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Bukowski -- BSP et al (1 Viewer)

Jason

Founding member
Here are some more Bukowski titles I have available:

Bukowski, Charles. BEERSPIT NIGHT AND CURSING (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 2001) first edition, #489/500 copies, serigraph print bound in. Fine. $50

Bukowski, Charles. A BUKOWSKI SAMPLER, edited by Douglas Blazek (n.p.: Quixote Press, 1969) stapled (cream) wrappers. Fine (Krumhansl #30). $50

Bukowski, Charles. A BUKOWSKI SAMPLER, edited by Douglas Blazek (Madison, WI: Druid Books, 1973) stated second printing, stapled (blue) wrappers. Fine (Krumhansl #30). $50

Bukowski, Charles. A BUKOWSKI SAMPLER, edited by Douglas Blazek (n.p.: Quixote Press, 1969) stapled (purple) wrappers. Fine (Krumhansl #30). $50

Bukowski, Charles. Dangling in the Tournefortia (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1981) first edition, hardcover, #178/350, signed. Fine (Krumhansl #71c). $250

Bukowski, Charles. Factotum (London: W.H. Allen, 1981) first British edition, hardcover. Fine. $40

Bukowski, Charles. Fire Station (Santa Barbara: Capra Press, 1970) 2nd printing, paperback. Very Good. (see Krumhansl #34). $120

Bukowski, Charles. Going Modern (Fremont, CA: Ruddy Duck Press, 1984) first edition, stapled wrappers, 1/500 unnumbered, comprises Vol.3, No.2, a special chapbook issue of ORO MADRE magazine, Bukowski poems: ENDURANCE"”THE OLD HELPING THE OLD"”SEE:ENDING"”THE IMPROBABLE PROBABILITY"”GARBAGE"”GOING MODERN. Fine (Krumhansl #92). $20

Bukowski, Charles. Horsemeat (Santa Barbara: Black Sparrow Press, 1982) first edition, hardcover, #60/125, signed by Bukowski and Michael Montfort, 20 original photographs hand-mounted throughout and one on front cover. Fine (Krumhansl #76). $1600

Bukowski, Charles. Horsemeat (Muich: Albrecht Knaus 1987) first edition thus, hardcover, German-language edition. Fine (see Krumhansl #76). $50

Bukowski, Charles. Hot Water Music (Tokyo: Shinjuku Shobo Co., 1993) first Japanese-language edition, hardcover. Fine. $35

Bukowski, Charles. Living on Luck: Selected Letters 1960's-1970's Volume 2 (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1995) first edition, hardcover, 1/1000. Fine (Krumhansl #146b). $25

Bukowski, Charles, and Linda King. Me and Your Sometimes Love Poems (Phoenix: Purring Press, 1999) third edition, stapled wrappers, #56/100, signed and dated by Linda King. Fine (see Krumhansl #42). $50

Bukowski, Charles. The Night Torn Mad with Footsteps (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 2001) first edition, hardcover, letter X/26, original silkscreen print bound in. Fine. $200

Bukowski, Charles. Poems Written Before Jumping Out of an 8 Story Window (Salt Lake City: Litmus, 1968) 3rd printing, paperback. Very Good (see Krumhansl #28). $150

Bukowski, Charles. Pulp (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1994) first edition, hardcover, #178/300, signed, serigraph print bound in, contains original BSP invoice. Fine (Krumhansl #139c) $250

Bukowski, Charles. Screams from the Balcony: Selected Letters 1960-1970 (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1993) first edition, hardcover, 1/735, Fine (Krumhansl #137b). $60

Bukowski, Charles. Septuagenarian Stew: Stories & Poems (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1990) first edition, hardcover, #181/225, signed, signed silkscreen print bound in. Fine (Krumhansl #114d) $350

Bukowski, Charles and R. Crumb. There's No Business (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1984) first edition, perfect bound wrappers, 1/7916. Near Fine (Krumhansl #87a) $25

Bukowski, Charles. Three by Bukowski (Santa Rosa: Black Sparrow Press, 1992) first edition, hardcover, trade issue 1/103. Fine (Krumhansl #131b) $150

Bukowski, Charles. Women (Tokyo: 1992) first Japanese-language edition, hardcover, two volumes. Fine. $40


*************************************

BSP New Titles pamphlets. $25

Fall Winter 1991
Spring Summer 1992
Fall Winter 1992
Fall Winter 1993
Spring Summer 1994
Fall Winter 1994
Spring Summer 1995
Fall Winter 1995
Spring Summer 1996
Spring Summer 1998
Fall Winter 1998
Spring Summer 1999
Fall Winter 1999
Spring Summer 2000
Fall Winter 2000
Spring Summer 2001
 
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Screams from the Balcony and the German Horsemeat are tempting me... hmmm... thinking about it.
 
