Bookwood

Buy my book, guaranteed to put a smile on your face (and also on mine)!

Robert Williams: Views from a Tortured Libido [Signed].

Floridly SIGNED & briefly INSCRIBED by the artist/author in silver ink on page 4 (b&w photographic page of the artist): "To Mary Jane! Robt. Williams - 12.17.93".

Contains 60 fine full-colour oil paintings, along with various close-up details & b&w line drawings. Patterned pictorial endpapers. Introduction by Dr. Timothy Leary.

Published by Last Gasp, San Francisco, 1993. Apparent first printing, with 1993 on copyright page & no later printing details.

Robert Williams was one of the founders of the infamous Zap comic. "Robert Williams (born 1943) is a painter, cartoonist, and founder of Juxtapoz Art & Culture Magazine. Williams was part of the Zap Collective, along with other underground cartoonists such as Robert Crumb and Gilbert Shelton. His mix of California car culture, cinematic apocalypticism, and film noir helped to create a new genre of psychedelic imagery."

Very slight handling wear, light ghosting of silver ink opposite inscription on facing page, otherwise a very nice clean tight solid softcover copy. 95pp. Scarce signed copy.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=4044741775&searchurl=bsi%3D60%26ds%3D30%26prc%3DUSD%26prh%3D1000%26prl%3D100%26rollup%3Don%26sortby%3D1%26vci%3D55344734&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp2-_-title4

Paul Kelly: How to Make Gravy / The A to Z Recordings [SIGNED BOX SET].

Special Edition. Includes BOTH the autobiography BOOK, plus the 8-CD BOX SET of the recordings, together in SLIPCASE. This copy is SIGNED in full by Paul Kelly in blue marker on his portrait photograph on the front cover of the slipcase box.

The autobiography is illustrated in colour & b&w. Includes answers & extras, discography, plus index of people & bands. The 8-CD box set includes its own bound-in 64-page book, with recording details plus numerous colour & b&w photographs & illustrations.

Published by Hamish Hamilton, Camberwell, Victoria, 2010. First printing of How to Make Gravy, with "1" as the lowest number in print number line on copyright page. Printed in China. Bound in original silver/white printed boards, in publisher's unclipped pictorial dustjacket, housed together with the uniformly-bound CD box set, in original slipcase box with Paul Kelly's photograph to both front & rear. Barely-noticeable tiny closed tear to the rear gutter of dustjacket spine, otherwise a FINE/FINE very nice clean tight solid hardcover copy. 568pp. Heavy set, extra shipping may be required for international customers. RARE SIGNED COPY.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=12761613593&searchurl=bsi%3D90%26ds%3D30%26rollup%3Don%26sortby%3D1%26vci%3D55344734&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp3-_-title9

Allen Ginsberg: Careless Love [Signed].

SIGNED LIMITED NUMBERED EDITION. SIGNED in full by Allen Ginsberg in black ink on blank page opposite copyright page, as called for. Number 232 of 280 copies.

From colophon page: "These two poems were printed for the benefit of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics at Boulder, part of the Naropa Institute. This chapbook is the joyous first piece to be printed at the Old Washington Hotel, Six thirty-six West Washington Avenue, Madison, Wisconsin, new home of the Red Ozier Press. Record-breaking ice, snow & cold helped by keeping us inside & busy making books by hand. There are two hundred and eightly copies in this edition, with ten patron copies. Thanks to Mark Glass; April, 1978".

Contains two poems, "Careless Love, Two Rhymes" + "I Lay My Love on My Knee, & Love Replies". These two poems previously appeared in "Gay Sunshine". Printed on textured paper with deckle edges. Title page printed in black & grey. Unprinted marbled wraps, handsewn with thread. A very nice clean FINE copy with no defects. Unpaginated (7pp text). Rare SIGNED LIMITED EDITION.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

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Me hanging out at the Henry Miller Library in Big Sur, California in 2000.

Bob Denver: Gilligan, Maynard & Me [Signed].

Floridly SIGNED in full & briefly INSCRIBED by Bob Denver in black marker on half-title page: "Hi Peter! Bob Denver - Gilligan".

Illustrated with numerous b&w photographs throughout. Published by Carol Publishing Group, New York, 1993. First printing, with "1" as the lowest number in print number line on copyright page.

From rear cover: "In Gilligan, Maynard & Me, Bob Denver takes us backstage and behind the scenes of Dobie Gillis and Gilligan's Island, two of the most popular shows in television history. Writing in a remarkably friendly and affable style, Denver tells what it was like to be plucked from complete obscurity to portray America's most celebrated beatnik, Maynard G. Krebs, and then to become Gilligan, the world's favorite stranded castaway. Containing hundreds of stories about the cast and crews of Denver's various shows, Gilligan, Maynard & Me also provides a genial insider's view of how Hollywood and television work: the way pilots and series are created; his relationships with Max Schulman of Dobie Gillis and Sherwood Schwartz of Gilligan's Island; the task of casting the skipper, the millionaire (and his wife), the movie star, the professor and Mary Ann; the decisions and antics of studio and network executives which turned out to be far wackier than anything ever staged for a sitcom. A must for all baby boomers and show-biz buffs, Gilligan, Maynard & Me is sure to put a smile on the face of anyone who's ever relished the outrageous antics and self-deprecating slapstick of that television original, Bob Denver".

