Portions From a Wine-Stained Notebook (2 Viewers)

Hey guys:

To answer some of the queries:

1) If you signed up for the email notification, you're signed up--there's no electronic receipt or anything like that sent, just the notification when the book is available. (I'll have City Lights look into this as it's probably a good idea for some email acknowledgment.)

2) In terms of ordering, a lot depends on how the individual wishes to proceed. In strictly financial terms, it's obviously better for us if the books are ordered directly from City Lights as we don't have to split the profit with anyone else. However, I appreciate the fact that we don't have a preorder mechanism and Amazon does, so if you're only an occasional internet user, rather than a daily/hourly sort, you might have greater piece of mind knowing that the book is already ordered. That said, all things being equal, order it from us if at all possible.

3) In terms of timing, again, we're talking about September/October if all stays on schedule. Again, we'll post here as soon as the books arrive.

I think that covers it for now, but I'll be checking in so feel free to ask anything else.

Also, just to keep everyone in the loop, we're pursuing advance publication of a few individual pieces in other magazines/journals/newspapers, etc. In fact, the upcoming summer issue of Open City (http://www.opencity.org/) is about to reprint "The Silver Christ of Sante Fe." (For the record, this is not the Open City in which Bukowski used to publish but rather a newer publication begun in the 1990s.)

There will hopefully be a few more pieces appearing and I'll let everyone know when we know.

Best,

Garrett Caples
City Lights Books
 
Portions From A Wine-stained Notebook

Received an advance proof of Portions From A Wine-stained Notebook yesterday (thanks Garrett). Here's the index:

Aftermath Of A Lengthy Rejection Slip
20 Tanks From Kasseldown
Hard Without Music
Trace: Editors Write
Portions From A Wine-Stained Notebook
A Rambling Essay On Poetics And The Bleeding Life Written While Drinking A Six-Pack (Tall)
In Defense Of A Certain Type Of Poetry. A Certain Type Of Life. A Certain Type Of Blood-Filled Creature Who Will Someday Die
Artaud Anthology
An Old Drunk Who Ran Out Of Luck
Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (Open City, May 12-18, 1967)
Untitled Essay In A Tribute To Jim Lowell
Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (National Underground Review, May 15, 1968)
The Night Nobody Believed I Was Allen Ginsberg
Should We Burn Uncle Sam's Ass?
The Silver Christ Of Santa Fe
Dirty Old Man Confesses
Reading And Breeding For Kenneth
The L.A. Scene
Notes On The Life Of An Aged Poet
Upon The Mathematics Of The Breath And The Way
Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (December 28, 1973)
Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (February 22, 1974)
Notes Of A Dirty Old Man (March 22, 1974)
Unpublished Foreword To William Wantling's 7 On Style
Jaggernaut
Picking The Horses
Workout
The Way It Happened
Just Passing Time
Distraction In The Literary Life
I Meet The Master
Charles Bukowski's Los Angeles For Li Po
Looking Back At A Big One
Another Portfolio
The Other
Basic Training

I suppose that could change, given it is only a proof, but there you go. Info page lists a September 15 release date.

The press sheet that came with the book has three blurbs (since we were discussing who they should try to get); John Martin ("...the previously missing link in Bukowski's oeuvre that suddenly makes everything come clear."), Eileen Myles ("Fucked up, male, but incredibly true.") and Jerry Stahl ("...you can hear the beating heart of the poet in every line.").

The acknowledgements page thanks our own cirerita, "Bukowski scholar extraordinaire."
 
Easy now - I'm only a third of the way through it!

Some advance copies will likely hit eBay. They always seem to somehow.
 
Charles Bukowski's Los Angeles For Li Po

The title makes me curious.
Fictional letter style perhaps? A homage?
 
Any & all disposable income (as if there is such a thing) for the next few months is going to 1) small press books 2) an original painting by Nick Volkert & 3) the hardback of this bad boy!

But, yeah, MJP's barfight cover is FANTASTIC.
 
It appears to be a great book! Thank God it's soon September.
 
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What's up with these "Rock Stars" patronizing his work? Somebody on this forum once said that he had "the lamest friends...' and that's so true. Too bad a fellow poet isn't around anymore either to write a 'blurb' someone like Al Purdy. Bukowski once said: "I don't know of any good living poets. But there's this tough son of a bitch up in Canada that works the line."

That was then.
 
Damn! I was just going through old emails and found an unread offer for a copy of this. I didn't recognize the name and it just kind of blended in with all of the spam. I emailed back just now and am hoping that it's not too late.
 
Damn! I was just going through old emails and found an unread offer for a copy of this. I didn't recognize the name and it just kind of blended in with all of the spam. I emailed back just now and am hoping that it's not too late.

With a top notch web page like collecting Bukowski you know any quality Bukowski book publisher would like to be in your good graces.:) You'll get it.
 
I tried to preorder a copy of the hardcover of this from my store today... y'know, to save from having to REALLY dig around for it (plus get a discount) and it was cancelled by the warehouse in... oh, probably about 2 hours.

LAME! Now I'm gonna have to work for it.
 
I wasn't so lucky after all. Garrett emailed me back to tell me that the publicity dept. had run out of advance copies.

Oh well...

The story of my life, I s'pose.
 
Followed Bill's link above...

This is an "obtain title", ready for dispatch in about 1-2 weeks after receipt of order

I think that means the books are not in hand and you would be pre-ordering?
 
