Cheap copy of At Terror Street...

[Pogue Mahone]

In case anyone is interested in a cheap copy.

Or you could buy it and try to remove the sticker piece by piece. It would make a great thread - one picture a day. High suspense for this crowd.

 

[mjp]

You could remove the sticker, but you'd remove most of the underlying cover with it. Kind of like when you steamed your dad's copy of Yesterday and Today to get to the butcher cover hidden underneath and wound up with a pile of wet cardboard pulp.

That's a great book to have in "readable" condition like that. For twice the starting price of $40. Even though a nice copy sold for only $140 at PBA last week.

 

[roni]

[...] and try to remove the sticker piece by piece.[...] one picture a day. High suspense for this crowd.

yeah, that's a fine idea. If the chances that it is one of 'those' would be better, I'd give it a shoot.

 

[bospress.net]

I wonder what something like Naptha would do to the cover? I know that jordan has messed around with chemicals to remove things glued down.

Bill

 

[roni]

maybe we should hire one of those Japanese painters, who do their job with a one-haired brush on a matchbox. They have the patience.

 

[mjp]

Now that I look at mine, I think someone already tried to get the sticker off. Though I doubt they knew what was under there.

 

[roni]

How about walking through the security at an airport with it, where they x-ray and scan virtually everything layer by layer (and asking them to show you the pics)?

 

[Black Swan]

Anyone bidding on this?

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I am. but if you really want it, I'll bow out. No worries.

 

[bospress.net]

The funny thing is that I, like many of you, would love to be able to remove that white sticker, but even if you were a professional restorer, I doubt that you could do it and not leave even a hint that it was there. There will have to be a bit of fading on the cover that would not be under the label. What makes the 18 copies valuable, in my opinion, is that they were the 1st 18. It seems that removing the sticker would not make the book any more valuable. that being said, I'd probably still try it if I had a cheap copy to mess around with. If you do and screw up the cover, send the book to me and i'll reprint a cover and bind it in boards. It will not look like the original and will not be worth any more than you paid for it, but it will look neat....

Bill

 

[hoochmonkey9]

I'd leave the sticker on and buy a clam shell from some guy in Delaware...

 

[jordan]

i'd love to give it a shot. you'd have to be very careful what solvent you used, because you'd run the risk of bleaching, warping, or coloring the paper. something like naphtha or toluene would probably leave tide lines, because it would clear dirt and oil that had accumulated over time. if you have a beat up copy and just want to see what's underneath, that's probably not a concern. naphtha is pretty toxic, and toluene is VERY toxic, so you'd have to consider that too.

i've always been curious about the glue they used. i doubt it's archival, which means it probably isn't reversible by any standard method. if i had a copy to mess around with, i would wrap the text block in plastic and improvise a jig to hold the text block up in the air so the cover could lay flat against my desk. then i'd apply heptane to the back of the cover and use a iron and a micro spatula to try to coax the label off. i don't think it would work, since heptane tends to work better with adhesives that still have some tack to them (as opposed to glue that dried over 50 years ago), and you'd need so much heptane that it would be almost impossible not to stab through the paper with the spatula. still, it'd be fun to try.

 

[Pogue Mahone]

LET'S DO IT PEOPLE! What I did on my summer vacation...

 

[Black Swan]

It's okay Hooch, go for it.

 

[roni]

I wonder a bit that nobody of the non-hardcore fans around has already asked why we make such a fuss about removing this little piece of paper. Or does everybody in the world know?

 

[skiroomalum]

All eers. Tel us.

 

[hoochmonkey9]

The original cover has a typo. Can't remember exactly, but I think 'terror' was misspelled. Or maybe it was 'agony.'

 

[roni]

it was sreet.

what makes it wanted so much is that there have been made only a few couple of copies till they realized and corrected it.

 

[skiroomalum]

Oh. Hanks!

 

[roni]

All eers. Tel us.

Oh. Hanks!

Now I get yor joke: You knw it all the tim.

sorry, I'M bit sow sometims.

 

[Gary Eisenberg]

The original cover has a typo. Can't remember exactly, but I think 'terror' was misspelled. Or maybe it was 'agony.'

Alas, it wasn't "Terror" - or "Agony" - I know this because I did a little test on my own copy - the old flashlight behind the paper trick - it was "Street" that was misspelled. They left out the "t" in "Street," thus:

I realize how lucky I was to acquire my own copy for the sum of $35. Of course, I did so in the late seventies, when prices weren't as crazy as they now are. I say that I was lucky, because the prior owner didn't mess with the label. My copy is almost like new.

 

[roni]

[...] how lucky I was to acquire my own copy for the sum of $35. [...]

... and yet another fine member of this joint who forces me to hate him.

 

[mjp]

Hit this and scroll down.

 

[roni]

hey that's one with no white label at all! God Dammit!
From whose collection is this? (so I know, where my Sicilian and Romanian freinds have to go next)

 

[mjp]

I think it is ROC's copy.

I may be mistaken, but it belongs to someone around here.

(Yes, it is ROC's.)

 

[Gary Eisenberg]

... and yet another fine member of this joint who forces me to hate him.

Don't feel bad, Roni. At the time I purchased it, that sum of money represented an entire day's work (and then some).

hey that's one with no white label at all! God Dammit!
From whose collection is this? (so I know, where my Sicilian and Romanian freinds have to go next)

Dreams are free, remember that. Besides, it's what's INSIDE that counts.

 

[roni]

[...] it's what's INSIDE that counts.

what's inside, I already have.
in this case it's like having a nice reader's copy of the Gutenberg Bible which you can enjoy and then somebody comes around with an original from 1450.
well, not Quite like that.

 

[Gary Eisenberg]

what's inside, I already have.
in this case it's like having a nice reader's copy of the Gutenberg Bible which you can enjoy and then somebody comes around with an original from 1450.
well, not Quite like that.

Yes, of course, I understand. Bear in mind that I've been at this book collecting thing for almost half a century (although I stopped actively collecting a few years back - due to dwindling funds and no more space). In any event, over the course of decades, along the way - one CAN get lucky now and then. Here are two examples - neither of which involves Buk, although one of them involves a man who might have been his favorite writer. And, unfortunately, although my copy is a signed and inscribed true "first," it is not in the best condition and lacks the dj. The other book is certainly in better condition - much better - but also lacks the dj. In the end, we must learn to appreciate what we have, I suppose. But I have to admit - I would LOVE to have a nicer copy of the Fante. And I could kick myself now, for selling (in one of my scattered cash-hungry moments) my MINT copy of Wait Until Spring Bandini - in a mint DJ. Arrgh!

BTW, I highly recommend this book by Tully. It has a lot of the same type of fire that we find in Fante and Buk. Tully was another Hungry Hollywood Hopeful, although he had quite a circuitous route to Hollywood.

 

[roni]

[...] it is ROC's copy. [...]

good you mention him.
It seems to me he hasn't been around here some time. Is he okay? Or just not such a Buk-nut anymore? (in which case he might be available for a deal on that book.)

 

[mjp]

Yeah, he's been absent for a year. Not sure what's up with him.