Charles Bukowski — Betting on the Muse (1996 Black Sparrow) Signed Limited Edition #87 Fine

Description

Published posthumously, Betting on the Muse brings together poems and short stories drawn from Charles Bukowski’s prolific late period—works that oscillate between grim humor and startling clarity. The collection feels like one of his final testaments: poems about aging, gambling, horses, women, and the unrelenting ache of memory. It’s Bukowski facing his own myth head-on, still fiercely independent and unsentimental to the end.

This signed limited edition was produced with the precision and care that defined John Martin’s legacy. Bound in red cloth-backed boards designed by incomparable Barbara Martin, each copy features Bukowski’s signature a tipped-in page. This is one of the press’s last true collaborations with Bukowski’s estate before the imprint’s transition.

A late-period Bukowski classic, beautifully bound and signed—a cornerstone volume for collectors of Black Sparrow Press and the poet’s enduring legend.