Your Rarest Buk Piece (1 Viewer)

Copy #1 of 2 by Bukowski with a full page inscription to Barbara Martin asking her when she's going to do away with John so they can be together. Below the inscription he drew a picture of Barbara pushing a spear through John's back. It protrudes from his chest and has some guts dripping off the tip.

Finally some light is shed on why Martin edited Buk's work the way he did. ;)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
...followed by ROC perhaps...

(I have a nice copy of It Catches myself, but that's hardly worth mentioning)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Last edited by a moderator:
i was watching that end on the ebay countdown thing, waiting for someone to come in at the last second. congrats on the win!
 
Yeah, congrats... a great deal. I was watching it too but, even at this low price I couldn't afford it right now.
 
Hey Jordan;
Congrats on that one. They are far rarer than the limitation would suggest. Many of these were sold to libraries (This was the library edition) and had their collectability ruined. I have said before that reportedly Montfort looked for one of these for well over a decade. It took me nearly that long to find one AT ANY PRICE. I am surprised that Nick did not bid on this one.

I think that it is really worth twice what you paid for it. It is a great book and rare as hell in this condition.

Best,
Bill
 
I do have a line on another copy, although it would cost more money. If anyone is interested, PM me and I'll try to set it up.
 
good to see you posting again, ROC. can we assume that the hardcover trade edition of burning in water is the only hardcover version not mentioned in a BSP colophon (besides unnumbered overruns, like the 1995 NYG)?

i didn't expect to win this one- i put down $225 with 5 seconds left, expecting to get beat by the first guy's proxy bid, and i was shocked that i came away with it.
 
Thanks a heap.
It's been 'interesting' times for me for the last few months.

I think that your assumption re unmentioned versions in colophons is fair - i.e. I really don't have a clue :rolleyes: but I think you are right.

You did really well on that one.
Congrats!
 
good to see you posting again, ROC. can we assume that the hardcover trade edition of burning in water is the only hardcover version not mentioned in a BSP colophon (besides unnumbered overruns, like the 1995 NYG)?

i didn't expect to win this one- i put down $225 with 5 seconds left, expecting to get beat by the first guy's proxy bid, and i was shocked that i came away with it.

I love\hate those kinds of auctions. That's how I won my copy of At Terror Street. I placed a bid of exactly one penny over the asking price of $399.99 and about a week later... I won. I saved between $100 and $150 off what Abe had 'em for, so I was happy, but it was very unexpected.
 
A matchbook from the wedding, imprinted (I think) "Hank & Linda Lee" or something close to that. One match left -- I used the others lighting firecrackers one Fourth of July. Not much that's rare in the book dept. - too many sold off over the years.

Oh yeah, also an original fax from Bukowski. Not many of those around. It's on that strange early fax paper, that was on a roll and torn off after it printed out.
 
Can you scan and post? This is not "My First Fax Poem"? I know that he only sent one poem in to BSP via fax, but he seems to have sent faxes to others? Please provide details.

This would have to have been very close to his death?

Bill
 
[...]It's on that strange early fax paper, that was on a roll and torn off after it printed out.

you'll have to make a scan immediately!

these old fax-papers usually lost their print within weeks! so if you're lucky enough, you can still read it (avoiding sunlight may have helped), you really should do something about the preservation in form of a facsimile.
 
I'm probably not telling you anything you don't already know, but if it's thermal paper (as most old fax paper was) and you scan it, you will ruin it.

Roni - Avoid sunlight but put it in a scanner? :eek:
 
The scanner will not have a terribly negative effect if it is really thermal paper (and David's description doesn't leave much doubt there). Heat is a bigger enemy. Try reading that printout from the gas pump after it's been in a hot car for a few weeks.

I would be surprised if much remains to be preserved, honestly. But if it was mine, I would definitely scan it at a high resolution and try to pull a good printable image from it.

A copy is the only way to preserve it, there is no way to preserve thermal fax paper. It self-destructs.
 
