A Curriculum of the Soul. Numbers 1-28 [All Published]

28 issues. Octavos. Each issue mimeographed or offset printed from typescript and stapled in illustrated card wrappers. The postcard originally tipped into Issue 16 is detached, but present (and scarce thus). Occasional toning and creasing, a touch of foxing here and there but a generally very good set with the exception of the Wieners issue, which has tidemarks on the wraps. A complete run of this periodical, one of the most unusual and brilliant undertakings of American postwar poetry. The series grew out of *The Magazine of Further Studies*, and was a specific response to Charles Olson's text "A Plan for the Curriculum of the Soul" in the fifth issue of that magazine, a remarkable map-text by Olson that listed subjects, names, and other topics and which was reproduced inside the covers of early issues. After Olson's death, John Clarke took 28 of these topics, and the periodical was born. Authors of complete issues include Albert Glover, Duncan McNaughton, John Wieners, Michael Boughn, Lisa Jarnot, Fred Wah, John Clarke, Robert Duncan, Alice Notley, Robin Blaser, Robert Dalke, George F. Butterick, Edward Kissam, Edgar Billowitz, Harvey Brown, Lewis Macadams, Ed Sanders, Michael Bylebyl, David Tirrell, Daniel Zimmerman, Drummond Hadley, James Koller, Gerrit Lansing, Michael McClure, John Thorpe, Joanne Kyger, Anselm Hollo, and Robert Grenier. Accompanying the run is a letter from the editor, John Clarke, discussing David Tirrell and his authorship of the 19th issue on alchemy. The typed letter, covering the entire recto and half of the verso, gives remarkable insight into the life of Tirrell, who had studied with J.H. Prynne and gone on to become a member of the psychedelic band Dendron, and also a member of Timothy Leary's Millbrook Community. It also includes a mention of tripping with The Fugs and provides an overview of how the authors were chosen for each issue. Fair only with extensive toning, watermarked and creased, but complete and legible. A scarce complete run from the collection of a contributor to the project and with valuable insight into the series and the life of another contributor.…