would you believe i even had two copies at one point? that's before I sold one of them (which was missing the acrylic slipcase), and you better believe i'm keeping the other one!
it's my favorite bukowski book, which i know is sacrilege, since it isn't signed by bukowski, and many feel its grandiosity overshadows the poetry. i happen to love ken price's art, though, so this is an amazing pairing for me. plus, the poetry that is included is top notch, and it's all on the subject of LA, which is my favorite thing bukowski writes about. AND, i'm a sucker for elaborately overdesigned books. i was fairly surprised that you can't find any copies on abe anymore - even a year or so ago, there were a few in the $750 to $1250 range. and james (forum member) sold a really nice copy 3-4 years ago for $450 or something.
create an alert on abe and on eBay, and maybe email a few booksellers (jeff maser, james musser, old erie street, etc) that specialize in bukowski to let them know you're in the market for a copy. they might know collectors who are inclined to sell to you. despite the low limitation, you're always better off looking for a book that was designed for collectors in the first place than you are, say, looking for a mint condition paperback first edition of post office. it will come up again, and part of the fun is hunting down the copy, right? it hearkens back to the old days of bookselling, before every book was available to anyone with a high enough limit on their credit card.
