Sold Full run of Bukowski in Wormwood Review (1 Viewer)

[bospress.net]

I believe that most copies of #105 were mis-trimmed. Seems to be most of the run. The one that MJP sold is straight as an arrow, but the signed one that I have is crooked. Does not bother me as I know that this is an issue with this one. I have seen a total of three copies of #105 in my life and 2 of them were mis-trimmed. This is the only issue that I have ever seen mis-trimmed. Maybe most copies were rejected by the publisher.

 

[Parading]

This deal just keeps getting better

 

[Purple Stickpin]

Mine appears to be as well. The spine edge is 8 1/4" while the right edge is 8 3/16". Mine is an un-numbered copy. I almost wish I didn't have a full run; tracking these down was a real joy. Almost.

 

[mjp]

I believe that most copies of #105 were mis-trimmed. Seems to be most of the run.

I wonder how that could happen on a big guillotine cutter? I used to cut on those for a living and I can see one lift (stack) being slightly off, but 600 or 700 copies? The backstop would have to be out of whack, and that's not something you usually adjust or change once it's square with the cutting edge (I don't recall ever adjusting one in 15 years of using them). Seems odd.

Ah, memories! None of them good.

 

[chronic]

Sounds like mine. I thought that they were each limited to 27 copies, but not sure exactly why I thought that.

My #1 and my #2 are 22 of 30 and is very much signed by Marvin in black ink. Both are completely xeroxed with NO original pages. This is how they are called out in the colophon (on the inside cover). I'd love to hear if there are any copies with original guts on a xerox cover.

I dug them out and I was almost correct. The colophon:

"Volume 1, Number 1 of the Wormwood Review was printed by letterpress in 1959, in an edition of 500 copies. Of the original 28-page signatures printed, 12 remained without covers. On March 19, 2000, facsimile covers were xeroxed and affixed to the original letterpress pages. This is number 1 of 12 copies."

It is signed by Christa and the wraps are a heavy card stock.

#2 is as I said... a straight xerox copy numbered 40/30 at the colophon and signed by Marvin.

Oh... my #105 is trimmed perfectly.

 

[gbsupbowl]

My 105 seems to be trimmed just fine

 

[bospress.net]

Maybe I have seen the only 2 out of 700 that were mistrimmed!

 

[marina del rey]

My #105 is fine, but my #1 is mistrimmed by quite a bit. Not that I'm complaining, though - I'm happy to have it in any state.

 

[gcmalone]

Remember, if you have questions about Wormwood, you can always ask me. Both styles of signatures shown in this post are my father's. He experimented with his signature over the years, and even made his own bookplate and a block print for signing some of his wood-block prints.

Regarding the full set of Wormwood issues: There were 137 discrete issues, with the cover numbering going up to 145/146. The explanation for that discrepancy is that there were a number of "double issues," including the Bukowski chaps 110/111 and 122/123. Also note that the printed issues had all kinds of production flaws over the years. Some are not trimmed quite right or have irregular printing, but that is the way they were produced. Wormwood was not a commercial enterprise; it was just a bare-bones production. However, I have now gone through almost all the back issues and kept only the best copies without major flaws. So original back issues are still available. If you're interested in copies, you can use the contact link on the Wormwood website (wormwoodreview.com)