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Value of rare book in poor condition - Post Office HB (1 Viewer)

I would'nt spend all that money on such a flawed copy. I would rather wait for a better copy to turn up and pay some more...
 
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Nope, not worth it. For $2500 you can get a MINT copy. This is probably worth $750 MAX. Still, it would not surprise me if this sells at the $1875.

Anyone who buys this for $1875 will probably regret it and will have a hell of a tough time selling it....

Bill
 
Not being a collector, I think copies in poor condition are a wonderful chance to make a bargain for non-collectors.
But they need to be really cheap compared to the good or fine or mint ones. Else there's no use in buying a poor copy. (and this one is worse than poor.)

You know, I'm the first to prefer a 'good' copy against an 'as new'-one, if that makes a difference of 30-40%. But in This case ...
 
Thanks, Bill.

The jump in dinero is that much for a book with art "” i.e.: Post Office? Wish I would have bought it back in the day...with a shitload of other thangs I need. Never had (or created) the opportunity...Damn.

Pax
 
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The times I bought at auction I always bought stuff in real good shape. Because you have a choice. You'll be glad you did when it comes time to sell or trade. But I mostly enjoy the raw version of collecting which has me digging around all over the place. All luck...always cheap. The slow route.
 
I think that if something is a) so rare that it never comes to market, or b) significantly cheaper (like less than half of the typical ebay price of a fine or near fine copy), then it makes sense go after it in that kind of condition.

But neither of those apply to this particular book. For this one, my guess at a fair price would be maybe $500.

And more importantly, as far as collecting, do you include books in this condition?
For me, if it fell into one of those two categories, I might include something in this condition as a placeholder until I could get a better copy. But it would probably drive me crazy because I am OCD about that stuff.
 
$500 max, but this is no where near poor. It's far too good to be poor, or even fair. It's good to very good, which means lousy but not completely trashed. It would make a great cheap copy of a rare book if it were, in fact, cheap -- say $100.
 
that's why i love to walk over the "librerias de viejo" (oldbook store) here in México bukoski is getting attention, but well... we don't have a "rare book" culture, but you might find a good copy or novel for less than a dollar...

Sorry for my english...
 
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I might include something in this condition as a placeholder until I could get a better copy. But it would probably drive me crazy because I am OCD about that stuff.

i'm exactly the same way... i examined each of the 7 copies of crucifix at the book fair (SEVEN), because i'm so anal about finding that book in nice condition. then, i found it in as nice condition as i've ever seen, WITH the band, for $280 and I STILL couldn't buy it because i knew i'd make myself crazy trying to keep it nice while still trying to read it. it's a great book and all, but i think i'm just going to have to pass.

plus, there were other, non-buk books i wanted to spend my money on as well.
 
...I STILL couldn't buy it because i knew i'd make myself crazy trying to keep it nice while still trying to read it.
Well that's the problem with the Loujon books, isn't it. You pull them out once a year to show them to someone, but other than that, they are just shelf candy.

I know people defend them as book art, but I still think they stand in the way of the words. If they were brand new books you could buy for $25 they'd still be a pain in the ass to read.
 
... if I had a copy of the Gutenberg Bible, I'd rarely take it out and would NEVER read it. If I was so inclined, I'd get a copy of it to read and keep the original in the same condition. Of course, we are talking tens of millions for a copy, not $400.

Plus, if I had one, I would display it open and not on the shelf.

In all honesty, if I had one, I'd sell it and retire, but I'm making an argument here...

Bill
 
Well that's the problem with the Loujon books, isn't it. You pull them out once a year to show them to someone, but other than that, they are just shelf candy.

But delicious shelf candy. Funny, I showed one to my neighbor yesterday. I didn't let him touch it. Operative word being, showed.

But then again, I don't let anyone touch the rare bad boys. Maybe that's just me...

Pax
 
My Goodness, what a price!! I'd kill for it but I'd not pay for it!CRB:)

No, I'd pay for it if I had it...It's just easier to kill!;):eek:
 
Post Office does tend to be one of the pricier titles, but this copy is pretty well trashed and not worth the opening bid. I wouldn't pay more than a couple of hundred for it, and then only as a placeholder. Not that I can afford to buy anything right now.
 
