Your Rarest Buk Piece (1 Viewer)

god dayum that man has secksy eyes. if i buy the dirt does he come with it?
Sorry the dirt is not for sale. I could make up some story about keeping it hidden in my anus, but the truth is that too many lives are at stake. I can't let you take that risk with this dirt. It is, after all, Bukowski Real Estate which has been kidnapped.

Look into my eyes, and know I am telling you the truth . . .

Okay to all that.

unfortunately, now is not a good time to sell rare buk stuff on eBay. . . with scott from abandoned planet hammering prices right now with everything he's got . . .
Well, if it doesn't sell, I'll be happy. The only reason I'm selling it is because I have to pay rent. I really haven't chatted it up, because, in my heart of hearts, I'm hoping it won't sell.

Rekrab said:
Good luck on the auction, Father.
Thanks. In a funny way I'm hoping it does go unnoticed, and that I pay the fees for listing it, and it remains safe and content next to the dirt .
 
Okay, here's a hi resolution scan of that 1993 supposed fax letter from Bukowski to Ed Smith, Editor of SURE.
It's an interesting letter! It was very generous of Buk to keep sending poems etc. to the small press publications after he got famous.
Thanks, Rekrab!
 
He was always very generous to the little mags. That's where he started and he never forgot that. Glad you enjoyed the letter. Now, even if it fades away, it's out there in the world in digital form.
 
Hi,
As far as the fax... I think that it was a letter that was mailed to Ed Smith and then Ed faxed it to someone. Bukowski did not seem to have a fax machine in early 1993, as he did not send his first fax (and last) poem to John Martin one year later. I'm guessing that he got the fax machine in early 1994. That being said, he could have gone to Kinkos and faxed it. I just think that it would be strange for him to spend $5 faxing a letter from Kinkos when he could have put a stamp on it.

Maybe someone (cirerita?) can confirm this.

Best,
Bill
 
Bill, that's a very good theory and I'd go along with it except I got the fax from Ed Smith himself, and I think he said Bukowski faxed it to him, although I'm not sure about that. If Ed sent it to me with a letter explaining the circumstances, then I have his letter here somewhere, but the odds of me finding it given the current household chaos are zilch. I can't even locate my own recent manuscripts. Maybe Linda faxed it for him? Being in business, she may have had a fax machine.
 
That is always a good possibility. Having the use of a fax machine would have been a cool luxury to Buk. I can imagine that he would fax things to people out of curiosity. Although fax machines were not new in 1993, people generally did not have them in their houses.

Bill
 
Right. It was a novelty and someone who had a machine would fax items for friends, just to show them how it worked. I remember using very early fax machines in my government job, circa 1983, and they were slow. It would take maybe ten minutes to spit out one page.
 
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.

Hey Jordan

That was me you outbid on that one - I'm still having nightmares about it.

I didn't go any higher as I already had the signed copy - like that should have stopped me!!!

I'm glad it went to a good home ... kind of!
 
here's a pretty cool drawing i have and it comes with a letter. sorry about the bad picture of the letter:

barflys.jpg


barfliesletter.jpg
 
I'm selling a copy of Bukowski first separate appearance, 20 Tanks From Kasseldown. It is a large broadside and was published in 1946.

Are you looking for rare books or reading copies? Someone can surely help you get set up.

Bill
 
None. I have the books so I can read them, not to look at them lying on the shelf. But that's just me :)
But I have an original pressing of the Danish translation of Factotum, "Alt Forefaldende Arbejde". You know the kind where the top of the pages are not cut, so you can't open them - No idea how to describe it otherwise. ..
 
Well, don't get me wrong, mjp, I do kinda get it as I collect records myself. But the thing with collecting rare books, you probably gonna open it once to have a quick glance before you store it somewhere - Be it the shelf or a box up in the attic. But I guess you also buy the paperbacks, too, for the very same reason?
I guess that's why I prefer paperbacks mostly: I'm not gonna spend hundreds of dollars (or kroners!) on a book, so I can spill fluids and sticky food or whatever in the back of a tourbus somewhere :)
 
Nothing too rare but each attained in a memorable way.
War All The Time w/painting
A Buk Sampler (cream wraps) peronalized to me w/a few drawings
poem from Ohio Review signed
An 8x5 signed Tragedy Of The Leaves
Funeral card
 
I would say that the book with a painting is pretty rare!

What is the 8x5 Tragedy of the Leaves? I don;t remember seeing that one...

Bill
 
I've never seen that either. But then I'd never seen all those "rare" chapbooks that were on eBay recently either, so I suppose there are a lot of things out there that people made that we haven't seen.
 
Sorry for the shitty image. My tech skills are non-existent. I did get that from Baroque I think in 1990. Probably a Red "special" like you figured Bill. No way it's a one-off but I haven't seen any others. There's at least an inch of space at the top and bottom that I failed to capture so it's bigger than 8x5.
Adam
 
My rarest pieces:

Dangling w/ painting
Hot Water Music w/ painting
EPOS w/ early inscription
Run With the Hunted (1962)
Not Quite Bernadette (special edition)
1944 Story Magazine w/ signature
Bukowski Photographs 1977-87, Lettered edition

Some of my favorite items are a bunch of letters to the Webbs from the mid and late 60s, though the rarest would be the "I got a hospital braclet of Hank's from 1994.... Not much else to add..." that's been posted on page1 of this thread.
 
David, very cool stuff. May I ask where/when you picked up your copy of Run? That is my favorite work and I hope one day (but not today) to be able to afford one.
Adam
 
Adam, got it on ebay not too long ago, for a very decent price as well. There's one on auction tomorrow, though I guess it would go for around $1,200-1,500+premium. Not a cheap piece, but as mjp mentioned somewhere, it seems even more difficult to find that Flower Fist and the lowest price you find on Abe is $2,200.
 
Roni, got it from a rare book dealer about 3 years ago. Interestingly I got it for a price that today is being asked for unsigned copies although the market has rather gone down than up.
 
Damn! How many of This one SIGNED may be out there?
One? Five?

Unless he got hold of a bigger run in much later years and signed them then. Under these conditions it could sure be a lot more. Still great!
 
Definitely not many, that's for sure. The signature in the copy I have doesn't look old, definitely nowhere near 40s-60s. It's also not dated, like Bukowski often did in the early days (e.g. I have a copy of The Outsider #2, signed and dated in '67), so I guess it must be 70s or 80s. Don't have a scan or photo with me right now, otherwise I'd upload it for the more knowledgeable guys here to analyze.

Talking about Story, Scott Harrison once showed me a copy in outstanding condition that was inscribed to John Martin with the words "For John Martin, who found the the still struggling writer 24 years later". Unfortunately I couldn't afford it at the time, and he's sold it since then. Damn shame that.

Just looked up the conversation I had with Scott Harrison on the 'Story' topic back then. He thinks there's probably 10 or less signed copies and has never come across one that was definitely signed in the 40s or 50s.
 

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