Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
BUKOWSKI, Charles. While The Music Played. Black Sparrow Press, Los Angeles, 1973.
Price: US$15.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Sparrow 5. [12 p.]. 24 cm. Stapled paper covers.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
Bukowski, Charles. While The Music Played Sparrow 5 February 1973. Black Sparrow Press, 1973, 1973.
Price: US$20.00 + shipping
Description: Edges toned, shelfwear, very good+ 16 pages
Seller: Herland Books, Denver, CO, U.S.A.
BUKOWSKI, Charles.. While the Music Played.. Los Angeles: Black Sparrow,, 1973.
Price: US$25.00 + shipping
Description: [12 pp]. Near fine in stapled wrappers with some toning along top edge. Eleven poems. Sparrow 5. Krumhansl 43.
Seller: Jeff Maser, Bookseller - ABAA, Berkeley, CA, U.S.A.
Charles Bukowski. Sparrow 5: While the Music Played. Black Sparrow Press, Los Angeles, CA, 1973.
Price: US$30.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Clean unmarked copy, some toning to the covers. Krumhansl 43, 958 copies published 12 february 1973.
Seller: The Book Shelf, Salem, OR, U.S.A.
Bukowski Charles.. While the Music Played.. Black Sparrow Press, Los Angeles, 1973.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition. Sparrow 5. About fine in stapled wrappers. (un-paginated) (Couple tiny specks of foxing at edges. ) From the library of Black Sparrow's longtime printer Graham Mackintosh. ; 5 1/4" x 8 1/2"
Seller: WAVERLEY BOOKS ABAA, Santa Monica, CA, U.S.A.
Bukowski, Charles.. While the Music Played." In Sparrow 5.. Black Sparrow Press, 1973.
Price: US$85.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: A Fine copy in cream paper wraps. The Sparrow newsletter was a monthly publication produced by Bukowski's publisher and featured a single writer in each issue. Sparrow 5 contains 11 early poems by Bukowski.
Seller: Gregor Rare Books, Langley, WA, U.S.A.
Bukowski, Charles. SOUTH OF NO NORTH - PRESENTATION COPY. Black Sparrow Press, Los Angeles, 1973.
Price: US$2000.00 + shipping
Description: Limited Issue, one of 300 numbered copies signed by the author, this being copy no.54. Octavo; 3/4 powder gray paper, printed in 3 colors over black and red patterned cloth, with title label applied to spine; original acetate overlay; 189pp, [3]. Presentation copy, inscribed on the dedication page just three days after publication: "For Bill Whitaker / These stories were all paid for, long ago or sooner. I hope besides the blood this stuff puts in your coffee, you get some cream and laughter. O.K. / Charles Bukowski / 12-26-73;" small drawing of a smoking man beneath the inscription. Subtle forward lean, with a gentle tap to upper board edges and small stain to upper edge of text; "Compliments of the Publisher" slip laid in; Near Fine in a VG+ acetate overlay, with some shallow chipping to base of spine and a few small tears. Attractive copy of Bukowski's first collection of short fiction. This copy lengthily inscribed to William (Bill) J. Whitaker, who from ca.1970 until the press closed down in 2002 represented Black Sparrow as a traveling salesman on the eastern seaboard, going from bookstore to bookstore each season selling the latest titles from the press. While copies of the signed limited will periodically show up for sale, copies with contemporary inscriptions - particularly to someone with a close, long-standing connection to the press - are genuinely rare. Krumhansl 45b.
Seller: Captain Ahab's Rare Books, ABAA, Stephenson, VA, U.S.A.