Category: Books for Sale

Fall doesn’t announce itself so much as tap you on the shoulder — suddenly the day’s way shorter, night’s are way longer, the mornings smell different…and you’re in the mood to rediscover whatever’s been hiding in your own stacks. Maybe that’s just me. Either way, fall is prime time for finding things worth keeping. Or, time to sell! So here are five items I’d buy if I were you: a mix of photobooks, oddball originals, and a few pieces that land squarely in my sweet spot. Call it a fall harvest, call it a seasonal mood shift — these are the things that stuck to me.

Yukichi Watabe — Stakeout Diary 張り込み日記 (First Japanese Edition, Nanarokusha 2014, Photobook)

In 1958, Yukichi Watabe trailed Tokyo detectives as they hunted a grisly murder suspect, capturing trench-coat silhouettes, rain-slick alleys, and the quiet choreography of postwar policing. First serialized in Japanese magazines, the images vanished for decades until Éditions Xavier Barral’s 2011 book revived them and ignited a cult following. Nanarokusha’s 2014 edition, 張り込み日記, brings the work back to Japan in its most complete form: over 140 images sequenced like a visual noir. For collectors of Japanese photobooks, this is a modern classic—equal parts documentary, cinema, and mid-century mood, standing alongside Tomatsu and Moriyama in importance.

1980s Florida Wrestling Snapshot Album

I’ve always had a soft spot for the kind of pro wrestling I grew up on—pre-Vince, pre-pyro, Sunday-morning regional TV wrestling where the crowd was half the show. Which is why this homemade Jacksonville photo album (ca. 1984) hits me right in the heart. Fifty-seven fan-shot color snapshots mounted in a drugstore album, inscribed to Mike Graham for “pinning Kendo Nagasaki,” it’s pure DIY devotion: blood, sweat, blurred motion, and the energy only a Florida crowd could summon. Dusty Rhodes, Graham, Nagasaki—they’re all here, seen from the seats, not the spotlight. A match made in, well… you know.

Bettie Page Bondage Wrestling Photo

Speaking of soft spots: anything that mixes old-school wrestling energy with mid-century underground culture, and this Bettie Page / Irving Klaw 8×10 hits that sweet spot perfectly. Klaw’s staged wrestling scenes were part theater, part taboo—DIY sets, low-budget grit, and the kind of wink-and-a-nod erotica that defined the 1950s underground. And almost landed Klaw in a heap of trouble. And Bettie? She made every frame unforgettable. While Klaw’s 4×5 contact prints are common, these larger 8×10 enlargements—especially from the 1980s revival—carry a different weight. Bettie locked in a staged struggle, fearless and playful, is a cornerstone image for any pin-up or Klaw collector.

One Big Self: Prisoners of Louisiana (and other terrific photo books from Twelvetrees & Twin Palms!)

Every so often I get a little run of Twin Palms / Twelvetrees books in the shop, and it reminds me why Jack Woody’s publicationsare so amazing. One Big Self is one of the greats—Deborah Luster’s tintype-style portraits of Louisiana prisoners paired with C.D. Wright’s text to create a documentary project that’s as somber as it is humane. Shot large-format, sequenced with care, and printed in that unmistakable Twin Palms way, it has real weight—physically and emotionally. For collectors of contemporary documentary work, this is one of the essential titles from the early 2000s and a standout among recent arrivals that include an ultra-limited Winogrand title, Ginsberg’s amazing PHOTOGRAPHS, Jack Pierson and George Platt Lynes.

IMPERIAL: PHOTOGRAPHS • William T. Vollmann

About twenty-five years ago, when I had a small presence at Tall Stories in the Mission, I’d wander across the hall to the fine folks at Bolerium. It was there I first saw a book inscribed by Anne Rice to Bram Stoker. Wait…what? HUH? Authors inscribing books to their favorite dead writer? Authors inscribing books to their favorite dead poet? Authors inscribing books to their favorite dead musician? Now this is an idea to steal!! So when William T. Vollmann signed this copy of Imperial: Photographs, I asked him to dedicate it to his favorite dead photographer. Cause…Bolerium!

