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Entire BSP 1st editions for sale (1 Viewer)

Here's an interesting one on AbeBooks:
Book Description: Black Sparrow Press, 1971. Hard Cover. Book Condition: As New. Dust Jacket Condition: As New. First Edition. 6x9. A full collection of the works of this press from about 1971 to 2001. It inclusdes all of the books done by this press over this period and includes all of the New Year's Greetings done by the press over these years. Each book is in perfect mint condition and all are signed by the authors, including Charles Bukowski. Some of the Bukowskis have original drawings by him. This collection is unique and it gives the owner a complete set of this publisher's output over its existence. There are a few other special projects and incunabula created by the press as well, inlcuding posters and catalogues. Limited Edition. Bookseller Inventory # 002484
The seller is Northmont Books and Stamps, Farmington Hills, MI
Price: $110,000
Does this look like Martin's private collection? I can't imagine any collector outside of him or a BSP staff member (and surely from the early days that was only Martin and his wife) collecting everything (including non-Buk titles) in 1st edition. Any thoughts?
 
Who can tell? Abe's wonderful circa-1996 site doesn't really allow for much in the way of detail.

- There are a few people with full runs of BSP firsts, one of them used to post here. He was a distributor for Black Sparrow, and he claimed to have everything (he didn't, and this sounds like it could be his collection).

- Having said that, it seems like a few full runs could have been made from Martin's collection, so this could well be part of that.

- Finally, "from about 1971" means it isn't a full run, and a lot of the valuable early stuff would be missing.

So $110k is a hopeful asking price. And half of that (which is probably what you could negotiate) is probably still tens of thousands of dollars too much.

No offense to the other million writers that Black Sparrow published, but with the exception of Bukowksi - and maybe Fante - no one cares about those books.
 
the member you're referring to didn't have any painted books. he had a couple presentation copies of the later books that were interesting, though. i could be wrong, since i'm remembering back a number of years, and i no longer have the spreadsheet he sent me, but i don't recall any books that were that unique.

also - i doubt this is martin's collection; first, martin already sold his collection, and second, martin's collection wasn't in particularly good condition. lots of foxing and fading, as well as bowed covers from each book having a bunch of correspondence stuffed inside the front cover.

this listing is odd, since there's no mention of the limitations. there are some early BSP books worth many thousands of dollars - including one book (can't remember the title) that ralph sipper had for $20K. it's the most expensive BSP book, and it isn't even by bukowski. also, does this lot contain burn again press, black sparrow graphic arts, signed broadsides, and books like 'the wedding' and 'horsemeat'? it seems pretty crazy to list something for $110K that's missing this much info, although i suppose the point is more to let people know that it's out there than to expect someone to hit "add to cart."
 
I interpreted Some of the Bukowskis have original drawings as meaning doodles next to his signature.
i suppose the point is more to let people know that it's out there than to expect someone to hit "add to cart."
I think that's the point of the entire Abe site. You can't really buy anything from the site without contacting the seller first and getting pictures and asking all the questions that should be answered in the listings.
 
I interpreted Some of the Bukowskis have original drawings as meaning doodles next to his signature.

Oh yeah, duh. In that case, it may be you know who's collection. I still don't remember it being complete back that far, but he may not have sent me everything either. Certainly would be in line with what he wanted - I think his pricing was based off of giving me 20% off of the highest price on Abe or something.
 
He sent me about 20 versions of that spreadsheet, so I know he was adding to it for some time. But I stopped looking at it after the first few versions.

He wanted me to give him a price estimate for every item, and if I remember correctly, to shake his dick after he pissed.
 
Thanks for clearing that up. I knew Martin had sold his archive but I wasn't sure if that included the books themselves. Seems odd he didn't keep a collector's copy and reading copy - I mean, for a book collector with access to rare books as they came off the press.
 
I'd be interested to see an itemized list of everything for sale just for kicks. The words "perfect mint" in a lot description wake me up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat though. I mean, if you're selling something north of six figures, you gotta have the simple details down. Heck, if you're selling something north of a hundred bucks, you gotta have the simple details down.

I think the book Jordan mentions is When the Sun Tries to Go On. 5 copies selling for $500 back in 1969 (I've got the Cooney biblio in front of me).

Anyone have a copy of the spreadsheet that was going around? I can send beer.
 
I think the book Jordan mentions is When the Sun Tries to Go On. 5 copies selling for $500 back in 1969...
<snark>Ah yes, I read about that book over on the Kenneth Koch forum.</snark>

Anyone have a copy of the spreadsheet that was going around? I can send beer.
I don't know if this is the final version, but here you go.

BSP Collection Pix C.JPG BSP Collection Pix A.JPG BSP Collection Pix B.JPG
 
Thanks for the pic, MJP. Some wonderful books there and they look in excellent condition. $110k sounds an attempt to snag $90k o.n.o. What fraction of the total value of the collection would the Buk titles be? 3/4? 5/6? 9/10?
 
Based on the Excel file mjp linked to, it's about 1/3. The total is listed as $89,668 and I filtered the data and sorted by "Bukowski" only in Column B and got $31,273. That's probably missing a few items pertinent to Bukowski or jointly-authored works, etc. One of the reasons it's such a small percentage is that the list is missing some key titles/editions. For example, the only Post Office is an 8th printing PB for $25. Other titles are only included as PB, such as The Buk/Purdy Letters and I don't see any copies with art, which would really ramp the percentages in Buk's favor.
 

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