Gary Eisenberg
RIP
I'll allow y'all to drool over this. And no, it's NFS. Enjoy!
Red, stolen books and other shit (1 Viewer)
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Gary Eisenberg
RIP
It's one SINGLE bloody poem. Nothing much to read at all. But my old friend Shalom "Red" Stodolsky was one of FIRST book dealers to regularly stock Buk's work, and they were fast friends. It was through Red that I met (and later collaborated with) the late Michael Montfort. So I ain't NEVER selling my copy, which, remarkably enough was the last one he had in the store, and was thus 50/50. I have NO IDEA what it's worth, but could NEVER sell it. I knew Red for a good 30 years. The book has sentimental value to me!
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
Here's a little tidbit of tantalization. I got this letter from Fante in '77 after I sent him a few of my HORRIBLE poems.
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
I wound up finding Ask The Dust at UCLA library back in those days. It's not the cleanest copy in the world. I should have saved the library card pocket. I kept the book and gladly paid the $5.00 replacement fee. It was inscribed to Jim Tully, a friend of Fante. So I eventually found Tully's seminal work, "Beggars of Life," and now both repose side-by-side in my library. :0
BTW, I sold off most of my Buk library using the SF auction house, PBA Galleries. They did a good job for me, I have no complaints. I retained the cream-of-the-crop items (like a copy of Factotum with painting, for example, and MINT copy of Post Office, both of which I purchased from Red at Baroque Bookstore when they were first issued. I also have a nice copy of Bukowski/Montfort that was given to me by Michael. And one fine day, if I can ever get back in touch with Linda, I have video footage of an interview I did with her back in 95, when I was involved with Steve Cooper doing the Fante Conference at CSULB. That's a long story. Briefly: Some idiots gave a presentation on Buk and got it all wrong. Linda was pissed. So she asked that I conduct an interview for insertion into the school's archive. My (now) ex-wife and I met with Linda at her home. We went to Buk's grave and emptied a fifth of cognac, then came back to her crib and emptied several bottles of wine. I did the video interview and it is now in the archive. And of course I have my own copy of it. I'm eventually going to just go ahead and post it. But I've reached out to Linda first, in case she would have issues with my doing so. There were some touching moments during that interview. I hope to share it soon. GE
BTW, I sold off most of my Buk library using the SF auction house, PBA Galleries. They did a good job for me, I have no complaints. I retained the cream-of-the-crop items (like a copy of Factotum with painting, for example, and MINT copy of Post Office, both of which I purchased from Red at Baroque Bookstore when they were first issued. I also have a nice copy of Bukowski/Montfort that was given to me by Michael. And one fine day, if I can ever get back in touch with Linda, I have video footage of an interview I did with her back in 95, when I was involved with Steve Cooper doing the Fante Conference at CSULB. That's a long story. Briefly: Some idiots gave a presentation on Buk and got it all wrong. Linda was pissed. So she asked that I conduct an interview for insertion into the school's archive. My (now) ex-wife and I met with Linda at her home. We went to Buk's grave and emptied a fifth of cognac, then came back to her crib and emptied several bottles of wine. I did the video interview and it is now in the archive. And of course I have my own copy of it. I'm eventually going to just go ahead and post it. But I've reached out to Linda first, in case she would have issues with my doing so. There were some touching moments during that interview. I hope to share it soon. GE
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
I should have asked Michael to inscribe the book to me, but we were BOTH always blasted drunk whenever we got together, and I never got around to doing so!
mjp
Founding member
Way to stick it to the man! Better that book sits on your shelf than some stupid library where anyone can just pick it up and read it. Congratulations. You must be very proud.
bospress.net
www.bospress.net
Hey,
I own the original printing plate for the Bukowski bird from that book.
Was the book in a phase box/clamshell hybrid? I have never seen Black Sparrow do anything like that.
Also, what is the discoloration in the gutter of the colophon page.
\Bill
I own the original printing plate for the Bukowski bird from that book.
Was the book in a phase box/clamshell hybrid? I have never seen Black Sparrow do anything like that.
Also, what is the discoloration in the gutter of the colophon page.
\Bill
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
The book had not left the shelf since 1956, when I checked it out in 1973. So I didn't feel so bad about the purloined letter(s) [pardon the pun].
Bad photography on my part. I was in a hurry. The clamshell box was NOT part of the production. It was given to me by my dear friend Patrick Reagh. That's another story for another time. :)
Read my reply. Now I cannot find it here. Hopefully it will magically appear, pero por si acaso: When I checked the book out in 1973, the insert reflected that it had not been checked out since 1953!!!!!! It was NOT a reference copy. So I didn't feel all that remorseful about the purloined letter element. Now, of course, there are HUNDREDS of copies in the local library system.
So I wasn't "sticking" anything to "the man." Smh, Meh, and FEH!
I can almost smell your envy, MJP. LMFAO!
Jesus Gary, lay off the sauce. Next thing you know you'll be calling the boys lacrosse team and giggling.
mjp
Founding member
Well, Gary, it's always been difficult for me to hide my envy when it comes to you. It kills me that it's so obvious, but I've never been very good at hiding my emotions.
I'd hazard a guess that most of us have purloined something at one time or another, either out of necessity or foolishness. What sets you apart is that as an old, grown man, you can unapologetically boast about it. That's where your personality really shines my dear friend. You, of all people, shouldn't feel any remorse for anything you've ever taken from anyone.
You truly deserve everything you have. I mean that.
