Longtime Buk fan from Philly area (1 Viewer)

This is the sort of post I was going to make back in 2006, but never got around to it...so, off the cuff...

First exposure to Bukowski was back in Fall 1987 at Temple University, Philly, when one of my English major buddies said I should check out this writer, Bukowski, being profiled in the Sept 1987 issue of Interview magazine. Being 20 years old, you can imagine how his whole vibe was very intriguing to me, a wanna-be, idealistic writer itching to create "art". I feel like we've all been there at this age...

That fall, we all saw Barfly at a theatre in Center City--further cementing Buk as an icon in our young minds.

We next hit Robin's Bookstore on S.13th. My first book was Days Run Over in '87, then Roominghouse in '88. Then more followed. In '89, my 19-year-old girlfriend bought me Hollywood for X-mas, and inscribed it. Married her a few years later, and still have the book on my Buk shelf (pun intended).

We were on vacation a couple weeks ago, with one of my Buk buddies from those Temple days. While our wives talked one night at dinner, my buddy leaned over and showed me his phone.
"What do you think?" He was going to bid on a signed 1st Ed. Black Sparrow of War All the Time.
"Yes, do it!" I said. (He was later outbid.) We had no idea how much these books go for now. I guess we should have been buying them in the '80s and '90s.

Our vacation Buk talk reminded me that I had joined this forum years ago. Great to see how this site has grown in 13 years.

I just bought my buddy the Sounes bio, Drinking with Buk, and a Buk T-shirt, for his upcoming b-day. And some stogies...

Once Buk touches us, he really doesn't let go...(yes, I hear how that sounds.)
 
I guess we should have been buying them in the '80s and '90s.
Yes, all the special editions could be had for (relative) peanuts back in the 70s and 80s.

Does anyone have old BSP catalogs? I never saved any of them. But I seem to recall seeing signed copies for $25-50 back in the day?
 
I seem to recall seeing signed copies for $25-50 back in the day?
1971. Signed hardcover, $15. Signed with a painting, $25.

17797
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top