Summer always brings its own rhythm — slower days (no wonder I haven’t blogged in a while — well, that and Covid), shorter nights, and, if you’re lucky, the kind of finds that make the summer of ’25 worth remembering. It might be a little dorky to call this a “heatwave of collecting”… but hey, I’m a dork. So here are five things I’d buy if I were you: rare books, unexpected paperbacks, and a photograph that hit me like a favorite song — a mix of poetry, raw street photography, jazz memoir, and pin-up iconography. Together, they make a strange but fitting portrait of what interests me most lately.

Charles Bukowski — Epos: A Quarterly of Poetry (1962)

I’m gonna call being a Bukowski completist a near-impossible mountain to climb. Owning all the BSP titles an expensive task. But what about making a run for the first 10 chapbooks? Still kinda expensive…but doable I say! Bukowski’s second book, tucked inside a “little” called Epos that came straight outta Crescent City, Florida. Five (or so) years before the beautiful Black Sparrow titles and at the start of what I’ll call “The Cult of Buk,” Charles Bukowski was hustling poems and growing his audience with small journals like this one. As the title says, this special issue featured his poems and drawings. Is this the point he starts pushing past the underground mimeo world?

This copy inscribed in big, bold Buk handwriting from 1969: “Early poems, early screams.” That’s the kind of thing only he could scrawl without irony. He even threw in a quick drawing inside the cover / endpaper, as if to remind you that poetry was just one of the ways he made marks on paper. For a Bukowski collector, I’ll go as far as to say this is a real score — not just because it’s scarce, but with its signature and bold drawing, it carries the whole arc of the title.

Mike Disfarmer — Photographs

Disfarmer was one of those small-town photog kooks who only makes sense in hindsight. He set up his studio on Main Street in Heber Springs, Arkansas, and spent decades shooting portraits of farmers, families, and the local kids with his no-frills, plain-backdrop style. No props, no glamour, no “rules” — just faces staring straight into the camera, caught somewhere between dignity and awkwardness. At the time, nobody thought twice about them. Now? They feel like haunted little snapshots of America’s heartland, unpolished and unforgettable. And if you’re thinking maybe I should jump in a car, road-trip it to Heber Springs, and knock on random doors with a pocketful of cash to see which families are sellers — you’re too late.

The Photographs book from Twin Palms is where a lot of collectors (myself included) first really learned — they fell — for him. BTW I love Twin Palms / Twelvetrees. As with all their titles, the production is second to none: heavy stock, deep black-and-whites, binding that feels like it was built to outlast us. Every page has weight, every portrait space to breathe. For photobook collectors, this one’s deceptively simple but ends up being indispensable — the kind of book you pull down when you want to remember that America was never as simple as you might imagine. Did I mention this title is long out-of-print?

Garry Winogrand — Winogrand Color (Limited Edition, Twin Palms)

Most know Winogrand for his black-and-whites — New York streets, airports, political rallies — where every picture feels like everything in his frame is seconds away from falling apart. Or coming together. But Winogrand Color is something else entirely. Working in Kodachrome (because who doesn’t love Kodachrome!?), he caught the same restless energy — but through a completely different lens. It’s America in full saturation, and like all color work, it hits differently. If his black-and-white images feel like history, his color pictures feel almost like life still in progress.

And then there’s the book itself — another amazing Twin Palms / Twelvetrees production. Here I go again. They didn’t just throw the slides into a binding; they made something special. Heavy pages, big reproductions, and the kind of design that makes you linger. The copy I’m flexing here is one of the slipcased limiteds, and it comes with a tipped-in photograph of Women Walking right on the slipcase. That little detail makes it feel even more alive, as if The Man himself just dropped a print in your hands. For collectors, this isn’t just a photo book — it’s a Big Book, and proof that even in color, Winogrand could bend the world to his eye.

Mezz Mezzrow & Bernard Wolfe — Really the Blues (Dell Paperback)

Mezz Mezzrow wasn’t just a clarinet player — he was a hustler, a self-mythologizer, and a bridge between the jazz underground and the mainstream. In other words, my kinda dude. This memoir, co-written with Bernard Wolfe, reads like one long riff: Harlem rent parties, Louis Armstrong, reefer smoke thick enough to choke, and a life lived half in shadows, half in neon. It’s one of the first real “insider” accounts of jazz culture, written in a hipster slang so authentic it practically swings off the page. Oh yeah Daddy-O!

