Early versions of a remarkable literary project
OLSON, Charles. The Maximus Poems 1-10 [and] 11-22. Stuttgart: Jonathan Williams. 1953, 1956.
Two vols, 4to. Card wrappers with calligraphic design; pp. I: [vi], 46; II: [iv], 51, [3]; introduction by the poet Robert Creeley loosely inserted in vol. I; a few tiny nicks, minor creasing, and traces of tape repair to edges of vol. II; otherwise very good.
First volume (1-10) one of 300 copies; second volume (11-22) one of 350 copies.
A central figure of the Black Mountain Poets, Charles Olson began composing The Maximus Poems in 1940, revising and expanding them throughout his life. Conceived as a vast, open-form epic in the tradition of Pound’s Cantos, Maximus fuses history, geography, and myth through the voice of “Maximus of Gloucester”, Olson’s alter ego and spokesman for a new American poetics.
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