leonardcohenforum.com

There's a hunger for something rare and personal in this age of mechanical mass production but these books aren't inscribed personally, they are signed as coldly en masse as if they had been done by a machine. Had they been inscribed "To my loyal friend Harriet , love, Leonard," and she had turned around and sold it on Ebay, it would be a rejection and a betrayal. An author's feelings would be hurt by something like that. But with this book he is mass producing so many signed copies they may not be worth very much, depnding on how many people hold on to them and how many resell,
I'm sure he's well aware of what he's doing and is cooperating with it to sell books and make a profit. As a landlord, mutual funds investor and long-time commercial artist he is not averse to capitalism. He will not stone you when you're trying to make a buck.

"he is not averse to capitalism"

Lightning with this I will agree.

"He will not stone you when you're trying to make a buck."

No matter how you are trying to make a buck?

Dem

I really cant see the problem with this at all...far as I can tell I dont know Leonard Cohen, he doesnt know me. I buy his signature, I have every right to sell it/ auction it whatever if I want to. Its not rocket science.

Hi Lightning ~

. . . but these books aren't inscribed personally, they are signed as coldly en masse as if they had been done by a machine.

We might want to check with Leonard's wrist, thumb, and fingers before drawing this conclusion .

If that comment were really true, "coldly . . . as if they had been done by a machine," the signatures would not have appeared on the books at all. A decision of this nature is not made coldly by Leonard. His willingness to do it at all speaks to his warmth and caring for those who are interested in his work. He knows most people value [personally!] something being signed by someone they deeply admire. He knows that the majority of his appreciators are not lukewarm in their admiration of him.

Yes ~ It's a given that this is a 'kick start' to Leonard's book sales; however, most of those who bought the signed books would have bought the unsigned books, anyway! So, the response to this was still a measure of the interest in Leonard's book. A first edition still has 'open-market value,' regardless, for the investors.

Leonard has practiced the 'art' of detachment, so this still may be harder on some of us than on him... and, yes, we all have our "rights," Kush ~ I believe that some of us are speaking in the sense of "the spirit of the law" vs. "the letter of the law" here.

Leonard knows his gesture will be exploited ~ and we certainly have proof of that. Do I believe he did it for profit? A solid "NO" on that.

We'll continue to disagree on this. I hope to receive a signed copy, which will remain in my personal collection of Leonard materials until it's released along with the other things, via the reading of my Last Will and Testament ~ and it sure won't be willed to someone likely to relegate it for personal gain on Ebay.

That's probably all I have to say on this for now.


~ Lizzy

Can you put me in the hat for the signed copy at your will and testament time, Lizzy - if I'm still here. Or you could leave a proviso that it's to be raffled with proceeds going to a charity of your choice. Tickets £1/$1/E1.
Limited to 1500 tickets!
Red Poppy

Have just read back over the pages of discussion and, as a european socialist, I'm delighted to see the ideas of Karl Marx and Co are alive and well in the Land of the Free! It warms my heart to find comrades in the home of Mr Bush. "We'll keep the Red Flag flying high........"
Lizzy, come out from under that bed!!!

Well, Red Poppy, I've just finished reading Kolyma Tales and you and your comrades had better stay under the bed...cause it ain't happening here...not if I can help it.


YdF

The moral behind a black-marketer and opportunist is the same whether he buys and resells signed books or vineyards.

Oh, what bull.

First, E-bay is not a black-market. There is no moral conflict behind buying a book and re-selling it for the highest price you can get. It's not war-time and people are not desperately wanting to sell their souls for Book of Longing so they can eat the glue and boil the pages in a pot of hot water and make soup with it. So stop with the sham comparisons.


YdF

Well we all know what happened to the ideas of Karl Marx in the Union of the Soviet Socialist Republic (loooong time since I said that) and in China too (reports suggest there are more Mercedes Benz going around in Shanghai than in New York City). No need to revisit.

And if you really liked the ideas of Karl Marx then you'd be for the little guy - the Ebay seller rather than for the rich poet/popstar (even after losing all that money he's better off than someone selling stuff on Ebay)

Myself I dont know either Leonard Cohen or Harriet Brown from jack but I am in a good mood and its gonna be great day so I wish both of them well in their endeavors to better their lives and make pots of money by utilizing their unique skills and entrepreneural spirit (sic! sic!) to max.

Here's to the rich poets and to the poor Ebay sellers
Here's to the rich investors too
Here's to the rest of us fools
who spend our time talking about them.

(with apologies to Guy Clarke for butchering his song)

I think, Kush, the current state of China is there in the footnote on your page but hey,comrade,I never commented either way on the e bay seller, good or bad, and I've long been preaching that preciousness is dangerous in most contexts.
In the case of the USSR - 1917 began as a Marxist revolution but changed radically (or conservatively) and I would suggest the contemporary approach to Marxism should be (and is) about something far removed from the butchery of Stalin.
But then when Chile tried to incorporate Marxism into the democratic system some of your guts came down on them in much the same way Stalin had done in Russia. Guy Clarke - Leonard Cohen - Victor Jara - all good songwriters but two out of three kept their hands!

PS
Young Dr Freud, I think irony may be lost on you at times!
But hey keep fighting the fight - better dead than Red; gun lobby; guns in the lobby; guns under the bed; guns in the attic; Attica; ultra this and that - eyes in the back of your head; head down; down with this, that and the other; it's difficult when you're sandwiched between two warmongering nations like Canada and Mexico........keep fighting the fight!!!!!

Young dr. Freud:

When the "official" price for an item is about 20$ and
someone is selling it to you for a price starting at 100$
just because you can't find it anymore at the "official" price
it IS black market no matter if he sells it on eBay or
in a dark dirty street.

But as I said before I don't expect a stupid to get the principle
so that was my last message on the topic.

Dem

Red Poppy...yes, I and everyone I know owns a gun. Communists beware. Once I was riding in the car with my Father, Mother and two sisters. My father suddenly called out, "Gun Check!". This was a drill to see how fast my sisters and mother could get their guns out of their purses. There were five of us in the car and there were eight guns. My mother, myself and my sisters each had one and my Father had three. One on him, one in the glove box and two under the seat. I hope this horrifies your little Irish commie soul.


YdF

Dear Dem,

As a communist you obviously have trouble understanding free market principles. Free being the operative word. I am sure in a couple of months when the market has cooled down a bit you will be able to get an autographed copy for much less. (Wait a couple of years and they'll be giving them away). In the meantime, try and pay some taxes. The socialist utopias you admire so much are founded on the backs of the taxpayers. Even in Greece. So do your part.


YdF

Communism reflects humanity's idealism; capitalism reflects humanity's reality.