If Ecco were to release new editions of such books like It Catches My Heart In Its Hands or Crucifix In A Deathhand, do you think people, or you, would buy them? I don't really know how well even his most popular poetry collections sell, so I wondered about those. And I know that the craftsmanship and the history of those books, and ones like them, is part of the greatness . I'm also in no way thinking about publishing them, just curious.
Question about Ecco editions (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter gbsupbowl
- Start date
In this day of e-books, it's hard to imagine much market for reprinted books such as the Loujon editions. Not to mention, most of the poems have been published elsewhere, so there's really no impetus for this. But if they did, they'd probably release them with neon green and pinks covers in the true spirit of the originals.
mjp
Founding member
Ecco bought the publishing rights to the Black Sparrow catalog, not to everything Bukowski ever wrote.
Since they are (supposedly) doing the new collections I assume they made a new/separate deal with the widow for those as well.
But Ecco would have to make yet another deal for the LouJon books, and as Purple Stickpin pointed out, most of those poems were reprinted in BSP books, so a deal for the LouJon books would be pointless.
And just in general I don't see any reason to reprint those books. The only reason they are interesting is for the way they were originally made.
Since they are (supposedly) doing the new collections I assume they made a new/separate deal with the widow for those as well.
But Ecco would have to make yet another deal for the LouJon books, and as Purple Stickpin pointed out, most of those poems were reprinted in BSP books, so a deal for the LouJon books would be pointless.
And just in general I don't see any reason to reprint those books. The only reason they are interesting is for the way they were originally made.
And some of the poems perhaps...
jordan
lothario speedwagon
i think he meant that they're interesting now because of the way they were originally made, seeing as you can get the poems elsewhere.
i don't really see the point of facsimile editions of those books, since their tactile qualities are what make them so cool. in facsimile, all you're getting is different typography and some colorful pages.
i don't really see the point of facsimile editions of those books, since their tactile qualities are what make them so cool. in facsimile, all you're getting is different typography and some colorful pages.
Right; to do them any justice would result in books that would price themselves out of any reasonable market (or be simple books with colored pages that covey almost nothing of the originals). And as mjp expressed, the permissions would likely be beyond what ecco would want to deal with.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
I could reprint these letterpress and make them really cool, but they would not be as cool as the originals as printing was only half the problem. They would have to be bound in an amazing way. That would take a lot of time. In the end, I could sell these for $100 and probably make a few bucks, but not sure why anyone would want to reprint a loujon book knowing that they will not be doing it better or even as good.
jordan
lothario speedwagon
the one thing i can't stand about the loujon books is how they're bound. i can't stand books that you can't open without them falling apart, and it's the reason i've never actually bought any of them besides one of the henry miller ones way back when. part of their charm, though, was the ridiculous circumstances around how they were made (the poverty, the ramshakle print shop, etc), and of course that could never be duplicated. plus, they're still around, so even if you can't afford them, chances are you'll run across one in a bookstore at some point or another. if they were truly lost to history, that might be another reason to try to recreate them.
What I have found with those titles is not with the binding, but the jackets, especially on
Crucifix. The hinges are weak and prone to tearing. On Catch, the jacket never closes fully and
the cork is prone to chipping. But the actual pages seem really well bound. At least on
my stuff (which I feel lucky to own).
Crucifix. The hinges are weak and prone to tearing. On Catch, the jacket never closes fully and
the cork is prone to chipping. But the actual pages seem really well bound. At least on
my stuff (which I feel lucky to own).
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