copy was fine. That works because not everyone knows about ABE, and bidders get excited and bid too high -- once some people have a bid in, they feel ownership, and they don't want to loose that item.
 
Not to mention those are not "signed twice." Here we go with the printed signature issue again.

I wonder what an "original silkscreen" is? I mean, as opposed to what other kind of silkscreen? Unoriginal?
 
Yes, the prices are higher than they wuld normally end as a starting point. Anyone buying these must have more dollars than sense.

Bill
 
Many of the seriagraphs were not actually signed, but it is my understanding (and my eyes agree with me) that the Septuagenarian Stew (and a few others) is actually signed "Buk 2-90" in his own hand. This is, to me, one of the best prints in any of his books. I paid $250 for a near mint copy a little less than a year ago. Why someone thinks $550 is a fair asking price is beyond me.
 
Every time I see another copy of those "signed" prints I compare it to one I have and the always look exactly the same. I haven't seen them all, obviously, but that's my observation.

But if you know they're signed, who am I to argue.
 
Well, mjp, you certainly qualify as an expert, so if you think otherwise, your opinion is valuable and worth a discussion here. We'd need to deal with each print individually, of course. For example, I have a copy of Roominghouse... that has, without a doubt in my mind, a signed serigraph. Full signature and date. I would think the same of my copy of Septuagenarian Stew; although the signature is just "Buk, 2-90." But I may well be wrong. And I may be wrong about both. If all of the "signed" prints look the same, then it's pretty clear evidence that it's not really signed.

I'd need to pull all of the '88-'93 books off the shelf to really dig into this, but I am willing to do so, because truth is the way to go. There may be more pre-'88, but that's the limit of my collection.

Let's discuss. Maybe it's been done before here, but I'd like to renew it.
 
$550 is definitely a lot, but there is a difference between what the book is "worth" and what we, as a group of especially astute collectors "will pay." $250 is, in my opinion, a fantastic price for this book, and i would even consider it a good price for the signed edition w/o the silkscreen print. as they say, a collectible is only worth what someone will pay for it, but it's easy to undervalue books when a bunch of bukowski collectors look at the price of an item that they either got at a great price or don't really need in their collection that badly and say that it's outrageous.

that being said, given that lettered copies of this book were at the book fair for $500, $550 is too much.
 
OK, I've done my homework.

ebay copy serigraph:

bukseri.jpg




My copy:

Collection002-1.jpg



I wish I could post a larger photo of the ebay copy, but apparently I cannot. The differences do not seem so apparent in these photos, but a close inspection reveals:

ebay seriagraph has a loop in the middle of the "B" (left of the vertical line of the B), while mine does not. "2" is centered under the "u" in the ebay copy and on mine, it is more to the left. Etc., etc. Note the dash between 2 and 90. Clearly not the same.

They certainly are similar, but they certainly are not identical.
 
I added a larger image to your post from the auction. you guys are right. I also found another example that is different:

bukseria.jpg




But...



The Hollywood signature appears identical in this old example and the one from the auction:

bukseri2.jpg


bukseri2a.jpg


I used to have that Hollywood print, but I gave it away, so I can't compare a third example.

But it would be very interesting to pin down once and for all which are really signed and which are facsimiles. Clearly the prints in Septuagenarian Stew are signed.

Based on my own list combined with a recent list Jordan posted, this is what I have. "P" means an edition had a print laid in. It would be cool to flesh it out...

1969 The Days Run Away
1971 Post Office
1972 Mockingbird Wish Me Luck
1973 South Of No North
1974 Burning In Water Drowning In Flame
1975 Factotum
1977 Love Is A Dog From Hell
1978 Women
1979 Play The Piano Drunk - P
1981 Dangling In The Tournefortia
1982 Ham On Rye
1983 Hot Water Music
1984 War All The Time
1986 You Get So Alone At Times - P - Arrange for me this splendid insecurity
1987 The Movie: "Barfly"
1988 The Roominghouse Madrigals - P (signed) - Drinking at a table, two mice on a rug
1989 Hollywood - P (signed) - Crowd of people watching woman walk two pink dogs
1990 Septuagenarian Stew - P (signed) - DNA helix, guy and tree
1992 The Last Night Of The Earth Poems - P (signed) Lots of litle guys worshipping a bigger guy
1993 Screams From The Balcony - P
1994 Pulp - P - A bunch of guys shooting at each other and lying around bleeding
1995 Living On Luck - two color scribble on regular printed page, not serigraph
1996 Betting On The Muse
1997 Bone Palace Ballet - P (facsimilie signature) - Crazy insect
1998 The Captain Is Out To Lunch - P (regular BSP edition)
1999 Reach For The Sun - P - Wiggly woman
1999 What Matters Most - P - Mauruce the janitor
2000 Open All Night - P - Crappy three color doodle dated 5/25/65
2001 Beerspit Night And Cursing - P
2001 The Night Torn Mad With Footsteps - P - Where's the men's room?

I have another print, it's a bunch of guys shooting at each other, some are laying around bleeding...which book was that in?
 
okay, just checked the ones i have:
the roominghouse madrigals has a real signature.
the last night of the earth poems, real.
screams from the balcony has a facsimile sig...

edit: and well, it goes without saying that from bone palace on the sigs would be facsimile.
 
the one of people shooting at each other is from pulp.

i have the hollywood print - i will check it out tonight. i had always thought it was signed, since the black is lighter than the print - it looks like the pen had faded a little.
 
just checked my copy of hollywood - the signature is noticeably different from the two pictures. too lazy to post a photo, but you guys trust me, right?
 
[...] That works because not everyone knows about ABE, and bidders get excited [...]

true.



But I never got behind the pricing of the market anyway.
I'll never see, how 'Women' from 1978 can cost nearly 3 times the price of 'Burning' from 1974, when both have a nice original oil-painting or 6 times the price of a fine copy of 'Catches' from 1963 with a handwritten poem in it.
I know that limitation-numbers are a factor, but still: I'd prefer a fine 'Catches' over any edition of 'Women' any time!
 

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