And then there’s the copy I’m offering — the Dell paperback, complete with its lurid, oversized type screaming “TRUE… SHOCKING.” This is where literature meets pulp, and the combination is irresistible. Collecting paperbacks is on the rise — maybe it’s the price point, maybe it’s the “everything vintage” thang…maybe it’s just the sheer thrill of holding a book that feels like it’s lived a dozen lives before it landed in your hands. For me, it’s about the object itself: cheap paper, wild cover design, the promise of something lurid and forbidden between the covers. Really the Blues is all that and more — a cult jazz memoir hiding inside the skin of dime-store paperback sleaze.

Bettie Page — “Devil Girl” by Bunny Yeager

If Bukowski was the poet of America’s underbelly and Mezzrow was its jazz hustler, then Bettie Page was its grinning, winking id. Nobody has ever mixed innocence and danger quite like her. In this original, silver gelatin Bunny Yeager picture “Devil Girl” shot, Bettie looks like she just stepped out of a pulp comic — horns on her head, tail curling behind her, smile wide enough to let you know she’s in on the joke. It’s camp, it’s kitsch, it’s sex appeal with a wink.

This particular print is one of those pieces that stops you in your tracks, partly because it’s Bettie (always a showstopper), and partly because it’s Yeager at her most imaginative. Developed in the 80’s, stamped on verso, and signed by Bunny Yeager. The composition? Pure mid-century fantasy — playful menace wrapped up in satin and a smile with horns. For pin-up and picture collectors, Bettie is ground zero, and for Bettie collectors, Yeager is the high priestess behind the lens. The “Devil Girl” image hits both marks at once. Call it kitsch, call it art, call it Americana, or an investment — but whatever you call it, this one’s the devil you’ll gladly make a deal with.

It’s been a month of poetic rarities, visual wonders, and all sorts of weird stuff—books and ephemera that blur the line between object and artifact. I’ve been working hard getting my stuff researched, photographed and catalogued.

Here are five standouts that made me pause, marvel, and (maybe) even think, I can’t believe this is still available. But hey, I bought them in the first place…so yea. I’m slightly biased.

1. Yvan Goll & Fernand Léger – Les Cercles Magiques (1951)

A surrealist collaboration between poet Yvan Goll and modernist painter Fernand Léger, this limited edition (one of 750) is a visual and literary gem. How about that cover? It might be my most very favorite thing I’ve listed this year. In fact, it is. Maybe I shouldn’t sell it? Léger’s six illustrations dance alongside Goll’s poetic circles, creating a harmonious interplay of text and image. That cover! Printed in Paris and entirely in French, this is one of those rare pieces that feels like holding an exhibit in your hands. Did I mention that cover?! A must-have for collectors of avant-garde literature and fine press art books. Tu parles français ? Il ne faut jamais juger un livre à sa couverture.

2. Robert Creeley – A Day Book (1972)

This unpaginated, abstract collection of poetry and journal fragments captures Creeley at his most meditative and experimental. Issued by Scribner’s with a cover by pop artist Robert Indiana, A Day Book isn’t just a poetic document—it’s a visual one. It reflects a moment when poetry refused categorization and leaned hard into thought, rhythm, and introspection. For fans of the Black Mountain poets, this one doesn’t show up often in collectible condition. And with the glassine jacket! WOOT.

3. Amphora 8 (1972) – Featuring Bukowski, Norse, and More

I kinda miss going to Hal’s old place on Albion and listening to him complain about his car insurance. And no, he never tried to hit on me. But he did tell me some great stories.

4. Sing Out! Folk Music ‘zines Featuring Woody Guthrie

A lot of early Sing Out! issues featuring contributions and appearances by Woody Guthrie—including his lyrics, columns, and artwork. These magazines weren’t just publications; they were community / communist (?) manifestos. Founded in the aftermath of the Almanac Singers and fueled by the folk revival, Sing Out! was a hub for voices like Pete Seeger, Lead Belly, and of course, Guthrie. Betcha Dylan read them, too.

5. Kenneth Patchen – The Best Hope (1968 Poem-Postcard)

One of Patchen’s evocative poem-paintings reproduced as a postcard and issued by Leslie Tobin Imports in 1968. Hand-lettered in Patchen’s unmistakable style, the text reads: “The best hope is that one of these days the ground will get disgusted enough just to walk away…” A short burst of poetic despair, rendered with quiet grace. I’ve been paying attention to Patchen stuff for years. I haven’t seen many of these Leslie Tobin Poem-Post Cards…ever.

