Cold Dogs - VERY GOOD PLUS (1 Viewer)

[mjp]

VERY GOOD PLUS? Plus what?

Anyway...really? $300 for this?

The Question & Answer is pretty funny though (considering "saddle stitched" is just a fancy bindery term for stapled):

Q: when I review this book on other rare book sites it has saddle stitching noted yet you state staples. Can you show a picture of the open spine? thanks.

A: Thank you very much for your question. I feel like an idiot-you are absolutely correct, what I assumed to be rusted staples are in fact brown stiches!! Later today, I will take another photo and see if I can revise the listing with another photo or send you a scan. Please forgive my stupidity. best regards, David

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=160205023955

 

[bospress.net]

I hope that the bidder of this piece of garbage is not a forum member. With the defacing of this, it is worth mayber $100 as a place holder. I paid less than $300 for my near mint (Very Fine in bookspeak) copy.

It is funny as shit that he thinks that the rusted staples are stitches. Of course, if they are stitches, then that means that someone has damaged the book even more by changing the binding....

ha....

Bill

 

[cirerita]

I paid less than $300 for my near mint (Very Fine in bookspeak) copy.

That was a bargain! :D

 

[mjp]

Certainly looks like a rusty staple to me, in the picture anyway. But what do I know, I'm not an experienced book seller like this guy. ;)

Just thought it was amusing that neither the buyer or the seller know what saddle stitch means and they just seem to be confusing each other.

 

[MULLINAX]

I still don't know what "saddle-stitching" means.

 

[Father Luke]

From the listing:

On Feb-04-08 at 15:01:34 PST, seller added the following information:

Please disregard my response to the question posed below. My response was incorrect.
In fact, the pamphlet does have staples which is what it should have. The original
description is correct. I responded to the question without physically touching the
binding.

 

[Rekrab]

I love it when rare books get messed up like this. Imagine some guy marking this up for his yard sale or maybe it was the bargain table at the paperback exchange, and he wants to make sure everyone knows that it's "75 cents", so he grabs the big fat green marker and goes at the cover. This is not one of your coddled collector's items; it's been around the block. I agree, Bill: $100 is about right. But wouldn't you love to find it for only 75 cents?

I bought a Fante book that a previous owner had used a dayglow green marker on, to write his name in huge block letters on all three sides of the text (he spared the spine). I was able to bleach out the marker with a Q-tip dipped in bleach. Supposedly, that's not good for the paper, but I figured what the hell -- it's the edge of the page, and it looks much better now. If I owned this copy of COLD DOGS I'd be tempted to try the bleach on it. Then again, that green 75 cents would make me laugh everytime. Maybe I'd leave it alone.

 

[bospress.net]

Then again, that green 75 cents would make me laugh everytime.

...not if you paid $300 for it. It would make you cry every time you saw it!

Bill

 

[ROC]

I love it when rare books get messed up like this.

Not me.
It almost makes me physically sick.

 

[Rekrab]

...not if you paid $300 for it. It would make you cry every time you saw it!

True. I'd only laugh if I'd paid 75 cents for it. Or $5. But $100 or up, I'd be annoyed.

There's a copy of IT CATCHES up for auction somewhere, that has a big black "?" question mark on the cover. Why would someone do that to such a beautiful book? An episode of idle doodling no doubt.

Somehow, I think a cheap price written in big numbers on the cover is funnier than that question mark. It wouldn't be funny if it was "$300"; that would be insane. But "75 cents" is funny. I often see vintage paperbacks where the seller has written "15 cents" in gigantic black grease pen all across the cover, obliterating the artwork. What are they thinking? Are they thinking at all? Stuff like that cracks me up. Besides, I have a fetish for books in poor condition, and this defacement stuff falls into that category.

 

[mjp]

...I have a fetish for books in poor condition...

Well then I have some porn for you.

 

[Rekrab]

Yes, that copy of AT TERROR STREET is incredible. You couldn't find one that wrecked by real life if you advertised for ten years. Wonderful. One of my hobbies is to buy falling apart old books at library sales, with pages falling out, spine torn, binding split in two, and glue them back together again. It's sick. For the ultimate condition horror story, from fine copy to boxful of crumbled fragments with 20% of text lost forever, check out the story of the discovery, abuse and restoration of THE GOSPEL OF JUDAS, an only-one-copy-known ancient Coptic manuscript.