I've noticed that when a new ARC is selling for $50-80 on ebay I can usually find a copy on ABE for $10-20 if I'm patient enough to check regularly for a couple of weeks. It seems like sellers see ARCs as not having any real value while more and more collectors see them as desirable items to have. Several months ago I picked up an uncorrected proof of Vollmann's newest book, Riding Toward Everywhere, for $12.00 on ABE after seeing three copies sell on ebay for around $65.00 each.
 
My Advance proof arrived today. Yep, $20 including postage from some bookstore who, upon receiving it gratis from City Lights, turned around and listed it on abe for very little. I wonder if they even read it, or saw it as a way to make a quick buck. Either way, their loss is my gain.

Great stuff so far.

Bill
 
Attention all K-Mart shoppers we direct your attention to aisle 8 were we are running a Blue Light Special on all copies of Portions From A Wine-stained Notebook. Please make your selection now as we have only very a limited supply. No rain checks will be provided after the quantity on sale is gone!
 
notebook-3.jpg
 
You must be hanging out with FL....

i Do.
spiritually.
- [is this an English word..?]


Portions from a wine stained laptop.

i'm pretty sure, you knew the title from some secret source, before!
still they fucked you, since the Real title is 'Cake-pieces from a wine-stained laptop'
- but sure you where as close as Columbus was to India.
which is a LOT!

(oh, sorry! hahaha.
You Definitely were MUCH closer! - only: the image is so pretty!)


Let's make FUN! - and Love!!!
 
I must say the 3rd "alternate" cover is my favorite, it's got that blurry-lost-outtake feel that I get off this collection, while remaining hard-as-nails and true to the tone of his cannon. The actual cover truly is a shame, IMHO, though dont hold up production over it or anything!
 
I agree that the 3rd alternative is excellent - it would have made for one of those timeless, classic Bukowski covers in circulation for years. Instead, the official cover has that sickly hospital green on top; and the Bukowski photo on the bottom appears to be a completely coy and unrelated street picture - with not a wine glass or any of that slightly unfocused, through-the-looking-glass, purple wine-haze sensation in sight. What's wrong with some of these publishers? (I don't care for most of the Ecco covers either.) The alternative has an inviting feel of intimacy, as if Bukowski had been drinking and writing alone and ready to deliver something warm and good to his readers from his "wine-stained" notebook... Anyway, it's a pity what they've chosen to use and I can only wonder how much talent some of these in-house designers have, if that's who they used. The 1st alternative cover is also a winner and would be a great match for some of Bukowski's rowdier collection of stories - perhaps some of the earlier ones when he was lean, and mean. This was great design work in keeping with the unconventional spirit of the writer.
 
When my wife worked at a new bookstore (now closed) they received hundreds of free ARCs per month and the emplyees took whatever they wanted. The rest were given away free to customers or tossed. Arcs for popular authors would do well on eBay ($100 average) until 1) the collector market was saturated, or 2) the regular edition came out. Then it would plunge in value to about $10 on ABE. Most collectors don't seem to value ARCs and view them as less desirable than the first edition. I gather it's different with Buk -- that collectors generally do value his ARCs, even long after the first edition has come out. I snagged a couple of Bukowski ARCs from that bookstore, gratis. Kept one and sold one. It was nice while it lasted, those freebies.
 
Of course, if you look closely at that third picture you can see Bukowski's cock (maybe that's what you were referring to when you said, "ready to deliver something warm and good"). They might have issues stocking that in the front window at Borders.

ARCs are great if you like tables of contents that all point to page 000, or typos and layout errors (in the case of Wine-stained Notebook anyway). Otherwise they're just a way to read something before everyone else does, which has its own appeal, I suppose.

Carol had an ARC of Miranda July's book when we went to her reading (she wanted to get it signed), and everyone carrying around the brand new hardcover would stare at it like, "Where the hell did she get that yellow paperback?!"

Even Miranda July asked her where she got it. Ha.

So yeah. For boasting purposes only. But like David said, I don't understand why they maintain any value after the first edition is released. As curiosities maybe.
 
I have an ARC of Thousand Splendid Suns that I've kept because... well, it still remains the only paperback available despite the book being in hardcover over a year now...

But yeah... ARCs are essentially worthless outside of the novelty of reading something before it's actually released. I see so many at my work and often think about snagging them to sell on eBay, but... Not worth the trouble for me.
Of course, if you look closely at that third picture you can see Bukowski's cock (maybe that's what you were referring to when you said, "ready to deliver something warm and good"). They might have issues stocking that in the front window at Borders.
I dunno, they're doing so poorly now they might be willing to put something in the windows that will bring people in. Even if it's to complain. Any press is good press, right?
 
Well, I like my Black Sparrow Bukowski ARCs, most of which were issued in tiny quantities. There are only 25 copies of the review issue of Women and 29 of Love is a Dog from Hell, with similar numbers for most of the other titles issued for review. BSP review copies are typically the first printing minus the cover art.

ARCs have their place in collections of specific authors, especially for completists, though they'll rarely reach the value of a proper first edition. They are sort of a cross between a book and ephemera.
 
But, if the first edition is prized as the earliest edition, why would the edition that was released 2 months prior to the first edition not be more valuable? In addition, there may only be 100-200 copies of an ARC (For Wine Stained Notebook, for example), versus 1000 hardcover and probably 20,000 paperback copies. So, it is rarer and earlier. Something tells me that this would have to be more valuable, but they are not and this confounds me....
Bill
 
hey guys,since some of you have the new buk book
because you are SPECIAL!. Would one of you have the kindness to post a picture of the actual book,
in a way that I could see the thickness of the pages and the top and front at the same time. I am painting it and need to see what it looks like at an angle.:confused:
 

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