I hate talking about my work. I’d rather let the photos or the ink or the weird little bits of paper do the talking. But if I don’t say something, this book just sits quietly in a drawer in my studio…and that feels worse. So here we go.

I made Confessions of a French Stenographer (A Tracing of a Frazetta Painting) in 2015. It’s a one-of-a-kind artist’s book built from scissors, PVA, my Vandercook 291 OS, and a box of flea market gold. The title comes from a 1920’s dirty little smutty smut-smut book I found on one of my “Sunday Funday” flea market adventures. Probably Long Beach. Or maybe when Fairfax High’s was still decent? Everything else—the collaged pin-ups, found snapshots, bureaucratic ephemera, naughty nudie slides and typewritten drama—is all my work.

I had run across Joseph Cornell’s Manual of Marvels a few years prior. I was amazed. Cornell turned an ordinary book into a masterpiece. His boxes are great, but his Manual of Marvels? It inspired me to create, and isn’t that what great art does? Instead of Cornell’s Victorian whimsy, I opted for something… I dunno. I’d like to say mine’s a little sleazy. Maybe kinda funny. Definitely strange.

It’s a hand-assembled, letterpress-printed one-off that’s been sitting quietly in a drawer in my studio since its completion.

Until now.

They say April showers bring May flowers, but around here they bring collectible oddities, forgotten treasures, and just enough paper dust to keep the allergies guessing. 🌸📚 This month’s lineup spans card tricks with a punchline, Vargas girls in bloom, a long-lost Tim O’Brien title, and a photobook so strange and wonderful it might just stare back.

I’m not flexing. (Okay, I’m flexing.) But when the finds are this special, it feels rude not to show them off. So here ya go—this month’s Top 5 Buys, handpicked by me for you and from the strange and wonderful tide of paper that rolled through my shop in April.

1. Milton Kort – Off-Color Card Tricks (Magic Inc., 1950s)
Proof that magicians can be raunchy too. Kort’s slim booklet isn’t just a sleight-of-hand manual—it’s a time capsule of mid-century American humor, wrapped in card flourishes and innuendo. A little warped, a little worn, and entirely charming. Picked up by a magician with a good sense of timing and humor.

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2. The Vintage Vargas Girls Lot – 1946 Vargas Girls Lot
Twelve stunning pin-up leaves from the 1946 Esquire calendar—sun-bleached just enough to feel authentic, but still saturated with Alberto Vargas’ signature glow. Each page is a mini-masterpiece of postwar idealism, cheesecake style. A batch like this doesn’t last long.

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3. Tim O’Brien – Friends and Enemies (Synaesthesia Press, 2001)
Long thought sold out, I unearthed two copies of this forgotten gem (Okay, I’m flexing) on my move back to Arizona from LA — a collaboration between myself, Mr. Tim O’Brien and Native American artist Fritz Scholder. Signed by O’Brien & Scholder, beautifully printed (Yup, I’m flexing some more), and housed dós-a-dós. This one was gone within a month (flexFLEX)… but sometimes the archive gives back. At the original, 2001 publication price no less!!

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4. The Probe #4 (1994)
Zines like this don’t just walk in every day. Actually, this one didn’t, either. I grabbed it off the rack at the great Eastside Records when it was published in 1994. I’ve held on to it ever since. Anyways, Issue #4 of The Probe delivered interviews with Aja and Christy Canyon, some scrappy punk content, Evan Dorkin weirdness, and a Ken Miller feature—all wrapped in neon comic-book aesthetics.

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5. Boris Mikhailov – Viscidity (PPP Editions, 2022)
I first became aware of Mikailov in 2012 at the reminder bookstore over by the Pompidou in Paris when I picked up a copy of his Case History off the 10€ table. Hands down of the the most unsettling, disturbing photo books I’ve ever come across. I’ve been paying attention to Mikhailov ever since. This Soviet-era self-document is equal parts absurd, grim, and genius. Mikhailov’s autobiographical experiment blends bureaucratic tone with visual chaos in a gorgeous oversized book housed in a cardboard clamshell. Still available—for now—and easily one of the best photobooks I’ve handled this year.

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They say modesty is a virtue, but when you’ve got rare finds as cool as these, tooting your own horn feels more like a public service. 🎺 So, here I am, shamelessly parading 5 gems that any collector worth their weight in dust jackets should know about.

