Suppressed First Printing
Nobel Lecture By | Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. | Aula of the University, | Oslo, Norway | December 11, 1964
Notes: The previously unrecorded first printing of King's Nobel lecture, possibly printed with the intention of securing copyright in the United States or for distribution to the press ahead of King's speech. However, this copy, from the files of the civil rights leader's literary agent, has a handwritten notation "Do not send out incorrect © notice."
There are many small differences between this version and the edition published by Harper & Row in an edition of 2000 copies in 1965. In the first sentence of this edition, King thanks only the "Norwegian Parliament." In the regularly published version, he thanks the "Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament." Later in the same sentence, "civil rights movement" is all lower case in this version, and in the regular version the first letter of each word is capitalized. On page 5 of this version, the word "retrogression" is printed incorrectly as "retrogress" and Fascist is not capitalized. There are other differences in capitalization, punctuation, and style (spelling out versus using numerals for numbers).
According to the copyright records for 1965, King's lecture was copyrighted in the US by the Nobel Foundation on December 11, 1964. The copyright on this version is "by Martin Luther King, Jr." It seems likely that this is the error referred to in the handwritten note. Apparently the person who commissioned this printing was not aware that the Nobel Prize Foundation typically obtained the copyright to the addresses given by the recipients.
Just a year after giving his "I Have a Dream" speech during the March on Washington, King's message here makes a case for racial equality, an end to poverty, and peace: "Mankind's survival is dependent upon man's ability to solve the problems of racial injustice, poverty and war."
16 pages (rather than 22 in the standard edition). 6-1/8 by 9-1/4 inches.
Not is Pyatt's MLK bibliography (see 0096 for the Harper & Row edition). Not on OCLC. OCLC (69110730) records what may be a press copy, on 8 leaves of A4 (or similar) paper.
Edition + Condition: First edition (suppressed printing). Old vertical fold, else near fine in self-wrappers.
Publication: New York City: The Hecla Press, 1964.
Item No: #362493
Sold