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Me and Your Sometimes Love Poems.. (1 Viewer)

nervas

more crickets than friends
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250416963925

I just bought this on eBay. I have never seen it for such a low price. Actually anytime I have ever seen it, or maybe different editions its at least $185.00. So now I'm feeling I've been duped. Like did I just purchase a copy that someone went to staples and copied from the original? Or can someone tell me if this truly is a 3rd edition. I already bought it, so I'm happy just to be able to see the drawings and read the poems and I'm not concerned with whetere the Linda King signature is genuine or not....Just thought I'd ask the experts why the price was so low on this....
 
I've never seen it sell for that little, but it's probably genuine. It usually sells for around $40. I believe Linda King signed all of the copies. She produced them.

The funny thing about this title is I've seen many first and third editions, but never a second edition. Anyone have a second edition?
 
Hi,
It is genuine. Linda King printed these herself. The seller is a good friend of mine and a good friend of Linda King. The one that you usually see for $185 (they are usually much more) are the true first editions. I have only seen one for sale in 10 years. There were only 50 made, and I bet than many of them did not survive.

So, yes, it is real and the signature is 100% authentic.

Bill
 
Thanks for the quick reply mjp and bospress. Actually this was the first time I had seen 3rd edition. I always see 1st I guess, because there always way up there in price. Well glad I got my hands on one and a genuine one at that. Cool!
 
Correction:

Abe shows two copies for sale:

A second edition for sale from Dave Gregor at $185 (his prices are almost always twice the highest price of anyone else's.

A first edition for $2400 (this is rare, sure, but I say one sell for about $400 a year or two ago, so at $2400, this seller is fishing for fools*


Bill

* - "fishing for Fools" is Copyright 2008 by David Barker; All Rights Reserved.
 
That's a very good price; I paid $35 for a third edition from Jason here, and that was a decent deal. Oddly though, my third ed. is signed on the last page and is numbered and dated 2-7-2000; this one is just signed on the cover page. The sig on yours resembles the one on mine, but is somewhat different. Maybe Linda's sig varies more than Buk's did.

Does yours have a hand-written mimeographed addition "Third Edition 1999" and in another hand "100 copies (C)" at the bottom of the title page?
 
That's a very good price...

Does yours have a hand-written mimeographed addition "Third Edition 1999" and in another hand "100 copies (C)" at the bottom of the title page?
Not sure yet. I just bought and paid for today...So I'm hoping since I'm down in LA and seller is in SF, that it wont take too long to receive it. I'll update the post once I receive it.
 
Well mjp and Bill have spoken, and it looks fine to me also. But it is a bit interesting that they would be signed in such a different manner. But maybe that was by design.
 
I bought the third edition directly from Linda in 1999. It was about $10. She wrote a long inscription about John Martin buying up copies. I've never seen the second edition. I did see a big stack of brand new first editions, selling for $1 each, but that was at Linda King's house, at the publication party for the book. And naturally I didn't have a buck, having spent all my money on beer before the drive over from Long Beach. Ah well.

Did I say "fishing for fools?" That's not half bad. Thanks for the copyright notice Bill. Now everytime some standup comic says it, I'll get a royalty check. Sure I will.
 
As with all things small press, the only constant is that there are no constants.

The books were probably printed and Linda signed them as needed. This would explain why they are signed in different places.

Once these are out, it will probably go into a 4th printing, as there is no reason to NOT sell these to people that are interested and since the 1st printings are so rare, this will be your only way to get this book...

Anyone interested and anyone that will be in SF in late July can probably ask her in person.

Bill
 
Well, according to my email, I will not be getting the above book I purchased. The seller was offended by the question I asked here on the forum. WOW. I was not doubting the seller, nor their reputation. I have seen many times on this forum people asking the same question. I just felt like it was such a good price, I'd ask the experts. Nowhere did I say I think this guy is trying to pass this off as a genuine piece. For all I knew, the seller could have bought just as I was attempting to, I never ONCE even mentioned the seller, or accused them of anything malicious. I just re-read my initial post and I guess it is a bit vague. But I only wondered if maybe I, as a novice collector missed something. I only said, hmmmm, it seemed like such a great deal, maybe I was duped.

But ok, my mistake, I never intended to harm anyones reputation, or even question them. I was just asking if anyone thought it was real, because if it was it seemed too good of a price.

Anyway, my loss, since I am now only getting a refund.

Sorry dude. No harm was intended.
 
That seems harsh, and probably violates ebay policy. No offence to Bill's pal (S.D.?) but I'm pretty sure you can justly complain to ebay if you feel aggrieved. Ebay isn't like a shop where you can hang up a 'the management reserves the right...' sign.
 
I'll tell you, I felt like I had been kicked in the stomach reading the long accusatory email. I didn't post everything the seller said, just a small sample. I just figure eBay will simply say they gave you your money back, so case closed. As Bill said above, the seller is a friend of his, so even more so I meant no disrepect by any means. From all the posts here I didn't think I had done anything outrageous. I guess my 21 bucks back buys 4 $5.00 footlongs for mama's day. I don't know, I'm a grown man and maybe it's all the stress at work or something, but I may just go home after work today and cry!
 
Friend of a friend or not, that's really fucking lame and petty. Now there's another eBay seller I will never buy anything from.
 
that is fucking bullshit. a buncha bologna i say! what is the seller's "official' reason for backing out of the transaction?
 