The authentic Buk tee and sweat shirts produced in 1982 by Black Sparrow Press with an original caricature of Buk by R. Crumb. They were available in six different colors. In my 31 years of representing BSP as an independent publishers' representative to the book trade, it's the only time I ever saw a group of genteel booksellers at a book show push and shove one another to get one of these while they lasted.

Last year, before I knew about you good people, I sent my remaining 6 sweat shirts to a young Buk fan couple in Atlanta. He and his gf were blown away as I never told them about it in advance. It was my token for having turned down their many pleas to sell them my copy of HORSEMEAT. I have 3 of those never been worn tee shirts remaining.

Nope, they are not for sale, but maybe for trade! :D
 
I have one of those BSP sweatshirts (blue) and one of the T-shirts too (grey).
The sweatshirt is of good quality, produced by Hanes...
 
speaking of rarest buk pieces... i came across this bad boy today. #1 of 5. it had already been sold; otherwise, i would have tried to buy it somehow.

2910819133_3a3f3edeb6.jpg
 
OK, I'll ring in. I have a few copies, one signed, of "then I gave up and started drinking heavily," published as Pig in a Pamphlet #12. Also, a ridiculously rare copy of Pig in a Poke #3 -- I only printed a few hundred copies and probably a hundred or so got distributed. Three Bukowski poems and two by Ann Menebroker in that one. Finally, I have what I still believe to be an unpublished original manuscript of a Bukowski poem called "confessional," which I apparently rejected when he originally sent it to me.
 
Wow, that's rare stuff indeed! Especially the manuscript!
Do you have a pic of it we could see?
 
Yeah, I've been threatening to post it for a while, but work keeps interfering. Maybe after I'm done writing today I'll scan and post it.
 
Ah, so I need to reproduce it, to preserve it. True. I hadn't even thought about that, how print on that thermal paper just fades away. Maybe I'll photograph it first, then scan it, and print a copy of two for posterity.
 
My rarest Buk piece is probably a copy of cirerita press-less series no. 1, printed in only 20 copies, I think. :D
(with a Buk poem about Rimbaud, which has never been collected, I believe)
 
I've been reluctant to post this, as it is a very sentimental item, treasured away from it's original resting place like the Lindberg baby in the dark of night by a brave soul who is laying low for a few years as the controversy dies away. . .

2953288702_f6fe3b4659_o.jpg


One cup of dirt from De Longpre Ave, from the steps of Bukowski's Bungalow.

I have had it analyzed. Traces of vomit, Michelob Beer, urine, blood, and even cat shit were found.

Bukowski Real Estate. . . in the News.
 
also, FL, there were very few ARC's of Play the Piano Drunk printed. 29, i think. So you're raring it up on 2 fronts: books and dirt. Dirt collectors? What?
 
I'm sort'a new at Ebay. I'm guessing it won't sell. That's kind of my luck?

When it doesn't sell, I'll make a deal with you. And then I can pay rent.

YAY!
 
unfortunately, now is not a good time to sell rare buk stuff on eBay. it's definitely worth $150, if not more (given the condition), but with scott from abandoned planet hammering prices right now with everything he's got, it would be hard to get more than $100 for it, since it isn't signed. this will probably change in a few months, but i'm guessing you're selling it because you need the money now. also, that book will ship to australia in a flat rate envelope (just put it in between 2 pieces of cardboard), which costs $12... it's not that much of a hassle.
 
Good luck on the auction, Father. It seems like a steal to me (although I haven't done any comparison shopping on it). EBay is kind of like God: eBay giveth and eBay taketh away. Lately it's been kind to me but that could change overnight.

Okay, here's a hi resolution scan of that 1993 supposed fax letter from Bukowski to Ed Smith, Editor of SURE. It shows some fading of the typed words at the upper left but really isn't too deteriorated after 15 years. The paper and print looks like early fax to me, but I'm not convinced that's the case. And it seems to have been torn off at the top, as if the paper were feeding into the machine on a roll, as done in old fax machines. Any thoughts?

BukFaxToEdSmith1993.gif
 

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top