There are minor cover issues with all of those. There were probably minor cover issues before it left the Webbs.
I've said it before, so I promise this is the last time I'll say it, but I hate the Webb books.
It would have been fine to issue some in the formats they used, but they should have also produced an edition in a normal, readable format. Those aren't books, they're book art. And book art is typically something you look at once or twice, then only take out to show off to people.
I think it was a ridiculously lavish and inappropriate way to publish poetry period, let alone the poetry of Bukowski. Those books are unreadable even now unless you buy a trashed copy that you don't mind actually opening.
Congrats on the buy, LickTheStar, but if you ever sit down and read that book I would be very surprised. You'll probably carefully page through it, admire the art of the book itself, and then put it on the shelf (another pain in the ass, due to its irregular size). When you want to read one of the poems in the book you'll pull out the Black Sparrow version.
That's not a knock against you or anyone who buys the book now - I have a copy too - but now it's a historical document. I'm talking about at the time they were published. Once Martin collected most of the poems in them, it became a moot point, the work was then available to the average person to read without putting on a pair of cotton gloves and a HAZMAT suit.
I know everyone loves the Webbs, but I think they probably did more for Bukowski with the Outsider than with those books. And I think his early chapbook publishers did more for him than the Webbs. The Bukowski Sampler, which we've recently talked about, got his work of the period into more hands than the Webb books.
I think with Terror Street Martin was trying to emulate the Webb books, albeit on a smaller scale, and I'm glad that after that he came to his senses and settled on a normal format. Though I love Terror Street because it's so different from every other BSP book. ;)
Okay, like I said, I'll not rag on the Webb books again. I know everyone loves them. But to me they will always be square peg, round hole.
