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Manuscripts (1 Viewer)

mjp

Founding member
Wow, lots of manuscripts on eBay right now. These were once very common and cheap, but I see less and less of them for sale these days, so it might be a good time to snatch one or two.

Rare books are great to have, but manuscripts...I don't know, there's something really cool about having one (or a few) of them. They are the genesis of everything Bukowski, so to me anyway, they are always a good buy.
 
These were once very common and cheap

Just curious, having not been an ebay head for perhaps as long as you mjp, but roughly how much was the cheapest you ever saw one go for?
 
Hi,
I saw them go for about $30 (Some went higher, but the average was probably $75) a piece about 5 years ago... That was when Scott would list 20 or 30 of them at a time and Ross and Nick had not started bidding yet....
Bill
 
I also remember bidding 50, 60 bucks and 'almost' winning some of those manuscripts, it's amazing to see them selling for $6,7,800 in a few years time. I shouldn't have been SO cheap and bid $80, I would have a handful of them today...
 
I bought one from Scott for $15.00 about 6 or 7 years ago. $15.00 was his BIN price so I grabbed it. I emailed him saying that if it was an error I wouldn't hold him to it, but he said with Christmas coming up he'd decided to list it as sort of a "gift" to whoever managed to grab it. A little strange, but kinda nice.

Unfortunately I no longer have the ms... Nick Lawrence does.

:(
 
Just curious, having not been an ebay head for perhaps as long as you mjp, but roughly how much was the cheapest you ever saw one go for?
Yeah, there were literally hundreds sold for less than $100. When the prices went (way) up I sold the bulk of mine, but I kept the gems, so no regrets. I kind of prefer having 7 or 8 now to having 30 or 40 back in the day. I guess I appreciate the good ones I have left, and the ones that are gone paid for my car. ;)
 
HI,
On this list, Rekrab had met and spent a bit of time with Hank, and there is one more person, a mystery woman, but otherwise, I think that there are only a few. Anyone else ever meet him?

Bill
 
A friend of mine spent an evening at Bukowski's house interviewing him and drinking and hanging around, but that's not something I was ever interested in.

Meeting someone, shaking their hand, having them sign a piece of paper for you or something - I don't know, man. That kind of surfacey encounter is ultimately empty and unsatisfying. Then there's the danger of meeting someone you admire and having them --- I don't know --- spit in your face or something. Then you're fucked, because anyone who spits in your face should have their ass whipped. But, oh dear, well, it's Jesus Christ who spit in my face! Now what do I do?

Well not jesus christ, but anyway, you get the picture.

Anyone who read a lot of Bukowski's work would know that in most cases he would have preferred not to meet you or I, or any "fan." Especially after he settled down and moved out of Hollywood.
 
Hmm, I just read what I wrote and it looks like I'm saying that I turned down a meeting with Bukowski or something, but that's not the case. Ha. What I meant was I never purposely hunted him down in order to meet him. And it wasn't hard to find him if you really wanted to.
 
It couldnt have been harder then meeting that other great man of american
letters ol Bill Burroughs,didnt he like answering the door with a smith & wesson?
 
mjp -- you made me laugh again. Yes, meet your hero, your idol, your literary god, and then have him spit in your face. You're fucked! On the money. That experience messed with my head for about 20 years. Then I grew up and realized it made no real difference. I was a dumb punk college kid who didn't know up from down, he was a great writer but a flawed human being (aren't we all flawed?), and it was a meaningless event, all told. I do value having had firsthand experience of him, having been around such a fascinating, creative, intelligent, troubled, complex, messed up, beautiful person. He was not an easy guy to be around. Intimidating as hell. I went to a rough junior high school, was used to being around bad-ass hoodlum types, knew how to keep from getting my ass kicked by them, but Buk was as bad as any of those guys -- or at least he was a master at making you think he was that bad -- and he made me nervous as hell. I think it would have been easier meeting, say, Ginsberg. Wait a minute ... I did meet Ginsberg, and it was easy. Bukowski had a chip on his shoulder, was always out to prove something, always looking for a target. Unfortunately, he seems to have been someone who pumped himself up at other's expense, at least when drinking and when in his public persona. He had guys like me for breakfast. Had I known this in advance, I never would have had the guts to meet him, never would have done the things that set me up as a good target. Ah well, live and learn. It's all good. I don't take it too seriously. And let me be clear: I still admire the man immensely, as an artist. I don't admire much of anyone as a human being. We are a sorry lot, except for a couple of true saints I've met, who aren't artists, aren't famous, and pass among us unrecognized for what they truly are.
 