Yes, but do you think they'll sell it for that price? It seems to me, from what you guys around here have said in the past, that much of Bukowski's stuff is pulling 'unexpected' $money$. I'm just saying, it seems like it's growing, and growing pretty fast.
And DO NOT GET ME WRONG! I know very little about the real collectible value of Bukowski books, but I know that you do. It just fascinates me that his books are already comanding the collectible value that they are. Smiles-CRB
 
No, I don't think they'll get that price but I suppose anything's possible. Post Office has a couple of things going for it on the collectible side -- the first edition, even including the paperbacks, was a relatively tiny print run and it was also his first novel. It's the book that pulled him out of relative obscurity and into the (somewhat-sorta-kinda) mainstream.
 
Agreed. That's what makes me think they have a shot at getting that price. Do you know how many copies went on the first run? I can't imagine that it was over several thousand??
 
Thanks Boys. Under three-thousand is a pretty small run. I'm not an e-bay watcher so I can only count on those of you more in the loop for this info. If I had any real $$ I would be looking for/buying books such as these, but alas....
well whatever. I still find info such as this incredibly interesting. Every Bukowski Black Sparrow edition that crosses my path- the first thing I do is look at the printing. Before coming here I would never thought it worth my time to check trade editions. Thanks.:)
 
it sure is a statement that Sounds good.
Like some aphorisms by Lichtenberg.
I really really like it for its provocative impact.


But as a statement, I ain't happy with it:
I think, it is somewhat important to know at least a bit about a movement, that has influenced the culture of a whole continent for over 2000 years and other continents for some centuries too.

*end smartass-lecture*
 
Truth be told, I know a lot about the bible. It is very important when you get someone that starts telling you why you are sinning and that you should be born again, to be able to poke holes in their faith. I'm not for bursting any bubbles and let people be what they wat to tbe and believe what they want to believe, but when they knock on my door to tell me that I am leading a defective life and need to live life their way to be whole, all bets are off.

I can usually bring up a couple important things form the bible that makes them realize that it is better to skip my house next time:

A) The adulterous woman and the stoning (add 400 years after the oldest known edition by a scribe or priest)
B) The story of Job (Jobe) (Where God is sadistic and tortures a man that loves him to win a bet (kills his family, plucks out his eyes, etc, etc) )
C) The discrepancies between both gospels that describe Jesus' death (both give VERY different accounts and neither man was even there).
D) Jonah and the whale, which is just plain silly. The belly of a whale is like being wrapped tightly in a blanket of acid, not like it is shown in Pinocchio)
E) Exodus, where there were NO accounts by the Egyptians about any of these people, even though it would have been a VERY historical event which the Egyptians would have recorded. Plus, the Red sea was not even the right body or water. In Hebrew it was the Sea of Reeds, which is not much more than a creek.

</rant>

Best,
Bill
 
Truth be told, I know a lot about the bible. It is very important when you get someone that starts telling you why you are sinning and that you should be born again, to be able to poke holes in their faith.

Back in high school we were about to learn about Marxism and all of us said, "Oh no!", to which the teacher replied, "You gotta learn the ways of the enemy in order to fight him!" - You seem to have grasped that truth too, Bill...:D
 
I should say that I do not hate religious people, at all. My wife is religious, although she does not go to church. My daughter goes on Thursday and sometimes on Sunday most weeks. I do hate religious people that feel that I am defective and to be pitied (and CHANGED) because I do not believe in their favorite deity. It is worse when they feel that they are the majority in a society. In the US, at least, MOST people consider themselves Christian (although I believe that most of these people are non-religious). Because of this, they take it as normal to pray to Jesus before football games and at PTA meetings. If they were in a Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn, they would be horrified to have to sit through a Jewish prayer at a football game as they are used to being the majority. It is the same way that a group of all white people does not seem strange to most white people, but they would feel uncomfortable in a group of mostly black people. I suspect that the black people feel the same way she they see a sea of white faces.

To get back to the off-topic post, religion... Where was I?