Don’t worry, this isn’t just a sales pitch (okay, maybe it is)—but it’s one you’ll thank me for later. Here’s this month’s 5ivers 📚

• Capture the haunting beauty of the overlooked with this striking gelatin silver print, echoing the raw, intimate style of Diane Arbus, where every shadow tells an interesting story.
• Join the revolution with John Sinclair’s Guitar Army—a high-octane manifesto blending music, politics, and countercultural rebellion, straight from the frontlines of the 1960s underground and still in AS NEW condition.
• Unlock the boozy, bawdy, and bizarre history of the West with these Clampers ECV journals—because no one tells tall tales and history — or places low-ball bids on eBay — quite like a Clamper after a few rounds.
• Own a signed Joel-Peter Witkin Disciple & Master —because nothing says ‘conversation starter’ like beautifully grotesque art that makes you question your mortality (and maybe Witkin’s sanity).
• Signed promo photo of The Orchids to Kim Fowley—because even in the world of cancelled legends, rock ‘n’ roll history doesn’t erase its autographs (just don’t bring him up at dinner…and come to think of it, did anyone actually bring Kim to dinner while he was still alive?).

Common knowledge: The Beat Generation produced some of the most influential, rebellious, and avant-garde literature of the 20th century. More common knowledge: we all know about “The Big Three” — Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Burroughs. (Do we add Gregorio and call it “The Big Four”?)

But what about some of the lesser-known writers and their publications? Here’s three rare and overlooked gems you should add to your collection.

1. Dreams of Straw by Roxie Powell

• Published by Dave Haselwood’s Auerhahn Press (and printed by Haselwood and Charles Plymell), Dreams of Straw encapsulates Powell’s distinctive poetic voice, mixing surrealism, nature, and existential musings. A lesser-known figure within the Beat circle (was he really “beat”?), Powell’s work is a hidden treasure.
• Roxie’s poetry reflects the more experimental side of Beat literature that didn’t gain mainstream recognition. Too experimental, probably. And isn’t “experimental” sometimes a code for “difficult to read”? Which is exactly what these poems are not.
• Mark Faigenbaum is a San Francisco-based artist renowned for his innovative mixed-media assemblages and collages. While I was in grad school in SF in the late-90’s, he put a copy of Dreams of Straw in my hands and told me Roxie was the best poet I had never heard of — a line I steal whenever I first tell someone about Dreams of Straw. I loved Dreams of Straw so much I wrote to Roxie, and eventually we spent an afternoon wandering San Francisco. He told me some terrific stories. Oh, those sugar cubes! A few years later Wild Whispers was published. I’m really proud of that book.

2. The Hotel Wentley Poems by John Wieners

•  First published in 1958, The Hotel Wentley Poems is a raw, emotional collection that documents Wieners’ life as a poet on the fringe of society. The collection focuses on themes of love, loss, and longing, with a lyrical style that’s as haunting as it is beautiful.
• Certainly not as widely recognized as Howl, this collection is considered by many literary insiders to be one of the most important works of its time, showcasing the vulnerable, emotional side of the Beat experience. In other words, Wieners is a “poet’s poet”.
• Wieners’ poetry had a profound influence on the LGBTQ+ literary movement; and along with Ginsberg, Wieners was one of the first Beat poets to openly explore themes of same-sex desire.

3. Howl of the Censor – Edited by J.W. Ehrlich

• This important but often overlooked book documents the 1957 obscenity trial of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl, featuring courtroom transcripts, essays, and commentary. J.W. Ehrlich, Ginsberg’s defense attorney, compiled this essential work to showcase the fight for free speech in literature.
• It’s not just a legal document—it’s a historical record of a defining moment in literary and cultural history. Collectors of Beat ephemera will find this book invaluable for understanding how censorship shaped the movement.
• Ginsberg himself referred to the Howl trial as one of the most important events in his career, as it turned the poem into a symbol of artistic resistance.

Collecting Beat literature is about more than just owning books—it’s about uncovering and discovering the little books and pieces of history that shaped a cultural revolution. While Naked Lunch or On the Road will always “steal the spotlight”, these three hidden gems reveal the diverse, experimental, and often under-appreciated voices of the movement — as well as the real-world legal challenges the Beats faced in a post-war, Eisenhower / John Birch America.

Check out my listings and don’t miss the chance to discover the books that helped shape the underground literary world.