An exhibition from James Dickey's personal library, the Matthew J. & Arlyn Bruccoli Collection, the Donald J. & Ellen Greiner Collection, and other related collections is on display in the Mezzanine Exhibition Gallery of Thomas Cooper Library through March 15.

Dickey (1923-1997), the poet and novelist who taught at USC from 1969 till his death, was poet-in-residence and First Carolina Distinguished Professor of English. The exhibition charts his extraordinary writing career from his first published poem in a college literary magazine in the 1940's through the posthumous publication of his USC classes on poetry, which appeared from the USC Press in 2004.

"Taken together, the University's collections on Dickey in Cooper Library's Department of Rare Books and Special Collections make USC a major resource for research on his work," said Patrick Scott, the library's special collections director.

Since the library last mounted a full-scale Dickey exhibit in 1993 in celebration of his 70th birthday, several major acquisitions have transformed the holdings available to students and scholars.

They include:

• James Dickey's personal library, purchased from the Dickey estate through the cooperation of its literary representative, Matthew J. Bruccoli, and the Dickey family, including some 15,000 volumes providing evidence of Dickey's wide-ranging literary and intellectual interests;
• The Matthew J. and Arlyn Bruccoli Collection of James Dickey, donated in 2001, including more than 400 first and other significant editions (many inscribed), periodicals and reviews, typescripts (including an unpublished early novel), proofs, and other material, including archival records relating to Bruccoli's bibliographical and editorial work and several Dickey works published by the firm of Bruccoli Clark;
• The Donald J. and Ellen Greiner Collection of James Dickey, donated in 2005, including first and other significant editions (many inscribed, and in especially fine condition), typescripts and proofs (with a full archive for the editing of Dickey's classes on modern poetry), and additional holdings of periodicals and ephemera, particularly relating to Dickey's years at USC.

Through the years, the library also has acquired such significant Dickey materials as his correspondence in the 1950s with the poet and translator Ben Bellitt; his working materials and correspondence for English verse-translations from the Russian poet Yevtushenko; papers and proofs from Dickey's editor at Scribner's (John Hall Wheelock, purchased in 2005); the literary papers of his former student and secretary, Paula Goff (gift and purchase, 2000-2003); and an important group of Dickey material donated by Judith Baughman, including materials from the research of her late husband, Ronald C. Baughman.

The exhibition opened Jan. 19 in conjunction with the conference James Dickey: A Celebration of his Life and Works, and is free and open during regular library hours.

For information call 7-4866 or go to www.sc.edu/library/hours.html). For inquiries about the exhibit and the Dickey collections, contact Rare Books at 7-8154 or tclrarebooks@gwm.sc.edul.

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