Oh yeah. I find it funny that people that believe in jesus, find it so easy to ridicule other religions (as "cults"), which are just as improbable. I mean, really, if you believe that your god was born to a 12 year old virgin, walked on water, raised the dead, is it really your place to make fun of people that believe in other religions that make about as much sense? Me, I think not.

Bill

p.s. Yep, that copy of Post Office on ebay is pretty God Damned shitty...
 
Yet Another Academy

I'll have to pull a Camus here. I cannot accept this award, because I indeed have read the bible. Having grown up Catholic, I had no choice, but the words slid down my throat like poison.

But, now with concious choice, I still do on occasion, but not for the "usual" reasons; no, I do it to know thine opposition's mindset. Thanks, roni, for making my post have context. Bill makes some great points, but here's an example of what I've found that I use as fodder:

2 Kings 19, lines 1-14: "When King Hezek'iah...and spread it before the Lord." Reads word for word as Isiah 37, lines 1-14. So, two books of the old testament, written nearly 2000 years ago by different fallible men, read word for freaking word.

Adherents would cite this as the consistency of the divine word of god. I read it as a pope who forgot to wash his hands after taking a dump and going to edit the latest version of his coffer-liner.

And yes, Bill; I agree. That copy of Post Office is a mess.
 
I find it funny that people that believe in jesus, find it so easy to ridicule other religions (as "cults"), which are just as improbable. I mean, really, if you believe that your god was born to a 12 year old virgin, walked on water, raised the dead, is it really your place to make fun of people that believe in other religions that make about as much sense? Me, I think not.

Right! I've never understood why they think all that sorta stuff is important. All the miracles and supernatural stuff don't have much to do with the core of Jesus teaching (love God, and love your neighbor as yourself).

2 Kings 19, lines 1-14: "When King Hezek'iah...and spread it before the Lord." Reads word for word as Isiah 37, lines 1-14. So, two books of the old testament, written nearly 2000 years ago by different fallible men, read word for freaking word

Really? Somebody must have fucked up along the way...:D
 
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I cannot accept this award, because I indeed have read the bible.
I am afraid that it isn't for you to accept or decline. It has been bestowed upon you, and it is non-returnable.

One day they will auction off your spectacles and rice bowl for more than a million dollars (as just happened with Gandhi's props), and there is nothing you will be able to do about it.

Accept your greatness as a burden if you will, but it is yours to bear.
 
2001 paperbacks
251 signed hardcover
60 signed numbered illustrated hardcover
----
2312 total

- info from Krumhansl's biblio

This is what I never liked of Black Sparrow Press first (Bukowski) editons:

Why not, let's say...500 unsigned hardcovers?
Then they still give you the opportunity to purchase
a beautiful book.

250 signed hardcovers, allright.

First edition. 2000 paperbacks, good material, blanc page,
not too expensive.

60 signed numbered illustrated hardcovers, ok, for the collectors.
Fair enough. What was the original price of these?

City Lights printed 1000 hardcovers of "Portions", right?
That's the way to do it. Sure....they can't or they don't want
to compete with the hardcover quality of the BSP books.

For instance: James Broughton - Packing up for Paradise
black sparrow hardcover.
I can't find a good picture of it but I find the book cover just beautiful.
 
BSP didn't issue any hardcover trade editions of Bukowski's titles until Burning in Water... and I would guess that the market for Bukowski at the time didn't warrant the expense of putting out a lot of hardcovers. When Bukowski did a booksigning in '86, the store ordered most of his available titles in hardcover to sell. BSP sent first printings of many of the titles, some of which had been issued 3-5 years earlier. I guess that hardcovers weren't big sellers for them at the time.

The paperback was $4.00, signed & numbered was $15.00 and the copies with paintings were $25.00.
 
Ah, right. Loud and clear.
Thank you, chronic.

I thought that BSP was trying to
focus on the rich...
 
Maybe someone obsessive and weird enough will distill the production numbers listed in Krumhansl down into an easy to read list so we can see how the production changed over the years. I nominate someone else to do it, but I'll probably do it myself tomorrow when I'm not so full of "lemonade"...
 

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