40! That’s crazy… Someone didn’t know what they had…
I can imagine if that had gone to auction we(myself and you buckaroo) would have been bidding against each other in the hundreds of dollars, possibly hitting four digits for such a great copy.
Do you have any special storage for things like that, silicone packets to prevent moisture ( pretty sure that’s not a problem in your neck of the woods), sealed bag for protection, maybe even a safe if you have one!
40, fuck those estate sale bargains still exist!!!
Now like the royal family you just need that spare…
Not wanting to bust your bubble but this says price 2.5… wasn’t the original 2???
Beckman said “Wait a minute – I haven’t even paid these guys yet” and asked me what my wholesale price was. I told him that the wholesale price was 50% which made it $1.00 each. He pulled a checkbook out from under the counter, started*
I do store them in Mylar. As for the cover price… that is my one hang up. But I’ll say this about it… I can verify that there are at least 3 different $2.00 cover price versions that exist….a yellow one and a burnt orange one from Agrarian Reform Company, and a yellow one from The Book People. All of them are 1st revised editions, they were made in batches of 5000. Bill told me himself that $2 cover means it’s in the first 3 printings, but there are 3 -$2 cover books not counting the Augur version….??? ….so since this is the only covered Augur copy I’ve ever seen come up for sale… I’m gonna have to go with it until someone proves otherwise. I’ve sent Bill an email for help but have not heard back…. I’m afraid I may be too late… he is over 80 these days….
Yeah that the thing with non ISBN books… Could be one of several versions. But like you said it says augur so could very well be it.
Just a little note of caution… This book caused a sensation on the west coast when it was put out. They couldn’t keep up with demand and several enterprising little sh*ts copied it exactly… As in every way( it’s not just china that does that)
I bought one from a book website in San Francisco and they in the notes on Thier website described everything as you would expect… Colour, font, even that it came from a well known collector who died and he bought it from one of the stores mentioned in that article I quoted earlier… Then I read his autobiography… He was in Afghanistan when the book was being sold. So couldn’t have bought it from that store. Literally the first 500 sold out in days and was being copied within a month by the owner of one of those stores( capitalism eh!).
Big hit= sold out
Sold out= copies
Copies= me paying over the odds for a real 500 first printing
I always take non ISBN books with a pinch of salt now. Too many f*ckers wanting to make a quick buck back in the day… Hope they spent it on some nice bud but still makes collecting now full of peril
In the cover of your augur… It says published simultaneously in Canada etc… First editions were only published at that printers in augar???
Later copy or bravado on Mr drakes part… That along with the price has me doubtful now.
I know that bill had later runs of 5000 then 50,000 printed in Canada because of Thier copyright and glorification of use laws were alot more liberal than the USA at the time…**** I say bill but really anyone with a copies could have them printed****
Wild west back then
Fuck man if it isn’t legit you still payed a great price for a book that was part of the history of the publication… IE so popular it spawned many a copy and we all know emulation is just flattery by another name.
The $2 cover versions say U.S. and Canada too, except the Book People edition, but I know for a fact that they weren’t printed in Canada….a lot of conflicting info about this one….
I’ve been looking for this book since we talked about it some months ago. I bought it 2010 and several moves later mean I don’t know where it is… I’m moving again soon so will go through everything then. It might turn up.
Also remember being furious at the time and I might have sold it… Was smoking a lot of hash back then… Cant really remember what I did with it.
All I remember is it was an of the time copy.
Of what I’ve seen I think there are at least 12 West coast copies and two or three that were made in Ohio and New York. Then possibly many more that were so badly put together that they disintergrated or were rolled up and smoked… Not to mention some that might have been printed in Canada as the copies say…
I don’t think a counterfeiter would change the publishing info, so even if their fakes….like you said, exact copies…. So I think we’re seeing what the original publishing info looked like, but remember the article where Bill said that the Augur had old but smooth running printing equipment? 3 staples vs. 2 ….
[quote=“buckaroobonsai, post:382, topic:81870”]
“ A few staples into the folded spine of the book and it was finished, and then it went into a box.”
[/quote] this ……odd.
I think so many were printed that it’s very hard to say when where or who printed them…
Just buy every copie available then sooner or later to will get it… You won’t know difinitively that you have it but I think even Bill wouldn’t be able to spot an original now
Yes, collecting is a nightmare… but until someone can show me a $2 cover with Augur info…. I’m going with it. There are no images of such a book anywhere online. This book weighs heavy on my mind, someone please help. Lol
Yes it’s very strange… Still the price marking really throws a staple or twenty in the printing press so to speak… Heaven knows if that press is in Canada, NYC or San Francisco!
Still I think that’s the closest I’ve seen to an original 500… But I in my opinion would not say it’s difinitively one.
Unicorns are rare for a reason!
I’m not even sure if one of the 500 still exists… Hippies weren’t known for taking care of things and you can imagine these were thoroughly used in planting fields all up and down the West coast… Maybe there’s one or two somewhere up in Humboldt and the emerald triangle with an original hippy but I think the chances are small it would come to market.
The only information I can find about the publisher is the various names they went under and the only other difference I can find between the various copies is number of pages… If all those match up I would be more confident to say it’s an original… 88 or 96 pages???
I think you might have one of the second prints( after the 500) that were printed in 1000…
If only bill had kept a copy for himself all these questions could be answered and you could say you caught that cupacabra riding a unicorn!!!
……odd.