A Citidel Press Book. Printed in the USA. Bound in publisher's original colour pictorial wraps. Very slight shelfwear, otherwise a very nice clean tight solid softcover copy. 184pp. Scarce signed copy.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

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My book (along with lots of others) is now available at Woodend Bookshop. Go see Ed for a copy. Calder Highway, Hanging Rock exit.

Go get a copy of my book at Dutch Vinyl in Collingwood, as seen on channel Nine TV show Postcards this week.

Woo hoo! My book is now available at Dutch Vinyl in Collingwood. Go see Anna for a copy.

I’m not saying you have to be cool to buy my book, but obviously cool people are buying it, as illustrated by this photo. So if you really wanna be cool, go see Cody at Greville Records in Prahran for a copy!

Here’s me hanging out at Beat Gen haven City Lights Bookstore in San Francisco in 1999.

Here’s me hanging out in a book arcade in Brussels, Belgium, in 2009. The entire arcade was filled with bookshops, selling everything from newish books to antiquarian ephemera. Fun times.

My book is now available at Greville Records in Prahran (a Melbourne cultural hub).

Go see Cody for a copy!

Great to see kids reading so young these days. Even better when they are seen reading my book!

Happy birthday Eli Goodman! If he was still alive, Eli would’ve been 101 today. Eli owned Cosmopolitan Bookshop on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood, California. Considering the way he lived, it’s a miracle he made it to 92.

Skyhooks: Million Dollar Riff - by Jenny Brown [RARE SIGNED COPY].

Floridly SIGNED in full & briefly INSCRIBED by BOTH guitarist Red Symons & vocalist Shirley Strachan from Skyhooks in black marker on inside front cover. Inscriptions as follows: "To whom it may concern - Rocco Simone xx - kisses" + "Love & kisses from Shirley of Skyhooks. xx. 03. 277-1927 MELB: AUST.". Additionally SIGNED & briefly INSCRIBED by author Jenny Brown in black ink below her printed name on title page: "Splendiferously yours, JB".

Classic 1970s-period biography of legendary Australian rock band Skyhooks. Published by Dingo Books, Collingwood, 1975. Illustrated with numerous b&w photographs throughout.

Contents include the ancestry of Skyhooks ('65-'75), intro, sections on each of the band members (Shirley, Bongo, Red, Fred, & Greg), epilogue, plus selection of lyrics (contains the lyrics to nine Skyhooks songs). Cover artwork by Neil Curtis.

NOTE: This copy includes a laid-in SKYHOOKS STICKER from 1978, which is a promotional sticker for Skyhooks fourth studio album, Guilty Until Proven Insane, which was released on Mushroom Records in 1978 (see photographs). The unused sticker (20 x 10cm) has the original backstrip intact (never peeled or mounted).

The book was printed in Australia. Some pages underlined in blue pencil, slight handling wear, light creasing to cover, otherwise a nice clean tight solid softcover copy. 160pp. Scarce title.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

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Did a book presentation yesterday for Probus Club in Keilor East. The topic was my book “And That Was Only the Front Counter: Working in the Used Book Business in Los Angeles”, from which I read portions.

A screen behind me showed images of the mess and mayhem, and an old boombox playing jazz (Lester Young quintet) replicated the atmosphere of the bookshop.

The appreciative audience seemed interested, a few smiling faces, and I even sold some copies of my book. Win-win.

Pictured with Jan Williams, Probus Group Committee (and who happens to be my lovely cousin!).

Early version of the Kindle, take your library with you. I think I prefer this earlier version!

My book seen recently at the Edenhope Antique Shop in the Victorian Wimmera.

Cheech Marin: Chicano Visions - American Painters on the Verge [Signed].

Floridly SIGNED in full by Cheech Marin & dated "2002" in black marker on blank blue verso of ffep. With "Autographed Copy" sticker to front panel of dustjacket.

Numerous full-colour illustrations throughout (96 colour & 3 b&w illustrations). Colour pictorial endpapers. Essays by Max Benavidez, Constance Cortez, Tere Romo. Cheech Marin contributes an introduction, plus commentaries on the plates. Includes biographies of the artists, plus list of plates. A Bulfinch Press book. Published by Little, Brown & Co., Boston, 2002. First North American Edition, stated.

HARDCOVER copy. Printed in Singapore. Bound in original black cloth with orange lettering to front board & spine, in publisher's unclipped pictorial dustjacket. Small unobtrusive abrasions to upper rear panel of dustjacket, mild ripple to book block, otherwise a very nice clean tight solid hardcover copy. 160pp. Scarce signed copy.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

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The Poems of Felicia Hemans: A New Edition - Chronologically Arranged, with Illustrative Notes & a Selection of Contemporary Criticisms (with Fore-Edge Painting).

Fine nineteenth-century binding with original FORE-EDGE PAINTING under the fanned gilt-fore-edge of the book block, depicting a panoramic scene of a castle. Penciled note on ffep states "Fore-edge painting of the Tower of London". See photographs.