Hope it doesn't sound here like I'm criticising Buk or slamming him; that's not my intention. I'm just being honest. He had his dark side. It's on record if you look for it. But hell, who isn't an asshole sometimes? The booze, of course, brings it on for some people. He may have been a kind and gentle guy when sober -- probably was. I just didn't see that. Wish I had.
 
HI Rekrab,
I think that everyone will admit that Buk was complex. Am I glad that I never met him? YEs and no. The optomist in me hopes that we would have met and had a great relationship. The realist in me relaizes that it is very possible that he would find me annoying. At worst, he would write a poem about how much of a talentless ass I was. At best, he would probably just barely tolerate me.

I can love ones writing and still know that they preferred to be left in privacy. I think that others on the forum get where you are coming from.

Bill
 
I can love ones writing and still know that they preferred to be left in privacy. I think that others on the forum get where you are coming from.

Bill: thanks for the reassurance. Seems like I often post and then come back later to edit what I said (feeling I've said something dumb or that will be taken the wrong way), only to find I've waited too long. Anyway, this is a time I would have edited. What I didn't say, should have said: meeting him was this complicated, disturbing, unforgettable, regrettable personal experience, and it's something in the past that I've grown to accept as a learning situation, but there's another way I relate to him, as a reader, and that's very positive. He's an endlessly entertaining, amusing and enlightening author. I learn something (about people, about writing, about myself) every time I read Bukowski. And when I read him, I relate intensely to him (or his characters), feel that he speaks for me, for us all, and he seems like just about the coolest guy that ever lived, the one true complete human being. Such a balance of humor and horror, boredom with mundane life, dread of life's agonies, droll amusement at our ridiculous predicament. The man laid down some of the truest words you will ever read, and did it in high style. Obviously, he's still my literary hero. I caught him on a bad night. Maybe the receptionist in the doctor's office has gotten me on a bad day, and thinks I'm an asshole. I never try to reconcile my personal experience of the man with my appreciation of the art he created. The art is eternal. He's in the freaking Huntington, for god's sake. Amen.
 
Hi David

All the above rings with wisdom.
Cheers
 
thats from Palahniuk's novel Fight Club. or wait...no, it's from the film.

i can't remember. could be in the novel too.

Tyler Durden said it.
 
Yes it is Fight Club By Chuck Palahniuk. I lifted it from the novel. I'm sure its in the film too. Right now in the UK, the media is busier than ever moulding society - sure its the same in most countries too. This line just jumped out at me. Cheers
 
Hank,funny how you say the line just jumped out,i dont know what it is about the movie Fargo but Ill be damned if i could get that stuff out of head for the longest time Oh Yaa!
 
Sorry to jump in late but I bought a lot of manuscripts back in 2000 and 2001 and it really depended on the time period as far as prices go. The "carbons" went for anywhere from $90 - 275 depending on the length and quality of the material. Most originally sold for around $100. The "IBM" poems and late period typewriter stuff often went for $60 - 100 and the "word processor" stuff went for $40 - 90. Of course, all of this was before a lot of people were collecting.

It's too bad a lot of people didn't know about this before the prices went through the roof as there were a lot of quality pieces for sale.
 

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