some of the stuff... (1 Viewer)

ROC

It is what it is
The collectors amongst us my be interested.
I know....I know, it's what's inside the books that counts. But I'm into that too!

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Hey Bill
25 or so lettered or presentation editions. 2 with oil paintings, 3 or 4 with inscriptions (not to me!).
Many of the other pieces - some not pictured - are one-off editions of 50, 75 or 100. It's a strange feeling being the 'custodian' of this stuff.
My favourites are still the two Loujon books though. Nothing compares with the look and feel of those books.
I started reading Buk in '86 and started collecting in '89. I wish I'd had a better job back then, as I could have bought some of these pieces a hell of a lot cheaper.
Two of the pieces in the collection are yours - Afternoon into Night (lettered O) and As Buddha Smile (#58). So thanks to you!
 
Damn that's pretty! I love seeing those multi-colored spines all lined up next to each other like that. Makes my collection look rather sad in comparison.
 
That is true! I have one lettered and I was happy to get that one. I can't imagine having them all in presentation/lettered....

Bill
 
my faves

I had the silkscreen prints from '63 and '65 mounted in the clamshell cases to suit the publication dates of the Loujon books.
'Book people' are amazing - The cases were made in the US... I ordered them online. They were sent to me with a note saying "pay if you are happy with them. Send them back if not". I have also placed deposits on Buk titles worth big bucks only to have them appear in the mail days later. When queried, the bookseller responded "well you're going to pay for them eventually - you might as well have them now".
Of course I paid in both cases.
Beautiful people.

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Hey -notice 'sreet' for 'street' - 1 0f 18!! :D !!
 
impressions

pic #4

five books standing"”
stars... spirals... blues... yellows...
grays... sea-greens...the
black sparrow with its
tail of pride
in the bright coral
of the snail;
pride of ownership"”the guardian
of
pure, raw
genius; the lamp of peace from
China or Japan...
a warm, brown star...
wood like silk to the fingers
under five books standing"”
words read, or ready
come home.
 
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salut!

If the eyes are a window to the soul then our words are our soul coughing.

In words that resonate deeply in the Australian spirit - that's going straight to the pool room.

Poptop!
 
thanks for sharing those - a pleasure to see. i presume collectors of the rare and limited editions have duplicate, less rare BS copies for reading? a rather ingenuous question, probably...
 
WOW! - What a collection! Just beautiful. I've never seen a Buk collection like this. Thanks for posting the the pictures!...
 
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thanks for sharing those - a pleasure to see. i presume collectors of the rare and limited editions have duplicate, less rare BS copies for reading? a rather ingenuous question, probably...

Only one or two actually. I'm just really careful with the rare and limited editions. My wife is not interested in them and she will tell visitors (if I'm not there to tell them) not to touch.

I notice your avatar - how old?
Did you notice mine in the silver frame?
5 weeks old and he's already captured my heart in his hands.
 
she will be 3 months on the 21st of this month: kate elizabeth
yes, i did see the picture and i wondered...
i wish US all the best...
 
That is indeed an impressive collection. How long did it take to put it together?

If you ever want to scan the cover of "TERROR SREET" I could add it to the misc section of the site. I've never been able to get a good image of that (Bill, can you imagine setting and letterpressing that without catching the typo? Ha.).
 
Hi,
Yes, I have made mistakes but nothing quite like this. Once, I misspelled a word in a title. I printed 250 broadsides, and then noticed it. I had to make the change and reprint them all. I put the errors in my archives....

Best,
Bill
 
Been collecting since '89 but seriously in the last ten years or so.
I'm sure my story starts like everyone else's here; I was given a book of 20th Century poetry in which were 4 by Buk. They were the stand outs. I knew little of the tradition of poetry - the desire to learn having been knocked out of me in secondary school. He just immediately appealed to me. So I set about looking for a book store in Melbourne (Australia) that sold books of poetry. I bought a copy of Dangling... and skipped every uni class that day reading and re-reading it.
I then bought everything I could lay my hands on.
After a few years I started to pay attention to the limitation page (I think it was Hot Water Music - 1/1000 where I first noticed it).
Since then I've spent large amounts of $ and energy searching for and buying his works in the rarest and/or best state possible.
When I find (and can afford to buy) a 1/26 or presentation copy, I sell my existing copy so I'm not without the words.
It's a real weakness... I swear if I got a pay rise I would keep everything else as it is and put the money towards this -

http://cgi.ebay.com/BUKOWSKI-Charle...5QQihZ018QQcategoryZ29223QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

No hesitation :eek: :rolleyes: :D
 
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hmmmmmm... maybe some kind of tiny electric fence would be in order?
I wonder what he'll make of all those books and broadsides and whatnot when he's old enough to give a shit.
 
hey, boab, you better watch your little boy with the crayons as he grows...you might wake one morning to find an original bukowski drawing...:D

This is my nightmare. My six year old is probably past that, but my two year old (whom we should have named Destructo) can tear a room apart in a minute flat. Nothing is safe from this kid... but short of boxing everything up, I have no other place to keep my books. I can picture myself walking in to the room to a pile of mutilated Bukowski books and Michael right in the middle of them proudly saying "Look daddy, I did it myself!"
 
As you may be able to tell from the photos, these books are up kinda high at about 5' or so. They are well out of harms way.
But I did have a woman I was leaving rip the last page out of the roominghouse madrigals and scrawl on it "This is what you've done!".

I think the poem is "destroying beauty".

The melodramatic cow - that's the sort of shit I left her for!

:)

... oh it was a softback...12th printing or something.
She wasn't that crazy.
 
I was just looking at the 3rd photo in my 1st post - I wonder why BSP decided to make You Get So Alone the only title with its spine label the other way around???
Tiny things like this drive one to an early grave, no?
 
Yes, it's the small stuff that drives you insane - like a broken shoelace ;)
 
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Are you sure that the book's not resting on it's head?

:eek: I'm foolish enough to spend a large percentage of my income buying these books - but not so foolish as to place them in my case upside down. :D

I'll go with the pissed explanation in liu of anything else.
 
Hi,
My copy of "you get so alone" is bound the right way. It is a FIRST HB SIGNED. Yours is probably a binder's error. I bet that it would be very easy to do this if you are not paying attention.

Is this the lettered or Presentation?

Bill
 
It's a presentation copy.
But I seem to remember my previous HB of this title was also 'upside down'.
Oh well.
 
I have one of the 100 copy edition with the print bound in and it's labeled correctly. Bill's probably right about it being a error in the bindery... it's doubtful that this would be done intentionally.
 
:D
I just watched 'Born Into This' again and when I saw John Martins library I almost had the same reaction.
:eek:
 
Oh that doesn't count! He didn't have to pay for any of those! ;)

Interesting that he still buys the old magazine appearances and whatnot though. Seems like once you start, there is no end.
 
it's not money
but cash will solve it's power
and as my pink hand
clicks a last desperate mouse
in my computer room
they will find me there
and never know
how a man
on my income
could afford
those books

...from Richard Fukowskis' "Young Man Broke In A Room"
 

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