About

Why a book shop devoted to a single writer? Well, for one thing, there is probably no other writer who could fill an entire shop. In addition to his books, there are broadsides, chapbooks, drawings and paintings, films, readings, and magazine appearances to collect. That last one is a huge part of our catalog, with over 300 journals that Bukowski appeared in. And on the conservative side, that probably represents only 20 percent of the magazines where he was published.

Our catalog reflects our own interest as collectors, with less emphasis on the Black Sparrow editions in favor of what got him there. After all, the Black Sparrow editions are not made up of poems he wrote specifically for a particular title. Rather, most Black Sparrow poetry and short story books are simply collections of works by Bukowski that were previously published elsewhere.

This shouldn’t take away from the beautiful books Black Sparrow Press created, not only for Bukowski but many other writers as well. Rather, our catalog provides a picture of Bukowski’s career through a much wider lense.

We're glad you’re here and we hope you’ll visit regularly. We’ve done our best to describe the history of every piece in our catalog. Even if you have no intention of purchasing, we hope you’ll find the descriptions and photographs valuable enough to come back and learn more.

Just because we happen to be sellers now does not take away from any of the enthusiasm we've felt in our years of collecting -- and there is nothing more we love than sharing that enthusiasm with others.

Drop us a line sometime.

Best,
Mike Sharon
Buk Seller