Color Title Pages in Black Sparrow Books (1 Viewer)

[jordan]

well, i had thought that this was one constant in black sparrow land: only first printings have color title pages. turns out, there is at least one exception to this rule: i just picked up a second printing of bring me your love (the first hardcover trade edition, but a stated second printing overall)- no colophon page, but a color title page, fair and true.

i guess there are exceptions to everything.

 

[Purple Stickpin]

There are always exceptions to everything, Jordan. But thanks for noting this to us. It's just another strange, confusion and buggery-treat. Crap, my wife is asleep.

Then again, it is a first ed, second printing. Maybe that qualifies as a "first" in the mind of JM? Sorry to be inarticulate. Drunk...

 

[PBBUK]

Interesting to note it is clearly marked second edition and has no colophon page.

Maybe we can all agree if there is:
1. a color title page;
2. no mention of further printings on the publishing page; and
3. a colophon page exisits
we have a first printing, first edition.

But still confusing.

At least the new system with numbers is easy for new books, ie, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

Although I always repsect the noting of FIRST PRINTING!!!

PBBUK

 

[LickTheStar]

Hm. Interesting. I like that, excluding some of these exceptions of course, if I look at the spine or the title page and I'll know what I'm looking at. And if I'm getting a steal from someone who doesn't know what they've got ;)

 

[LickTheStar]

And to double post... I picked up a copy of Cybele by Joyce Carol Oates from Powells and was pleasantly surprised to find that wonderful color title page when I opened it up. Wonderful!

 

[Rekrab]

You lucky dog to be able to go into Powells on -- apparently -- a whim. I get up to Portland maybe once a month, at best. I always check the Bukowski shelves, as I have since ... about ... 1973 (I used to go to their one room shop down by the river, run by the old man, and sold him ancient books. He always gave me hell over the condition, as if I'd worn them out myself, but he usually bought them.)

Yes, it's always a joy to see that color title page. A very smart way to mark the first printings.

 

[LickTheStar]

Well... I'm 20 minutes from downtown and I get there once a month or so myself, but mainly with something in mind. But yes... I am rather lucky. Love the place, despite the fact that they seem to have less and less used and more and more new. Or "new" titles.

Ah well. They're my one stop shop for BSP stuff. Occasionally, though, it is still on a whim to just breathe in all the dust of all the books. Used books smell better than the new ones I sell at my corporate store.

 

[Rekrab]

Ah, another bad assumption on my part. You've mentioned Powells several times (right? or am I hallucinating?) so I figured you were near it. About the new vs old mix there, it does seem like they had more vintage stuff in the past than these days. I think they still buy the older books, but the better ones fly off the shelves. That's just my impression. Given the choice, a lot of buyers will pick an older book that's cheap and has a sense of history, than an expensive new copy.

 

[LickTheStar]

Yeah I mention it often. I'm nearby, but far too poor to go as often as I want. Plus... I really have no more space for books. When we moved here, I wished we had lived downtown so I could go every day, but now...

I'm quite glad I can't. I'd never have a penny in my bank account.

 

[Rekrab]

Exactly. It would be dangerous to have too easy an access to Powell's. It's almost impossible to not find something you want on every visit. I don't know how long you've been going there, but in the old days (1970s), it was fantastic. I bought several issues of THE OUTSIDER magazine there, and not in the Rare Book Room -- they were on the open shelves at maybe $10 a copy. It was great.

 

[LickTheStar]

I've only been going since my first visit to Portland 2 years ago. I've found some good deals though... Early copy of Notes of a Dirty Old Man, a nice copy of 3 By Bukowski, some decent BSP editions of Buk and Fante, and some other random stuff... Dangerous place.

 

[Rekrab]

Ah, you missed the glory days. I used to love going in there when all the Bukowski and Fante books that are now Ecco editions were Black Sparrow Press, and once in a while there would be a hardcover among the paperbacks. I regret not having bought some of those Bukowski hardcovers. Early on, they weren't all that much more than the paperbacks -- maybe $25 compared to $12. But I've always been on a tight budget, and settled for the paperbacks. It was a thrill seeing all those Black Sparrow editions lined up, with a few oddball items thrown in.

 

[LickTheStar]

Sounds beautiful... Now, I'm lucky if there's one or two BSP editions in either the fiction OR the poetry sections... Ah well, it makes me feel happier when I do actually find one.

 

[Rekrab]

My favorite Bukowski memory from Powells is the day I came in and there was a row, maybe 20 copies, of the Litmus edition (pale blue wrappers) of POEMS WRITTEN BEFORE JUMPING OUT OF AN 8 STORY WINDOW. $2 a copy, all mint. I bought one. In hindsight, it would have been wise to buy them all. They just looked so good, lined up like that.

 

[HenryChinaski]

oh man, i bet. i would probably cream my jeans. by the way, nice new avatar mr. barker.

 

[Papillon]

well, i had thought that this was one constant in black sparrow land: only first printings have color title pages.

Same here. I have a tasty lettered set by Wyndham Lewis w/o color title pages. First BSP printings but not true first editions.

 

[bospress.net]

Hi,
I'm lost. Is it the true first, or is it just printed in the same year as the first printing? Is there a colophon at the end? I have a copy of South of No North which is a second printing, but printed in the same year as the first, so it looks like a first edition, if you do not look for all the little points that call out the true first editions....

Is it possible that the title page on the Lewis book was designed in black only?

Bill

 

[Papillon]

Volumes I and II of the set are facsimiles so they left off the color title page. There is a BSP title page but it is black. Volume III of the set is not a facsimile so it has a color title page. Everything else checks out. I consider the dealer reputable so I wasn't so much concerned, at first, as I was confused.

Unfortunately, the BSP versions were published in the early 80s. Outside of Krumhansl's efforts on Bukowski pubs, everything else BSP post-1978 is a bibliographic void (for now).

I won't go into details but the information I received and the source are about as rock-solid as you can get.

 

[bospress.net]

did you talk to john Martin?

 

[Papillon]

No, but somebody else did. I have to admit I was pretty giddy about the whole thing, almost want to print the email out and tape it to the front of my refrigerator.

I've collected off and on for about 12 years - William Burroughs, post-moderns, a 180 degree turn into mountaineering literature. I made some mistakes early on - condition, focus of collection or lack thereof, etc. Then one day I was cruising abebooks looking at Buk and I switched my search to Fante, then Wakoski (my girlfriend had her as a professor at Michigan State). Then I started searching only Black Sparrow Press and was amazed by the fact that one can purchase a signed, limited, and visually unreal volume for not a lot of $$$. On that day, my path became clear.

 

[bospress.net]

I have a LOT of non-Bukowski Black Sparrow here. Much of them are signed HB firsts..

And they are for sale. Some Wakoski, even...

Bill