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Numbered & signed War All The Time & Barfly (1 Viewer)

Erik

If u don't know the poetry u don't know Bukowski
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An acquaintance here in Norway wants to sell the two books mentioned in the title of this thread. It seems he found them in the student bookshop here in Norway back when they first were published. Didn't know that Black Sparrow sent out numbered & signed editions to shops. Maybe they just did it in Europe. Nice gesture it seems. If its true.

Anyway, he wants to sell them now and I want to give him a fair+ price:

"War All the Time" is signed & numbered nr. 279
"Barfly" is signed & numbered 256.

I trust the guy 100%, so I'm sure he hasn't doctored the signature. I'm also certain that he bought the books himself - he has a big collection of stuff. He's loosing his sight now and just doesn't have any use for them any more. (Luckily there are plenty of audiobooks out nowadays.)

Well, prices on ABE vary from $325 to £650. Could any of you collectors out there give me some tips on a fair price to give? What makes the prices vary so much?

Thanks
 
War All The Time used to sell for $175, but it has gone up a bit in the last 5 years. Barfly is probably $250.

I would offer a friend $450 for the pair and let them know that they are more on abe, but that is the sometimes unrealistic price. If you want to investigate it and be fair to him, take an average between the abe price and then look up the history at PBA (Pacific Book Auction). They have sold somethings fery low int he past, so a real value is probably the average between their low price and abe's low price.

Bill
 
War All The Time (for some reason) is not that easy to come across while there always seems to be plenty of Barfly.

He isn't a dealer so I say a fair price would be USD$550 for both. I just paid quite a bit for a first trade hardcover of War All The Time!
 
Gazing at the overprices on abebooks, and considering the economy, I'd estimate about $325-$350 for War... and $225-$250 for Barfly (assuming it's the BSP version not the Paget and that both books are fine). I know that BOSPress has a great deal more knowledge than I do on these matters, but $450 just seems too low for both from my perspective.
 
I could be valuing them more at what I paid for them, but the thing to do is check PBA. That shows you what people actually paid for them.

Bill
 
Yeah, you're correct, Bill. But PBA is a bugger to search, at least as I have found it. Searching by author is only allowed for current listings. Past auction results are in large lots and you have to click through every listing in alphabetical order by category. Maybe I'm missing something.

But I did find a signed, numbered Barfly along with a trade edition that sold as a pair for less than $200 in April 2007. It might have been about $170.

Then again, Buk stuff has really gone up in the past year or two.
 
Thanks for the tips.
Just what I needed to know.
Good thing the dollar exchange rate over here is fairly low at the moment! ;)
 

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