Apparently he was offended by this thread. The initial question in particular, at least that is how it appears to me. And being that I am not a well versed collector myself, I found no offense in that question, and would agree with the above that, that is bullshit. And quite unfair.
 
it seems to me the seller is using this thread as an excuse to back out of the deal so he can try to fetch a higher price for this book. my guess is he thinks $16.50 is too small an amount.

weak and sad.
 
there have been TONS of times i've sold books for way less than they're worth, and a good handful of times i've sold books for five times what i thought i'd get for them. if you sell at a low price with no reserve, you have to be prepared for the consequences.

but it's not unheard of for booksellers to be absurdly petty and oversensitive, and act like little spoiled children when the uneducated peons don't unflinchingly accept their genius and superior knowledge. they're a strange lot, and while there are a lot of good apples, there are a lot of asshole apples as well.
 
it seems to me the seller is using this thread as an excuse to back out of the deal so he can try to fetch a higher price for this book. my guess is he thinks $16.50 is too small an amount.

weak and sad.

Especially if the difference is about $20. This is disappointing; I've dealt with the seller before and he was very fair. Fine artist too. But now he's lost my potential future business as well.
 
Well, I've done business with him too. To the tune of about $500 all told, and he's never been anything but friendly to me.

However - if you piss on this forum or its members, I have no use for you. That's just the way it is.

...asshole apples...
That makes me wish I had a band to name right about now...
 
Ridiculous cancelling that sale. You were NOT offensive, just cautious and curious.

Seems I was full of shit when I said I'd never even seen a second printing. Checked my copy and it is a second printing, 100 copies, 1994. I did remember correctly about the inscription by Linda King. She says (to paraphrase) that Martin did not approve of her publishing this and bought up a bunch of copies. Sounds familiar, no?

I gotta remember to check my facts before I post early in the morning. My pre-coffee brain is just not that reliable.
 
Just wanted to say thanks to everyone for all the supportive words. It's certainly relieving to see that I wasn't some horrible monster. I knew I wasn't, but I'm telling ya after 11 years of using eBay, never really encountered a sitch like this. I kept thinking also seller just wanted more money. However after seeing its value of 40-50 bucks I sure hope he wasn't doing that just for an extra 30 bucks?

Anyway, thanks again everyone.
 
...Martin did not approve of her publishing this and bought up a bunch of copies.
To sell to booksellers at two or three times what he paid her for them. Yes, that does sound familiar.

But then again, if you use her stated publication numbers; 500 for second edition, 100 for third, it would seem a bit odd that the third is more common than the second. My third is signed and #43, but I got it almost ten years ago (though she could be making more third editions as time goes by). So maybe Martin did destroy some of the second edition copies. I know he didn't destroy any copies of Going Modern. He sold them all. Odd that he would let that out but not this.

Anyway, since the co-author is still making and selling these at least they are legit reprints, and it's cool that you can still pick them up without paying the first edition price. You know, assuming you don't try to buy from cohenyislander...
 
maybe cohenyislander will finally register and post to respond to this horrific accusation. i know he reads the forum!
 
mjp: my second printing says 100 copies, not 500. Does it say "500 for the second printing " in the third printing?

I've only had one sip of coffee but I did look at the title page yesterday and my memory isn't that bad (yet.)
 
Yeah, I'll try to scan it, but it says -

First Edition 1972 50 copies
Second Edition 1994 500 copies (100 copies signed by Linda King)
Third edition 1999 100 copies
 
I'm scared to even post this, but like I said I never wanted to harm anyones reputation, so I feel like I have to post this....

Seller now says he will be sending me the book....
 
That's good news! The seller did the right thing. Congrats...
 
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A wise move by the seller. There's no point in alienating a bunch of potential buyers over a misunderstanding.
 
Too late.

The original blow off is enough to keep me away. What if it happens again but the buyer doesn't say anything here? How many times has it happened before? Sending the book now doesn't change the initial weirdness. He's only sending it now because of this thread, or because others here have spoken to him off line and advised him to reconsider.

Whatever the arm twisting consisted of, his initial reaction is what bothers me. You should be able to trust that an auction win won't be yanked out from under you because you dared to ask a question. I don't know the guy, and he seems to have a good rep, so maybe it was just a bad day, who knows. What bothers me about this is that now maybe someone is going to read this thread and hold back from asking a legitimate question in the future.
 
My copy -2nd ed., which Linda kindly gave me when I interviewed her when I was a kid- reads:
First Edition 1971 [50 copies]
Second Edition 1994 500 copies
100 copies signed by Linda King.
 
Something tells me that even Linda wouldn't know how many copies of the second and third are out there. I would think - excluding the first edition which we know was slightly less than 100 copies - that there are still less than 500 copies out there. But since she just seems to create more when needed it's hard to pin down numbers. Still, it's good that you can still get it for a reasonable price, no matter how many copies she makes in the end.


[The rest of this discussion that went off topic is here.]
 
Well, to finish this thread and it's original content.... I did receive the book from seller with a little surprise inside. He sent my 21 bucks back in cash, inside of the book. Now I can say, in 11 years, definately the strangest eBay transaction I was ever involved in.
 
Well, things certainly came full circle (and them some). Chalk it up to a quick negative reaction and misinterpretation followed by a better than good-faith gesture. I certainly take back my comments about doing business with him in the future.
 
Thing is, it's obvious that he only sent it because of this thread. But then again, he only threatened not to send it because of this thread. Honestly I think mjp said it best, it kinda puts a negative on really asking questions here, for fear someone might pull this again. I for one, would not ask a question about the authenticity of a item again. For simple fear someone would say it's real, then I'd get blamed for ruining a reputation. So next time, I'd wait till I get in the mail then ask, and if its a fake, well then I guess I'm SOL.
 
This forum had nothing to do with him sending you the book and money. He did it because he wanted to do it. Leaving him a negative would be a truly shitty thing to do after he sent you the book and sent it to you with a full refund.

Bill
 

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