Beschreibung
Small octavo. Bound in blue cloth boards with "Poems" stamped in silver on the spine. About fine with rubbing and some bumping at the edges of the boards, a small stain at the top of text block, and some wear at the corners of some of the interior pages. Gift inscription from a student to a professor with the professor's ownership stamp, signature, and a note: "gift of W. Peleu - Barbados April 24, 1951." A volume containing Nobel Prize laureate Derek Walcott s first published work, *25 Poems*, as well as his second, *Epitaph for the Young: XII Cantos*, and his third (and first published play), *Henri Christophe: A Chronicle in Seven Scenes*. All three were self-published by Walcott separately in wrappers, but are bound together in this volume (each work lacking the wrappers), along with three other works by contemporary Caribbean poets. *25 Poems* is a 1949 second edition published in Barbados (the first was published in Trinidad in 1948), while *Epitaph for the Young* and *Henri Christophe* are both first editions. Walcott appears a fourth time in this volume, providing a one-page printed note to *First and Last Poems* by Hunter Francois, a life long friend of Walcott s who served as the Minister of Education, Health and Social Services in St. Lucia. Each of Walcott s first three works were self-published, starting with *25 Poems*, the printing paid for with $200 that he borrowed from his mother. He sold copies to friends and randomly to people on the street, eventually earning back all of her money. He followed suit with his second volume of poetry, *Epitaph for the Young*, a narrative autobiographical poem that he called the urtext for his book-length work *Another World*, as well as the play *Henri Christophe*, that was performed by the St. Lucia Arts Guild in 1949 under Walcott s direction and serves as the first part of his Haitian Trilogy (which also includes the plays *Drums and Colours* and *The Haitian Earth*). The remaining works included in this volume are Frank A. Collymore s *Flotsam: Poems 1942-1948* and Ellsworth McGranahan s *L oubli: Poems*. Collymore was the editor of the influential literary journal *BIM* and brought recognition to local poets through his connection to the BBC radio program *Caribbean Voices*, on which Walcott appeared and where he first attracted wider attention. St. Vincent-born McGranahan contributed poems and articles to *BIM* before going on to become a successful jazz trumpeter for the Joe Harriott Quintet and various bands headed by Mike McKenzie. A terrific volume of rare Caribbean poetry featuring the first three works, all self-published, by Nobel Prize-winner Derek Walcott, each of which is rare, with our research unable to find any auction records or sales of any copies online. *OCLC* locates eight total copies of *25 Poems*, with only three copies of the second edition; 14 copies of *Epitaph for the Young*, with six in North America; and 12 copies (over three records) of *Henri Christophe*, with eight in North America. Contents (in the sequence they occur in the volume): WALCOTT, Derek. *25 Poems*. Bridgeton, Barbados: Advocate Company 1949. Second edition, published April 1949. 39pp. *OCLC* locates three copies of the second edition, with only one in North America (and five of the first edition, with two in North America). COLLYMORE, Frank A. *Flotsam: Poems 1942-1948*. Bridgeton, Barbados: Advocate Company 1948. First edition. 51pp. His last of his three volumes of poetry. *OCLC* locates eight copies over two records. KEANE, E[llsworth] McG[ranahan]. *L oubli: Poems*. [No place: no publisher no date]. 36pp. *OCLC* locates no copies, but one typescript copy in an archive at Williams College. WALCOTT, Derek. *Epitaph for the Young: XII Cantos*. Barbados: Advocate Co. 1949. First edition. 38pp. *OCLC* locates 13 copies over two records, six in North America. FRANCOIS, H[unter].J. *[First and Last Poems]* [St. Lucia: Hunter Francois] 1949. First edition. Printed note by Walcott. Bestandsnummer des Verkäufers 459762
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