BLIND TERROR: An Experiment (1 Viewer)

Pogue Mahone

Officials say drugs may have played a part
I've got a sad little ex-Library copy of At Terror Street And Agony Way that I bought a while back for $75.00.

My goal was to get the label off, but there is so much library tape on it, that I've put that little endeavor on hold.

My current goal is to try to get decent renderings of the Blind Stamp drawings in the book. From what I can tell, they are some of the best Buk drawings I have (kinda) seen.

Previous unsuccessful attempts have included the combination of my scanner and tinfoil, a bike reflector and a broken solar panel someone tossed on the street.

I am no Edison, so if anyone has any ideas on how to accomplish this, I'd appreciate the guidance.

(No, I don't want to take a piece of charcoal to the actual pages just yet.)

I am also willing to send the book to someone (non sub normal) to accomplish the goal and share with the forum.

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Yep, the art and letters are bling debossed (pushed in with no ink). One way is to lightly drag a pencil over the page and that will let the lower areas become lighter. if you do it light, you could use a good quality eraser and get all the pencil marks off.

Here is an idea. Get a large magnet (maybe a fridge magnet. something not too strong). Big enough to cover the page. Put it under the page. sprinkle very fine metal shavings on the page and then use a soft brush to distribute. It should settle into the lower areas. Then once you have it looking good, take a good photo. That can be converted into a good image thru photoshop or illustrator.
 
It's not that hard to get pictures, but I don't think it's really worth the effort to get great, perfect ones. It's just another Bukowski sketch and just another Bukowski letter. We have hundreds of them to look at without jumping through any hoops...

ATSAAW1.jpg


ATSAAW2.jpg


As far as removing the white label goes, I don't think anyone is going to do that without ruining the cover underneath. The label isn't a label, per se, it's a piece of Kromekote cardstock glued to the red paper cover (using, I assume, the same glue used to stick the cover to the text block - @bospress.net or @jordan would know more about the properties of that kind of glue). So heat's not going to work, and any kind of moisture is just going to release the top part of the Kromekote, the shiny part, and leave the underlying paper glued to the cover.

That's how I see it anyway. Maybe something like heptane (a.k.a.rubber cement thinner) could dissolve the glue, but I have a feeling that any solvent like that is going to also remove the ink underneath. Or the dye in the red paper, or...

My copy is pretty crappy, but I wouldn't even experiment on it, because I'm 99% sure that after the experiments I'd just have a crappy copy without a front cover.
 
hey nice job - you must be the "non sub normal" he was referring to...
 
Well I used a sophisticated open-the-book-by-a-window-and-aim-camera-at-page method to come up with those. Going to any further trouble seems unnecessary. The letter that is pressed into those pages is on page 312 of Screams From the Balcony.
 
Another wild guess for possible information on how to do such things technically without any damage to the original would be to search the infamous deepweb.

It's crowded by people who steal whole identities by copying and/or faking original papers. Even though we may dislike this kind as characters, they sure have skills that could be used.
 
I bet that they used PVA (Bookbinders glue). If so, that is not reversible. If, however, Graham Mackintosh used Wheat Paste, then you could just soak it in water and the whole thing will come off.

If I had a copy like that, I would carefully remove the cover with a very new razor, cutting from the inside. or if there is a crease on the front where th cover was folded, then a straight line from the front with something thin and hard below so that it does not cut into the paper below. Then I would soak the cover in distilled water overnight. If the glue is wheat paste, you should find that the white paper has come off. If it is PVA, it will be stuck on there. Then you will want to put a bunch of paper towels (or better yet, some watercolor paper) on both sides and put under weight for a day or so. You will want to change the paper every couple hours until the paper is completely dry.

Of course, you mentioned the library tape. No telling what a soak may do to the tape. It may really fuck it up.

If you figure it out, I can see a cottage industry of people soaking their covers off to make them more valuable, thereby making them all worth the same, error or no error...

Bill
 

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