The Captain is Out To Lunch....missing pages! (1 Viewer)

zoom man

zoom man

Founding member
I've got the 1st paperback edition of this book, and was so upset reading it because toward the end, entire pages were blank! Is this just a 1st edition thing? Can someone e-mail me the missing pages!? :D I am serious, I've never known how the story ended! Maybe this is a super valuable copy :rolleyes: But I want to know what happens!
(Pages that are blank->118, 119, 122, 123, 126, 127, 130, 131, 134, 135, 136, 138, cripes 139, 142 and 143! Christ, I'm even more upset now!:)
 
Hmm, I'll have to check mine. But I was a printer for 15 years, and I can tell you that it's possible to have bindery errors like that in only a few copies.

Interesting note about that book -- all of those journal entries first appeared as special sections spread over a few years of ONTHEBUS magazine. When they first appeared I wrote editor Jack Grapes and asked him if it was his idea to have Bukowski write those. He said that it was indeed his idea.

Recently I read somewhere that John Martin was taking credit for the Bukowski journal entries that became The Captain Is Out To Lunch..., which is a pretty ballsy (and lame) move on his part.
 
I always assumed it was John Martin's idea because that's what I read in different places... though I never asked him about that.
 
zoom man said:
I've got the 1st paperback edition of this book, and was so upset reading it because toward the end, entire pages were blank! Is this just a 1st edition thing?
Click to expand...

Yeah I think so. I have the 2nd paperback edition and none of those pages are blank.
 
zoom man said:
I've got the 1st paperback edition of this book, and was so upset reading it because toward the end, entire pages were blank! (Pages that are blank->118, 119, 122, 123, 126, 127, 130, 131, 134, 135, 136, 138, cripes 139, 142 and 143! Christ, I'm even more upset now!:)
Click to expand...

Greetings Zoom,


I have a perfect solution for you: sell it on e-bay as an authenticated rarity and ask a few thousand dollars for it. Mis-printed stamps are considered a rarity (20 cent airmail with reversed airplane on it is over $2 mil). You never know who might think the same about books. I know this seems like a dumb idea, but Buk never went broke underestimating the American consumer (or something like that). I'd loan you my ecco version, but the postage to NY would cost more than a used copy (bought mine for $8.50).

Good luck and good night,

SamDusky
 
SamDusky said:
I know this seems like a dumb idea, but Buk never went broke underestimating the American consumer (or something like that).
Click to expand...
That doesn't sound dumb to me Sam! But damn, too late, it's already part of the lot, but I think I will revise it! Thanks
ERic
 
HenryChinaski said:
a hundred dollars shipping for 5 books?
eric, what planet are you living on?
Click to expand...


It was a joke (because I said there is no reserve) and that's why I typed LOL afterwards.... If you look at the shipping description it says $15 which includes priority mail, delivery confirmation and insurance.
If people really think I was charging 100 bucks :eek: they don't deserve the books anyway!:D
Eric
 
I was gettin ready to say...
I mean, I didnt look at any of the auctions except for the It Catches My Heart In It's Hands
looks like you got a really nice copy there.
 
I finally checked mine and it's all there. You have a bindery error. It was an oversight at the printers, and yeah, for some reason that I can't wrap my brain around, people are fascinated by those, and when it comes to things like stamps or baseball cards, they pay a premium for them. Go figure. All it means to me is someone wasn't paying attention in the shop that day. ;)
 
WOW in one sense, I'd feel ripped off but in another sense, it could be a blessing in disguise. You might find somebody to pay an arm and a leg for it, I'd keep it though.
 
Shit! What do I do?! :confused: Revise the item (and hope the bidders see it) or yank it... I'd have to find a first paperback printing quick! It is part of a lot of 5 firsts that ends in 3 days. I only have one other 1st paperback that I could replace it with (Roominghouse Madrigals, which to the bidder, would be even more enticing....) but I'm not sure that's allowed. Anyone know much about e-bay?
I kind of understand $ being printed upside down/etc. being worth more (but jesus, what was it? $30,000 paid for just such a 20 dollar bill!!), and stamps too, but books?! God, who would want one you can't read? I guess the collectors who collect the highest end, where if you open the damned thing it loses some value LOL Ok guys, thanks for the info, but I need more help now. What the hell do I do?!
 
All 3 of my lots of 1sts have bids! (1 buyer in France, another London!)

But oh I got lucky, just got off the phone with a used book seller in the city here... he's got a 1st soft for $12.50....

