Bukowski, Charles

The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over the Ship

Santa Rosa, CA: Black Sparrow Press, 1998. First Trade Edition. Hardcover. “Good day at the track, damn near swept the card. Yet it gets boring out there, even when you’re winning. It’s the 30 minute wait between races, your life leaking out into space. The people look gray out there, walked through. And I’m there with them. But where else could I go? An Art Museum? Imagine staying home all day and playing at writer? I could wear a little scarf. I remember this poet who used to come by on the bum. Buttons of his shirt, puke on his pants, hair in eyes, shoelaces undone, but he had this long scarf which he kept very clean. That signaled that he was a poet. His writing? Well, forget it…” (pg. 7). So reads the opening paragraph of “The Captain is Out to Lunch and the Sailors Have Taken Over The Ship,” a “collection of extracts from the journals of Charles Bukowski,” if Wikipedia is here to be believed. In a Burroughsian twist, the only cared for life forms in this work are cats; Bukowski’s 9 cats are the only common-touch constant existing throughout the alternately deranged and hilarious work. One bloviating editor-commentator insists that the work’s title is inspired by “the Anarchist-Communism he discovered when working with anarchist and Jewish editors in New York, USA,” (citing the poem, “I Wanted to Take Down the Government, But All I Took Down Was My Best Friend’s Wife” as reason for this), but Your Devoted Managing Curator disagrees heartily. Bukowski had little time for political enthusiasms of any flag or stripe at this late stage in the game; and “the day-to-day activities of a famous, alcoholic, gambling writer” were far more important to him than Bakunin or the Bourgeoisie. At any rate, the stellar late work is enriched considerably by the inclusion of illustrations by (the legendarily unapologetic) R. Crumb — and if you’re looking for some Bukowski you or the Bukowksi-lover in your life may have overlooked, look no further. [ISBN: 1-57423-059-X]. Hardcover in illustrated boards: the First Trade Hardcover Edition, 1/1000 unnumbered copies, per colophon; preceded only by the virtually unobtainable “Black Sparrow Graphic Arts Edition.” Book in very fine condition, with only slightest shelf-wear to fine-edges & corners of front, back covers & spine, else pristine. Very Fine. [Item #5400]

Price: $65.00