The Genius of the Crowd (1966 7 Flowers Press) (1 Viewer)

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zoom man

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Does anyone here have this?,
Or has ever seen it?
(The original, I mean).
Don't know why it's on my brain lately....
I know it's been recollected
(Buk Sampler, Run with the Hunted, and Roominghouse Madrigals).
Ive got him reading it in 70 minutes from Hell (?!) I think,
Or the other, newer CD I was given....
Beau-tiful!
But Man, I would love to own the original.
Here I go again with my 1996 Thomas Dorn Buk catalog

($1,950.00) back then...
"1-103 copies printed, yet all but 40 copies were confiscated and destroyed by the Cleveland police who deemed it obscene. Levy (along with Jim Lowell, the other publisher) had been hounded by the police who suspected him of drug dealing and publishing obscene poetry. The raid and closing of the Asphodel Book Shop netted no drugs.
The ultimate irony is that the poem itself powerfully summons us to beware of the "treachry, hatred (and) violence" of "the average human being" of the false prophets and self-appointed arbiters of what is just, good, and beautiful. There is, of course, absolutely not a hint of obscenity in this poem and it is, in my opinion, one of his greatest."

I too, think this is one of his most-felt poems, and one that will stand the test of time, one that will forever resonate.............
 
HI,
If anyone out there has a copy of this, I would like to buy one. The price of $1950 was probably low, even then. There really were only about 40 copies that survived the Cleveland Gestapo's willful destruction of most of the edition. It is an amazing poem and quite difficult to find. Again... I'm looking for a copy....
 
Finch catalog lists it for 2000 sterling pounds!

I know someone in this forum who has a copy... but I'll let him do the talking. I doubt he'll part with it, though.
 
I have a copy but cirerita is correct that I will not part with it. In addition to it being one of Bukowski's best poems, it is a printing nightmare and a dark souvenir of my hometown, lovely Cleveland, OH. Some of the leaves are actually envelopes folded in half. The envelope flaps were sealed and the printing was done on the verso, scored and then bound. The prints by Paula Savarino are excellent. So very cheaply made, though. According to the colophon, 103 copies were made and that's a low number even without the confiscation by Cleveland's finest!
 
Hi nymark,
I thought that you were the one with that book! Yes, Cleveland is a great town. We spent a weekend there at last year's levyfest. Met great people and walked around the abandoned streets of Cleveland. They had a great d.a. levy exhibit, but no copies of Genius of the Crowd there.... 7 flowers did use whatever was at hand, often donated by friends who had connections. d.a. levy was painfully poor and subsisted by the graces of friends like Kent Tylor, Russell Salamon, Tom Kryss, rjs, Jim Lowell, etc...

Someday, I'll hold a copy of that book! Someday!
 
Douglas Blazek's copy was sold on eBay a few years ago, though I don't remember what the closing price was.

By the way, nymark - is the version of the poem the same as the version in the Black Sparrow collections, or were there revisions?
 
Between the original and the version in ROOMINGHOUSE, there are two different line breaks towards the end. Otherwise, it is reprinted verbatim, including the CAPS and Initial Caps. One does not mess with perfection.
 
i remember reading that poem in a book or a few differnt books and then listening to bukowski read it and i may be crazy but I think he adds an extra stanza at the end.
 
That would be interesting, if he thought he had something to improve it...

There are two "takes" on the Uncensored CD as well. I don't have time right now to compare them, but if anyone else does, let us know. The CD is still in print so I don't want to upload the tracks.
ir


If you've never heard Uncensored it's very good, with a lot of conversation between the poems. It's not a performance in public, rather it was done at Bukowski's home, if I'm remembering correctly. Like the earlier recordings.
 
Uncensored is EXCELLENT. This is (in my opinion) the best BUK spoken word item available. The reason it is so good is the outtakes, conversations between the poems, wanting Linda to leave the room so he can read a 'sweet' poem about her, it provides another side to Buk you don't often hear/see. When he struggles with certain words, it's classic, funny and very human. Well worth the 13, 15, 20 or more bucks you must spend to get it....
 
bospress.net said:
If anyone out there has a copy of this, I would like to buy one. The price of $1950 was probably low, even then. There really were only about 40 copies that survived the Cleveland Gestapo's willful destruction of most of the edition. It is an amazing poem and quite difficult to find. Again... I'm looking for a copy....
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, I sold my father's mint copy of Genius to Scott Harrison about a year and a half ago. What can I say? I needed the money.
 
Christa,

I understand completely. I've sold many rare Bukowski books because we needed the grocery money. My poor long-suffering wife is tired of hearing about these. She calls them the "coulda-woulda-shouldas" and says "don't go there!" One book I miss big time is the Loujon Press IT CATCHES MY HEART IN ITS HANDS, as well as issues of their OUTSIDER magazine. God, those were beautiful books. I feel your pain.
 
A copy was on ABE two days ago for $2,100 out of Germany. I tried to buy it but was too late. I think someone on here might have gotten it. A PBA auction from 2011 had it at $4,800. There are probably less than 20 in the world outside of institutions.
 
Rekrab said:
I've sold many rare Bukowski books because we needed the grocery money. One book I miss big time is the Loujon Press IT CATCHES MY HEART IN ITS HANDS, as well as issues of their OUTSIDER magazine. God, those were beautiful books. I feel your pain.
Click to expand...
I've done the same. My complete set of Outsider is gone. Also my copy of IT CATCHES MY HEART IN ITS HANDS. And dozens more. But life goes on. And we can always acquire reprints.
 
I've come to the conclusion that most professional book sellers are just like mattress salesmen. Overflowing with bullshit and trying to sell you a $300 product for $1500.
 
I saw that this morning. That price is obviously absurd. I'd pay (if I had the cash on hand) $3000. It'd be interesting to see where an auction on eBay would end up if it started at $..01. My guess would be somewhere between $2-3k. I bet Heat Wave, all things being equal, would bring more.
 
That copy of Genius is no longer available. I have my theories.

1) a book dealer offered and paid less and it will show up again at a different stall.
2) The book was pulled and will be relisted.
3) the dealer marked it as sold so that it will show up with a history of selling for $10k, so that when they offer it again at $7k, it will be a steal...
4) someone with more dollars than sense paid $10k for this.
 
Someone is trying to sell a copy for $7,500, according to my email, anyway. When I mentioned that he was more likely to get $3,000, he said, "I've already been offered $6,000."
 
tragically, just as he was going to accept the offer, his wife woke him up and told him he was late for work...
 
I said, "You should take the $6,000. It would probably be the highest price ever paid for that." He responded that he "knows of one that sold last year for $8,500."

Anyone heard anything like that?

The problem with these kinds of things is someone asks a ridiculous price for something somewhere, and people see that, and in their minds that's what the thing "goes for." When in reality it never went. Like Bill's possibility #3 above.

I've seen that happen with more things than I can count, not just books, and the funny thing is, it's almost impossible to drive that inflated price down. Things can sit unsold for years but people won't budge off that unrealistic price.
 
I had the same correspondence with him (must be the same whaler). Put that shit on eBay and let it ride. I doubt he got that offer of 6k, I really do.
 
although this would be really random, but I was hoping if I can get more information on the book because I'm doing a literary review for the poem, and I couldn't find much information about the book.
 

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