Comprehensive posthumous collection of poetry by Felicia Hemans. Published by William Blackwood & Sons, Edinburgh. No date (circa mid-to-late 1800s). A New Edition - Chronologically Arranged, with Illustrative Notes & a Selection of Contemporary Criticisms.

Contains 8 full-page engraved plates, plus engraved extra title page & frontispiece (complete with tissue guard). Ten plates in total. Includes contents list, chronology of Mrs Hemans' life & works, appendix with criticisms on miscellaneous poems, general index, plus index of first lines. Text printed in double column throughout.

"Felicia Dorothea Hemans (1793-1835) was an English poet who owed the immense popularity of her poems to a talent for treating Romantic themes - nature, the picturesque, childhood innocence, travels abroad, liberty, the heroic - with an easy and engaging fluency. Two of her opening lines, The boy stood on the burning deck, and The stately homes of England, have acquired classic status" (both poems appear in this book).

This copy from the library of English politician William Farrer Ecroyd (1827-1915), with his ownership name in black ink to first blank. Thick heavy volume. Printed by William Blackwood & Sons.

FINE BINDING. Bound in full red leather, bright gilt floral/border design to both boards, elaborate gilt design in compartments & gilt lettering to spine, raised bands, gilt turns ins, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Covers slightly soiled & darkened, mild foxing to preliminary pages, former owner's neat ink name to first blank page (as noted), otherwise a VERY GOOD nice clean tight solid leatherbound copy. xi + 652pp. RARE UNIQUE copy with FORE-EDGE PAINTING.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=22825902803&searchurl=sortby%3D1%26vci%3D55344734&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp2-_-title24

Joanne Herman, owner of Edenhope Antiques in western Victoria, with a copy of my book, Easter weekend 2024.

At State Library Victoria last night where I gave a talk to the Book Collectors Society of Australia. The topic was my book, “And That Was Only the Front Counter: Working in the Used Book Business in Los Angeles”. It was interesting in that State Library Victoria, when cataloguing my book, put a warning on it, suggesting it “may be offensive or distressing”. There were librarians from the State Library in attendance last night, and we discussed those fascinating notorious and nefarious bibliophilic subjects such as warning labels, censorship, book banning, and book burning.

…And then there was the time I got a phone call: “We have a house full of books, come and take what you want, make us an offer, don’t make us an offer, we just need somebody to haul away a bunch of books, are you the guy for the job” …I was!

I love it when people send me photos of my book with themselves or their family. Just received this one from somebody in Dade City (Florida) of my book pictured with their baby!

…And then there was the time that a local bookshop was going out of business (in this case Brown & Bunting Bookshop in Northcote), and they said come and box up what you want, we’ll do you a deal, make us an offer…I did.

Charles Bukowski (Illustrated by Robert Crumb): The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship [Signed].

SIGNED LIMITED NUMBERED EDITION. SIGNED by illustrator Robert Crumb ("R. Crumb") in pencil, below serigraph, as called for. Number 373 of 426 copies.

With original colour SERIGRAPH PRINT bound into the front, as issued. The serigraph is a portrait of Bukowski by Crumb. Additionally illustrated with 12 full-page b&w drawings by Robert Crumb.

Published by Black Sparrow Press, Santa Rosa, 1998. From colophon page at rear: "Printed March 1998 in Santa Barbara & Ann Arbor for the Black Sparrow Press by Mackintosh Typography & Edwards Brothers Inc. Text set in Calisto with Korinna display by Words Worth. Design by Barbara Martin. This first edition is published in paper wrappers; there are 1,000 hardcover trade copies; & 426 copies hardbound in boards by Earle Gray each containing an original signed color serigraph portrait of Charles Bukowski by Robert Crumb".

Title page printed in black & blue. Printed on acid-free paper. Bound in publisher's original pictorial boards, backed by red cloth spine with printed paper label, blue endpapers, in clear unprinted mylar dustjacket, as issued. A FINE very nice clean tight solid hardcover copy. 144pp. Scarce signed copy.

Full details on AbeBooks. Click here to buy:

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My book is NOW available in HELL.

If you aren’t in hell (yet), you can order it via AbeBooks.

And That Was Only the Front Counter: Working in the Used Book Business in Los Angeles - by Noel Hart.

SIGNED LIMITED EDITION. Contains over 400 pages crammed with intensity from the trenches of the used book business in Los Angeles. Includes a piece of the bookshop tipped in, which is a portion of a page printed in 1753 from a book sourced from Cosmopolitan Bookshop on Melrose Avenue in Hollywood.

SIGNED by Australian author Noel Hart. Introductory note by Arnold M. Herr. Cover artwork by Rom Anthonis. Published by Bookwood Press, Melbourne, 2023.

See listing on AbeBooks for full details. Click below to buy.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=31447047065&searchurl=bi%3D0%26ds%3D30%26sortby%3D17%26tn%3Dfront%2Bcounter%26an%3Dhart%26vci%3D55344734&cm_sp=snippet-_-srp1-_-title7