i feel like talking about book collecting... (1 Viewer)

[jordan]

...in more general terms than would be appropriate in the bukowski-specific forums. so i'm curious and I will post a list of topics to get this ball rolling (and then I will respond to my questions later, and it will feel like there's actually a discussion going on!)

-what are your favorite things to collect (besides bukowski)?
-what is your favorite book you have?
-what is the rarest book you have (to your knowledge)? how did you get it, and more importantly, how did you find out about it?
-what's the best bookstore you've ever been to?
whatever else...

i'm too lazy to find a forum dedicated to this, so here in the miscellaneous stuff section shall i dwell.

 

[chronic]

-what are your favorite things to collect (besides bukowski)?
-what is your favorite book you have?
-what is the rarest book you have (to your knowledge)? how did you get it, and more importantly, how did you find out about it?
-what's the best bookstore you've ever been to?

1) Dust

2) Aside from Bukowski, a 1915 edition of Fifty-One Tales by Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett.

3) A 1740 edition of Atlante Novisimo (a world atlas) with hand-colored plates and bound in leather, or, not as rare but notable, an 1879 edition of Photographic Illustrations of Skin Diseases by George Henry Fox which is one of the first (possibly the first) books to use photographic plates (called artotypes... the illustrations are printed directly from the photographic plate and then hand-tinted).

4) I liked Baroque Books a lot, and Morrison & Klein in Santa Monica, Papa Bachs in West L.A., Vagabond Books, Hi De Ho. All are gone except Hi De Ho which just isn't what it used to be. Oh, and Hennessy & Ingalls is a great store for art books, though I haven't been there since the move. And Cherokee Books in Hollywood... haven't been there in years and I have no idea if it's still in business.

 

[bogthing]

I'd like to start collecting them. But then again, I'd like to start collecting Ducati's as well. Any tips would be appreciated.

 

[jordan]

tips... find what you like, and then find the cheapest way to collect it. (i have an article on my site about collecting bukowski on a budget that may be of use to some people... it's kinda dumb, but hey...) research is the key. say you want a signed bukowski book... what is the cheapest book with bukowski's signature out there? watching ebay and abebooks for a few months will give you a good idea what to look for. i spend hours every week looking at books online. one of the reasons i like book collecting is that it has led me on a path where i've discovered books and authors i never would have otherwise. for instance... collecting bukowski led to collecting black sparrow, which led me to authors like john yau and maggie dubris who i have come to love... collecting mcsweeney's books led me to chris ware and a whole host of graphic novelists, one of whom i've even corresponded with quite a bit. searching out my favorite book, the codex seraphinianus, led me to the FMR publishing house and a shitload of amazing art and beautiful books i didn't even know existed. and, more recently, tracking down luigi serafini (author of the codex)'s other book is looking like it will lead me on some neat roads of its own. so i guess as far as tips are concerned, this doesn't offer much. but for me, the best way to get a "collection" going is to pay attention to the books that are "around" the books i'm primarily interested in, and to see where that takes me. i think it would be more enriching that collecting something like motorcycles, but to each his/her own.

 

[mjp]

And you can only fit one motorcycle in the average bookcase, so there's that issue...

If you are doing it for your own amusement and not for an investment, you can get a lot of otherwise expensive books pretty cheaply by buying copies that have been rebound (ex-library) or are in crappy condition. I picked up some older Bukowski titles that way, and even though I could afford to replace them with perfect copies now, I don't. I've become attached to the crappy ones.

And when someone sees my books and says, "Oh, Bukowski!" I can whip a copy of It Catches My Heart In Its Hands or At Terror Street and Agony Way off the shelf and say, here, have you ever seen this? Check this out," without also handing them a pair of white cotton gloves. ;)

 

[bogthing]

Agreed, although few things are lovelier than a hellishly powerful Italian motorcycle strung with lights in the living room...but, as always, I digress...

No, I wouldn't be collecting for investment. Probably just to have some interesting volumes up on the shelf. Of course, these things always start that way...

 

[ROC]

Of course, these things always start that way...

Exactly.

Beware :)