The Antilles.: Fragments of Epic Memory. The Nobel Lecture.

New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux,, 1993. First edition, first printing, presentation copy to the publisher, Robert Giroux, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, "To Bob, love and thanks, Derek, Tennessee, July 25 / 93". Walcott and Giroux shared a long association, which began in 1964 with the publication of Walcott's Selected Poems. Giroux was one of the most prolific publishers of the 20th century; he "was not only a working editor, he created a tradition as an agent, submitting poems to journals, handling requests for readings, and building the careers of his writers... reading memos between Giroux and others at Farrar, Straus later when Walcott's career began to take off, one can feel a sense of excitement" (King, p. 192). Walcott was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992 "for a poetic oeuvre of great luminosity, sustained by a historical vision, the outcome of a multicultural commitment". His Nobel Lecture, an evocative meditation on the culture of the Antilles, was delivered on 10 December that year, and published the following March. Octavo. Original green boards, spine and front cover lettered in gilt. With dust jacket. A fine copy in fine, unclipped dust jacket. Bruce King, Derek Walcott: A Caribbean Life, 2000.