That lettered copy of Night Torn mad is calling me, but my wallet is not letting me.... Shame. Those really don't come up often.

Bill
 
Ha ha - I know, that's why it's so intriguing.

I would say I was drunk when I told him I would take them, but I'm at work, so that would be admitting that I am drunk at work, which I am not. Unfortunately.
 
I suppose that dropping ~$175 for a near mint first Ed. Orange cover copy of Sampler as opposed to $50 is a tad retarded, but there you go.

Jason: As BOSPress mentioned, I'm also intrigued by the Lettered "Night Torn Mad...".

I'll sleep on it, but if it goes before I get to it, then so be it. Then again, I'll probably wake up at 4 AM begging for it.
 
I'm sure it is, Jordan. I'm still awake here on the east (best) coast (but drunk, working on hammered), and would love to have it, but if you want it, you committed first.

I'll be happy with 'Fire Station.':eek: I've always wanted that, just like 'Horsemeat.' Only a bit less pricey.

Someday, I need to get some lettered copies. Those lettered bindings are freakin' hot.
 
yep. But Father, you can get the first HB with the serigraph for about $50 on abe. This one is more because it is lettered and the spine is different. Otherwise, it is the same. Still, $200 is a fair price. I'm just a bit poor.


Bill
 
Looks like i'm building up my collection of lettered volumes starting at the end and working my way back... now i've got this and Open All Night...

Anyone have a lettered copy of "What Matters Most?"
 
This one is more because it is lettered and the spine is different. Otherwise, it is the same.
Of course the words inside are all the same in the Ecco versions you can buy at the local mall. Therein lies a lesson for publishers out there. Not speaking to anyone in particular here <cough>, you know, just small press publishers in general. ;)

It raises a question though, which one of you should know the answer to: was BSP the first publisher to make these slightly different editions and sell them at premium prices? (yes, I know the prices weren't "premium" when they were published, but they were still several times more expensive than the paperbacks.)

There was obviously a calculated move to create "collectibles" from the very beginning - the tiny run of the initial broadsides, the inclusion of painting-tipped-in editions, which goes back to the first Bukowski BSP collection. It was a great idea - from a business standpoint - creating different editions, and limited editions, (even if the later numbered but unsigned editions seem a bit...useless, contrived and dare I say, cynical).

I know Martin said they made the lettered editions to give away, but I wonder how many were sold "out the back door" to dealers or favored collectors?

Well, anyway, just another reason a book about BSP would be interesting. It was a different operation from the beginning, no doubt, and I think bringing all the behind the scenes stuff to light would only make people admire Martin more than they already do. That he was part showman - The Colonel Parker to Bukowski's Elvis - is not a negative thing, to my mind anyway.
 
MJP, please sign me up for a lettered edition of the book about BSP, please :).

I think for me, part of the allure of the unsigned, later-edition lettered books is here (and this is something I've thought about a lot, since I've spent some good money on them)... basically, for me, the value is in how rare of an edition it is, relative to how much I like Bukowski as an author. I know the words are the same, but I would feel the same way about holding a book limited to 26 by any of my favorite authors. Simply the fact that there are only 26 (or 20 or whatever) versions of the book out in the world is pretty neat to me. I don't love the silkscreen illustrations, and to be honest, I'd probably still by the lettered edition even if the silkscreen weren't present. I guess it's the particular form my bibliophilia takes.
 
I know the words are the same, but I would feel the same way about holding a book limited to 26 by any of my favorite authors. Simply the fact that there are only 26 (or 20 or whatever) versions of the book out in the world is pretty neat to me.
Oh yeah, I totally get that. Which is why I use the tactic myself, of course. ;) I suppose a lot of people have taken pages from the BSP playbook in the past 20 years. It's a good example to follow, if you're trying to sell a book, which is becoming increasingly more difficult these days.

I jumped on the hardcover of Father Luke's book for the same reason. I would have bought it anyway, but given choice, I'll take the more rare version of pretty much anything. When I can afford it.
 
It raises a question though, which one of you should know the answer to: was BSP the first publisher to make these slightly different editions and sell them at premium prices?

Nope. It's been a common practice for European art presses to do this for at least fifty years. Often these art books will be numbered with roman numerals and divided into ranges where the copies numbered I-XCIX are printed on one type of paper, sometimes with special bindings such as goat skin; C-CXCIX would be on a different type of paper with a different binding material and so on. Sometimes one range will be signed while another is not, or might have an etching bound-in, etc etc etc...

