I'm still working on completing my Bukowski collection and by this I mean buying all the largely available titles. Of course, some of these titles are available in different editions from different publishers, with different covers. I always felt that the cover from the first edition of any book should be kept the same through the years and through future editions of that book. It's part of the whole. The same goes for music albums, although for albums it doesn't happen as often as for books (they usually add bonus tracks to the albums, which is almost equally annoying if you ask me; why not edit these rare tracks separately and leave the album in its original form?...). Anyway, back to the covers, I always try to buy those editions that still have the original cover, even if I don't have the money for first editions. Does it work the same for you or is it just my own troubled mind?
Book covers (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter bogdan
- Start date
ROC
It is what it is
Compared to some of us collectors, your mind seems quite untroubled.
Black Sparrow created enough options to drive an average person to distraction when it came to different editions of Bukowski books. But fortunately they kept the cover art consistent throughout the years.
I can't imagine buying a copy of, say, Post Office unless it looked like this;
Black Sparrow created enough options to drive an average person to distraction when it came to different editions of Bukowski books. But fortunately they kept the cover art consistent throughout the years.
I can't imagine buying a copy of, say, Post Office unless it looked like this;
nervas
more crickets than friends
I'm totally with you. I always feel so bad, when I'm browsing Borders or Barnes and Noble's and I see that anyone wanting to pick up a Buk book has no choice but to pick this up....(Well, they have choices via the internet, or used book stores, but not much choice anywhere else.)
Wow bogden, you are an obsessed book guy. Good for you! I totally agree that changing the covers of books changes their feel. Just like remaking movies usually fu*%$ them up,(esp. if you really loved the original). Original art is always the best, it's what was 'meant to be'. Thanks for the original post:)CRB
I see the point and esp. 'Post Office' is an example of a wonderful cover in the original version.
But in the long run (decades, centuries) every cover changes and that's not necessarily bad.
When you look at original covers of books from the baroque era, they may seem nice with all this squiggly text - but wouldn't sell nowadays. Tastes change.
We just have this thought about Bukowski-books because there's only a short time gone. But we are all used to see a lot of very different covers on books of Shakespeare, Goethe, Chaucer, Whitman, Hemingway, Celan and we never complain, that these aren't the first-ed-covers. We only complain about UGLY covers, but that's not the same.
A very few publishers in Germany have made special-editions of books with the original cover-art (e.g. Thomas Mann, Nietzsche: Ecce Homo, and others) and these are nice things to see.
Bukowski-covers in Germany change every 5-10 years and I always cry out loud, when they - again - managed to change an already bad cover for something even worse.
But in the long run (decades, centuries) every cover changes and that's not necessarily bad.
When you look at original covers of books from the baroque era, they may seem nice with all this squiggly text - but wouldn't sell nowadays. Tastes change.
We just have this thought about Bukowski-books because there's only a short time gone. But we are all used to see a lot of very different covers on books of Shakespeare, Goethe, Chaucer, Whitman, Hemingway, Celan and we never complain, that these aren't the first-ed-covers. We only complain about UGLY covers, but that's not the same.
A very few publishers in Germany have made special-editions of books with the original cover-art (e.g. Thomas Mann, Nietzsche: Ecce Homo, and others) and these are nice things to see.
Bukowski-covers in Germany change every 5-10 years and I always cry out loud, when they - again - managed to change an already bad cover for something even worse.
I was actually looking for the thread where we show pics of the foreign Buk covers.
I can't find the thread.
The Polish covers were not too bad I believe, the Dutch covers are not much
and yes the German covers are really, really awful :)
Bukfan
"The law is wrong; I am right"
Yes, that's a great cover! It's one of the best non-original covers I've seen.
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LickTheStar
Sad Flower in the Sand
Why is the Ham on Rye cover a shot of camel toe?
Ambreen
Sordide Sentimental
I hope it will soon be translated into French ;). No new Buk book here since February 2008 (which was a prolific month with the releases of the Sounes bio and The days run away like wild horses over the hills).