Thinking about listing this copy alone now, with a buy it now at some astonishing price.... but then watch me get to the city tomorrow, only to buy a similar copy! Ah, maybe take the chance... Thanks!:)
 
mjp said:
I finally checked mine and it's all there. You have a bindery error. It was an oversight at the printers, and yeah, for some reason that I can't wrap my brain around, people are fascinated by those, and when it comes to things like stamps or baseball cards, they pay a premium for them. Go figure. All it means to me is someone wasn't paying attention in the shop that day. ;)
Click to expand...

Hey mjp, and Sam, can I quote you guys when I re-list my The Captain Is Out.....
(my people will talk to your people, LOL)
Can't wait to get a hold of the copy tomorrow....
 
Well, it didn't sell,...
My opening price was $49.95
Would have been happy with that.
I did have 4 'watchers' so thought maybe those e-bay snipers might emerge in the end, really got kind of excited about it actually,
But no go, it's still mine
 
That doesn't mean it wouldn't sell next month or next week. ;) Always new eyes on ebay. And even people who are on there very often miss a week here and there...
 
Damn, you're right!
It just sold :D
And of course it couldn't be a nice easy shipping w/i the states....
My buyer is in AUSTRALIA :eek:
 
No, I had the opening at $49.99
And just the one bid
But I'm totally happy......
Shouldn't say that though till I get paid :D
 
So I finished "Notes...", "Post Office" and hammered through "The Most Beautiful Woman in Town"- which was incredible. The man may be the greatest short story writer since Ring Lardner, at least as unjustly underrated as Mr. Lardner. Each of those stories was such a gem that I would read one and put the book away as long as I could, go for days, perhaps rereading old ones because each one was just so incredibly good that I darent waste them, we all know that he's not writing anymore of them. My favorite was "The Gut Wringing Machine" which seemed eerily therapeutic and would make me feel better going to my shit job Night after Night.
So I go to the store and pick up another bunch of Buk to gobble up (Barfly- because it was cheap, "Drowning..." and "The Captain...". And it's the latter which I'm writing about. It's such a weird item and I wanted to check it out with you guys. From what I got from this post was that it's not a short story or a failed novel but a collection of actual journal entries that had appeared in a magazine Onthebus.

Though this seems strange, never figured Buk would keep a journal, has anyone been able to find any of his journals on the auction block or in the University catalogues?

So what's left to be asked is:
-Is a posthumous collection? Did Buk compile the mss.?
-Are these all the entries from the mag?
-Were the Crumb drawings part of the mag? or did he add them in for the publication of the book?
-John Martin taking credit for collecting them?

Though I'm sure it wont affect my enjoyment of the book, it would be nice to know the details about this strange artifact, if anyone can elaborate some more on it, that would be helpful, thanks.
 
Paul Sempschi said:
-Is a posthumous collection? Did Buk compile the mss.?
Click to expand...
Yes it is posthumous in its Black Sparrow edition. It came out in installments in ONTHEBUS, the first one or two when he was still alive, the remainder posthumously.

-Are these all the entries from the mag?
Click to expand...
Yes. But I seem to recall someone saying that the Black Sparrow edition was edited down - that not all the magazine entries made it into the book (or that some may have been added that were not in the magazine - I don't recall exactly). Maybe someone else can confirm that. I have all the ONTHEBUS issues that the journal appeared in, but they are packed away at the moment.

-Were the Crumb drawings part of the mag? or did he add them in for the publication of the book?
Click to expand...
No. When the entries appeared in ONTHEBUS they were illustrated with Bukowski's own drawings.

-John Martin taking credit for collecting them?
Click to expand...
Well, of course. John Martin also invented the wheel and discovered fire. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

However, when the journal entries first appeared in ONTHEBUS I wrote editor Jack Grapes to ask him if they were his idea, or whether Bukowski pitched it to him. Grapes said it was his idea to have Bukowski keep the journal, and that there were many more installments to come. I believe they span 8 to 10 issues, which were published over a period of more than 10 years (that mag, like many literary mags, isn't published very frequently).

I haven't seen anything in a similar journal form prior to the entries in ONTHEBUS. But if there were previous journals, cirerita would know.
 
I would love to see Buk's original journal drawings. Have they been reprinted anywhere else?
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Not that I know of. But it was pretty typical stuff as I recall. The same kind of doodles you've seen a million times.
 

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