{"id":8649,"date":"2025-03-06T21:33:03","date_gmt":"2025-03-07T05:33:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-first-edition\/"},"modified":"2025-03-07T21:13:01","modified_gmt":"2025-03-08T05:13:01","slug":"the-basketball-diaries-first-edition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-first-edition\/","title":{"rendered":"The Basketball Diaries (First Edition)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Jim<\/a><\/figure>
\n

The Basketball Diaries: 1963-1966<\/em><\/strong>
First Edition<\/strong>
By:<\/strong> Jim Carroll
<\/em>Published:<\/strong> 1978
Publisher:<\/strong> Tombouctou Press (Bolinas, CA)
Format:<\/strong> Paperback
Cover photograph:<\/strong> Rosemary Klemfuss<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The first edition of The Basketball Diaries<\/em>, the only one (from what booksellers tell me) that has any value as a collectors’ item, has a number of distinctive characteristics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First, the cover photograph, by Rosemary Klemfuss (aka Rosemary Carroll), is in black and white with silver lettering. The back cover offers blurbs by William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Patti Smith, and Rolling Stone<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second, this edition is the only one which contains the sculpture-images by Marc Blane (aka “Mark Clutcher” in the diaries) on the title page and at the beginning of each section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Third, this edition includes a preface by Tom Clark entitled “Rimbaud Rambles On: By Way of a Preface to The Diaries.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fourth, in the text, numbers are written as numbers rather than spelled out: “The Biddy League is for anyone 12 yrs. old or under. I’m actually 13 but my coach. . . .”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifth, this edition includes an author’s note that reads:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Just to clear a few matters up pertaining to these
diaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was 12 yrs. old when I began writing it down, it
continued until I was 15 nearing 16.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Did it all really happen to you?” I get that one put
to me often. Well . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To answer that simply, they are as much fiction
as biography. They were as much made up as
they were lived out. It all happened. None of it
happened. It was me. Now it’s you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Nothing is true; Everything is permitted”
Hassan Sabah<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

See Also<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Basketball Diaries page<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Basketball Diaries: 1963-1966First EditionBy: Jim CarrollPublished: 1978Publisher: Tombouctou Press (Bolinas, CA)Format: PaperbackCover photograph: Rosemary Klemfuss The first edition of The Basketball Diaries, the only one (from what booksellers tell me) that has any value as a collectors’ item, has a number of distinctive characteristics. First, the cover photograph, by Rosemary Klemfuss (aka Rosemary Carroll), is … Continue reading The Basketball Diaries (First Edition)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":576,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"folder":[],"class_list":["post-8649","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P9VlUH-2fv","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":576,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/","url_meta":{"origin":8649,"position":0},"title":"The Basketball Diaries: Editions","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"August 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Carroll wrote his autobiographical tales of \"growing up hip\" on New York's mean streets\" between the ages of 12 and 16, from 1962 to 1966. Carroll earned a scholarship to a posh private school (see\u00a0Trinity Yearbook page) and spent his time playing basketball, stealing, hustling gay men to support his\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd1cov.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4003,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/","url_meta":{"origin":8649,"position":1},"title":"Diaries and Fiction by Jim Carroll","author":"catholicboy.com","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Petting Zoo: A NovelPublished:\u00a0November 8, 2010By:\u00a0Jim CarrollPublisher:\u00a0VikingCarroll was putting the finishing touches on his first novel,\u00a0The Petting Zoo, when he passed away in 2009. Protagonist Billy Wolfram, a hot young artist in late 1980s NYC, suffers a psychological and spiritual breakdown while viewing the Met's Velasquez retrospective and desperately\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/PettingZooLarge.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8651,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-bantam-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":8649,"position":2},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (Bantam Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basketball DiariesSecond EditionBy: Jim CarrollPublished: 1980Publisher: BantamFormat: PaperbackCover photograph: Michael Zagaris The Bantam edition was released alongside the Jim Carroll Band's first album,\u00a0Catholic Boy, and features a cover blurb by Frank Zappa. The jacket photo is from the same photo session as the cover photos on the\u00a01998 edition\u00a0and\u00a0audiobook\u00a0of\u00a0The Basketball\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd_bantam.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8653,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-1987-penguin-edition\/","url_meta":{"origin":8649,"position":3},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (1987 Penguin Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basketball DiariesThird EditionBy: Jim CarrollRepublished: 1987Publisher: PenguinFormat: PaperbackCover photograph: Rosemary CarrollCover design:\u00a0Melissa JacobyHand-coloring:\u00a0Neil Stuart The Penguin (third) edition of\u00a0The Basketball Diaries\u00a0uses Rosemary Klemfuss\/Carroll's photograph of Carroll--the same photograph used for the first edition--but the art direction is different and the photo background is \"colorized.\" It has no blurbs. See\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd3cov.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":8694,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/translations-foreign-editions\/basketball-diaries-japanese\/","url_meta":{"origin":8649,"position":4},"title":"Basketball Diaries Japanese","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"March 6, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Japanese Translation of The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll Japanese translation of\u00a0The Basketball DiariesShobun-sha (Tokyo), 1982Based on the 1978 Tombouctou edition. Excerpt This translation includes Tom Clark's introduction.","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/bdjapan.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3993,"url":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/works\/literary-works\/diaries-and-fiction-by-jim-carroll\/the-basketball-diaries\/the-basketball-diaries-5th-ed\/","url_meta":{"origin":8649,"position":5},"title":"The Basketball Diaries (5th Edition)","author":"Cassie Carter","date":"January 10, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Basketball Diaries5th EditionBy:\u00a0Jim CarrollPublished:\u00a01998Publisher:\u00a0PenguinFormat:\u00a0PaperbackCover photo:\u00a0Michael ZagarisCover design:\u00a0Edward ODowd The fifth edition of\u00a0The Basketball Diaries\u00a0uses a blue-tinted, closeup version of the same photo used on the\u00a0audiobook\u00a0version, and from the same photo session as the\u00a01980 Bantam (2nd) edition. This edition was issued simultaneously with the\u00a0second edition of Forced Entries. See Also\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"Cover Art: The Basketball Diaries (1998 edition) - By Jim Carroll","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/bd5.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8649","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8649"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8852,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/8649\/revisions\/8852"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.catholicboy.com\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/folder?post=8649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}