Anyway, it's a pretty old practice, though I suppose it's possible that Martin may have been the first to apply it to non-art books.
 
i've got a book of poetry (with illustrations) published in 1937 that uses the numbering system. 1-950 on "alfa-mousse", and 50 numbered HC 1-50 (HC = "not for sale") that are on better paper. it's published by denoel, a french publisher that did everything from pulps to art books. mr. denoel got killed for collaborating with the vichy government, btw.
 
Some good stuff seems to be left over... Hm. I'll have to give it some thought. I think I'm probably outta cash but... Well I'm eyeballing that copy of "There's No Business"
 
Henry Chinaski spoke up for the copy of There's No Business in a PM. I'll figure out what's left of the list and post it...
 
Well good, that'll save me some money ;p Still I'd be interested in seeing what still remains. So I can drool and... not buy anything.

Oh and would I be correct in thinking that the new titles pamphlets are $25 a piece?
 
was BSP the first publisher to make these slightly different editions and sell them at premium prices?
Well I guess this would pre-date BSP:

howlsigned.jpg
 
Is this a reprint? What I mean is that this looks like an "Anniversary Edition". I have never heard that the true first of Howl had hardcovers, although I could be completely wrong.

Bill

REVISION. This book is from 1986 and is not a true 1st/1st. Still, I'm sure that others did it beofre BSP:

Book Description: Harper & Row: NY, 1986. 11.25 x 9, cloth, 194 pp, vg in slipcase. FIRST ED THUS. ONE OF 250 NUMBERED COPIES SIGNED BY GINSBERG. "Original draft facsimile, transcript and variant versions, fully annotated by author . . .". Bookseller Inventory # 97-0399
 
It's a later edition. The true first was published in October 1956. 1500 copies printed letterpress at Villiers Publications in London. Saddle-stitched paper wrappers printed in light blue.

Kerouac's Doctor Sax was published on April 30, 1959 by Grove Press in a trade hardcover edition and a paperbound edition, plus a deluxe limited edition of 26 lettered copies, and 4 signed copies numbered 1 through 4.

There was also a deluxe limited edition of The Subterraneans (March 5, 1958).

-wt
 
This book is from 1986 and is not a true 1st/1st. Still, I'm sure that others did it beofre BSP...
Ah, well, I got that off the beat museum site. There weren't any details about it. next to the pictures it just says, "asdasdasd."

The true first was published in October 1956. 1500 copies printed letterpress at Villiers Publications in London. Saddle-stitched paper wrappers printed in light blue.
Someone should tell wikipedia. ;) They say the first was from City Lights.
 
next to the pictures it just says, "asdasdasd."

Forgive me if this is offensive, but all I could think of was "Allen sucks dick, Allen sucks dick, Allen sucks dick."

Now, that could be construed as offensive on my part, but I wouldn't be surprised if that's actually what they meant. BTW, I have Howl, The Fall of America, Kaddish and Planet News right here in front of me, and they are very good (well, except for some of the overly graphic stuff). I mean, the graphic stuff is still well-written, but not my cup of the old chai.
 
They didn't have anything to type and A, S and D are right next to each other on your keyboard and fall under your fingers.

Like this...
asdasdasdasdasdasdasdasdasdasd








PS - Allen sucks dick!
 
Ah, well, I got that off the beat museum site. There weren't any details about it. next to the pictures it just says, "asdasdasd."

Someone should tell wikipedia. ;) They say the first was from City Lights.

Published by City Lights, but printed in London.

-wt
 
Was there a sale on printing in London at the time? All the U.S. presses busy? Why would City Lights print in London and ship to SF/U.S.? Makes no sense at all.

Not saying it isn't so, just saying it sounds a bit insane. Unless it was sold in London before it was sold in SF which seems even more unlikely.
 
From 1956-1971 almost all of the books in the Pocket Poets Series published by City Lights were printed by Villiers in London. After they were printed they were shipped to SF. They were not sold in London before they were sold in SF. For all I know Ferlinghetti may have had a special deal with Villiers because, like you say, it doesn't make a lot of sense. With the publication of Kerouac's Scattered Poems in July 1971 City Lights went from letterpress to photo-offset (with a few exceptions). The Kerouac book was printed by Edwards Brothers in Ann Arbor.

-wt
 
Did having it printed in London have anything to do with problems having it printed in the US? Probably not as I suspect that no one, Ferlingheti included, ever expected it to blow up the way that it did (I'm talking about Howl). I can imagine that after this came out it was a great idea to not have them printed in the US as printers cold have been weary.

I have not read enough about this to know, but it is an idea.

Bill
 

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