'Then one day I pulled a book down and opened it, and there it was. I stood for a moment, reading. Then like a man who had found gold in the city dump, I carried the book to a table. The lines rolled easily across the page, there was a flow. Each line had its own energy and was followed by another like it. The very substance of each line gave the page a form, a feeling of something carved into it. And here, at last, was a man who was not afraid of emotion. The humour and the pain were intermixed with a superb simplicity. The beginning of that book was a wild and enormous miracle to me.
I had a library card. I checked the book out, took it to my room, climbed into my bed and read it, and I knew long before I had finished that here was a man who had evolved a distinct way of writing. The book was Ask the Dust and the author was John Fante. He was to be a lifetime influence on my writing. I finished Ask the Dust and looked for other books of Fante's in the library. I found two: Dago Red and Wait Until Spring, Bandini. They were of the same order, written of and from the gut and the heart.
Yes, Fante had a mighty effect upon me.'
-Bukowski on discovering Fante's Ask the Dust in a library
I had a library card. I checked the book out, took it to my room, climbed into my bed and read it, and I knew long before I had finished that here was a man who had evolved a distinct way of writing. The book was Ask the Dust and the author was John Fante. He was to be a lifetime influence on my writing. I finished Ask the Dust and looked for other books of Fante's in the library. I found two: Dago Red and Wait Until Spring, Bandini. They were of the same order, written of and from the gut and the heart.
Yes, Fante had a mighty effect upon me.'
-Bukowski on discovering Fante's Ask the Dust in a library
I don't know you but I can tell you are a self serving cum sucking dink. Your rationale for theft is amount of use or lack of use-I'm sure that never entered your mind-you wanted it and this post theft rationalization is as sound as well she was wearing a short dress excuse for rape or they're rich they can afford to be ripped off.
Want to do something really cool and …I don't know-poetic….give it back-anonymously so the only person who knows you aren't the cum sicking dink I know you are is you. And then write your masterpiece poem about standing on the shoulders of giants and not deserving the view.
Until then-you are dink.
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
I didn't boast about it, MJP. That was YOUR read on it Just sayin.
I paid for the book. And DID have some qualms years later.
I never claimed to be next Bukowski, LOL. OR the next John Fante. Enough said.
I'm getting sleepy reading this thread...
They now have MANY copies on hand.
That is advice worth considering, Skiroo.
For all you holier-than-thou boyz, one more comment: Look in the mirror first. Then pull out your bucket of stones. :)
Digney in Burnaby
donkeys live a long time
Stolen books, I've done a few crimes. A Rolling Stone album review pocket book out of a college library. Not sure why now, not even sure why then. But I still have the ratty old thing. They had signed Bukowski hard covers which I don't even think I borrowed or thought about stealing. My priorities were all screwed up back then. ;-)
I remember a couple years earlier guards (students) were set up to check for books being "permanently borrowed" from the University of BC main stacks. With some effort and planning I could have got away with The Outsider Bukowski special. It was there for anyone to take. Now it's no doubt buried in the special collections where you need white gloves and no copying is allowed. Back in 1975 I photocopied those pages. And still have them. I guess that's good enough.
Of course books you count on being on the shelves get pulled and sold for two bits at the annual sale. These days it's just an ongoing sale of books, or just getting rid of them. A friend saved bound copies of a weekend magazine insert for a daily newspaper. The entire collection from the 1970s was no longer important to them. So my friend, a library tech, saved them. Seems like it's ten linear feet or so. She's being doing that for other stuff going out the door as well. The library it seems is on a purge and no digital copies are being made of the stuff going out the door to the recycling bin.
Books sacred? Not to "the man" as far as I can tell.
I remember a couple years earlier guards (students) were set up to check for books being "permanently borrowed" from the University of BC main stacks. With some effort and planning I could have got away with The Outsider Bukowski special. It was there for anyone to take. Now it's no doubt buried in the special collections where you need white gloves and no copying is allowed. Back in 1975 I photocopied those pages. And still have them. I guess that's good enough.
Of course books you count on being on the shelves get pulled and sold for two bits at the annual sale. These days it's just an ongoing sale of books, or just getting rid of them. A friend saved bound copies of a weekend magazine insert for a daily newspaper. The entire collection from the 1970s was no longer important to them. So my friend, a library tech, saved them. Seems like it's ten linear feet or so. She's being doing that for other stuff going out the door as well. The library it seems is on a purge and no digital copies are being made of the stuff going out the door to the recycling bin.
Books sacred? Not to "the man" as far as I can tell.
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
My final word on the subject: When I checked the book out, there was little-to-no interest in Fante. We're talking John Fante here, not Bukowski. I paid the fee in a timely manner, and remained in good standing with the library. The book is now widely available. I was actively involved in the John Fante conference at CSULB back in '95. I've probably done more to promote Fante's work that any of you have. 'Nuff said.
Gary Eisenberg
RIP
LMAO!
mjp
Founding member
Just like when Bukowski found Fante in a library. A moment that he said changed his life, but if some smirking weasel had checked it out a few weeks before him and kept it, that moment never would have happened for him.
Which is the point many of us have been trying to make to you, but you're such a self-absorbed, self-satisfied LOLing piece of work that you won't ever get it.
As if to illustrate my point.
You should do yourself a favor and stick to one of those.
Gary, I was at that conference, I was on the A.V. squad. I don't recall you doing much to promote Fante, but I remember you throwing up on Gerry Locklin and trying to pick up freshmen boys. You referred to them as your "just deserts."
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