 

[MULLINAX]

Not me.
It almost makes me physically sick.

Same here. I just hate the way some people deliberately destroy old tomes.

 

[Rekrab]

To me, heavily used or mistreated books are survivors. Remember that story Bukowski told about the cat that should be dead but had somehow made it? They're like that. Plus, for some reason, I find some of the terrible things people do to books funny. It displays their human nature. When I should be outraged or disgusted, I'm laughing. Maybe it's because they are such small, inconsequential tragedies, these ruined books, when the world is full of real pain and suffering. Or, I'm just perverse.

 

[ROC]

I think your reaction to these things is far healthier David.
Mine is a fetish, i.e. barely under my control.
And yes, there is a great deal more to be concerned with in this world than a damaged book.

But still... :eek:

:o

 

[Rekrab]

The flip side of this is that, given two copies, I'll pick the nicest one -- I'm not stupid. I keep some books in plastic bags (safe from overflow when my wife waters the plants). I even put Brodarts on the dust jackets of some of my books. What I'm into is preservation, whether it's a mint copy of a book or an "almost very good" (trashed) copy. But I do have a soft spot for really beat to hell copies of rare books. I never worry about handling them, whether they are mint or falling apart. Books are meant to be read. I'm a lousy collector because I care so little about condition. I just want to keep the books useable.

 

[Father Luke]

I know a guy, who knows a guy, who knows someone
who does this thing with trashed books, transforming them
into art, using a few simple materials, and their own creativity.

The end result is lovely.

 

[mjp]

I know that guy. He really needs to update that web site of his.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

The flip side of this is that, given two copies, I'll pick the nicest one -- I'm not stupid. I keep some books in plastic bags (safe from overflow when my wife waters the plants). I even put Brodarts on the dust jackets of some of my books. What I'm into is preservation, whether it's a mint copy of a book or an "almost very good" (trashed) copy. But I do have a soft spot for really beat to hell copies of rare books. I never worry about handling them, whether they are mint or falling apart. Books are meant to be read. I'm a lousy collector because I care so little about condition. I just want to keep the books useable.

I've always felt this way. From books to record albums. I have several Hungarian 1960's Beatles releases from the late 70's. I USED them. Much better fidelity than anything I had from the US at the time. Getting UK releases was next to impossible at that time.

Now that I understand the value of stuff, I've kept a few dozen Buk things under wraps. Other than that, screw it. I suppose I need to find a few Cold Dogs..., All the Assholes... and Longshot Pomes for... in "good" condition just to kick around. I've used the word tumescent here before...

 

[Rekrab]

Yeah, with records, my only requirement is that they don't skip -- no deep scratches. But I don't mind if the album cover is worn, the seams split.

I think what makes a heavily worn Bukowski book so appealing is that it fits right in with the shabby, down and out persona of his writings. Would Chinaski have a mint copy of anything? No, he would read his books in the bathtub, at breakfast with coffee spills, late at night with wine spills. I have a catalog that lists a bunch of books that Bukowski signed for poet Steve Richmond. They were both drinking at the time. The books are richly inscribed and most if not all are described as being wine-stained, beer-stained and generally trashed. Unfortunately, there were no photos, if I remember, so you just had to imagine it yourself.

 

[Bukfan]

I have a catalog that lists a bunch of books that Bukowski signed for poet Steve Richmond. They were both drinking at the time. The books are richly inscribed and most if not all are described as being wine-stained, beer-stained and generally trashed. Unfortunately, there were no photos, if I remember, so you just had to imagine it yourself.

LOL - that's funny! Could you post a page or two from that catalogue one day? :D

 

[Rekrab]

Sure. I can probably even find that catalog, as I keep all my Bukowski stuff in one place, unlike the rest of my books and papers which are stashed everywhere in the house and move about periodically to accomodate shifting plans in the family's occupation and abandonment of various bedrooms.

(Hey. I used the same terms, "occupation" and "abandoned" in my first post this morning, in the Moyamensin (sp?) prison thread. Occupation and adanonment must be on my mind today.)