Thoughts on Editions and Editors

[mjp]

I think I have a copy of the MSS that B. sent to the Webbs...Jon changed quite a few things in B.'s poems AND letters...

Yes he did. And he left behind evidence.

You can also compare different versions of Bukowski's manuscripts to see his own changes.

The only editing paper trail that would seem to be unavailable is BSP's.

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

kaakaa and other immolations also appeared in The Outsider, volume 2, number 4/5 (1969) and in The Days Run Like Wild Horses Over the Hills. No changes that I can see.

Of course, Jon Webb might have made changes to the manuscript that Bukowski sent. But whoever put Days together (Bukowski thanks Sanford Dorbin for helping in the selection of the poems) must have trusted the decisions of the original editor.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

The Days Run Like Wild Horses Over the Hills was before Jon Martin, correct.

 

[Digney in Burnaby]

Days is a Black Sparrow Press book, so that's Martin, right?

 

[Gerard K H Love]

I thought it was pre Black Sparrow Press. It was-according to our wonderful timeline- published Dec 1969 one year before Martin got him to quit the US Postal service. J. Martin did do a broadside for him in 1966. These guys will clear this up. I like that collection of poems it has one of his best titles.

 

[marina del rey]

Days was published by BSP in 1969.

 

[cirerita]

Days was published by BSP in 1969 but it was entirely edited by Dorbin. According to him, the poems were copied from the magazines verbatim... but a few poems seem to indicate otherwise (see "I Think of Ships...")

The only editing paper trail that would seem to be unavailable is BSP's.

The BSP archives are available here and there, but not at the usual places with an important Bukowski collection.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

Days was published by BSP in 1969.

Thank you.

Days was published by BSP in 1969 but it was entirely edited by Dorbin. According to him, the poems were copied from the magazines verbatim... but a few poems seem to indicate otherwise (see "I Think of Ships...")

Thanks, I'll look at that poem, but I have only the book to go by.

 

[bospress.net]

Yes, BSP started publishing Buk in 1966 and starting as was his major publisher starting in 1968 with Terror Street, but it was not until Post Office that Bukowski was a professional writer without any other means of support (except for readings and the track....)

Bill

 

[planahea]

In 1971 Seamus Cooney compiled and had published by BSP A Checklist of the First One Hundred Publications of The Black Sparrow Press. Imagine a small fledgling press with 100 publications in its first five years (1966-1971). An amazing feat! Yes, it did include the publication of Days... among many other Bukowski works during that five year period. John Martin, the founder of BSP, is a publishing genius among independent publishers which many have attempted to emulate, but none have succeeded. Imagine again, a highly profitable American publishing house publishing almost exclusively avant-garde literature. Again, an amazing feat!

Johns' detractors are many, his peers are few if any.

 

[Hosh]

I have absolutely nothing to offer the exchange save this:

I have never read the SECOND COMING version of the poem until just now...& it might be my favorite Buk poem of all time. I liked (& had noted) the 2 different book editions, wasn't sure why changes were made...but this "original" (or at least earliest) version TORCHES the latter 2...& I agree that the changes are weak...so whoever made them--be it Buk or JM or whoever...bad form. They should've left every blistering word untouched.

 

[mjp]

...but this "original" (or at least earliest) version TORCHES the latter 2...& I agree that the changes are weak...so whoever made them--be it Buk or JM or whoever...bad form. They should've left every blistering word untouched.

+1 on that.

 

[cirerita]

The Love Is a Dog from Hell version is not that bad. In fact, I do like the positive ending.

 

[Hosh]

I agree, cirerita--like I said, I liked the first 2 versions I'd read...until I read the Second Coming Version. Man...that is just a BEAST of a great poem.

 

[informal]

Is this hard cover still for sale? Where can I buy it?

 

[LickTheStar]

Looks like City Lights still has the hardcover listed here:

http://www.citylights.com/book/?GCOI=87286100856720

Should still be available.