# Is "The Axion Esti (Το Άξιον Εστί / To Axion Esti)" by Odysseas Elytis a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Axion Esti (Το Άξιον Εστί / To Axion Esti) by Odysseas Elytis (Ikaros, 1959) is identified by: The true first is the Ikaros (Athens) edition: a slim wrappered volume of 96 pages (approx. The true first edition is the original-language Greek Το Άξιον Εστί, published by Ikaros (Ίκαρος), Athens, imprint-dated December 1959 (physically distributed March 1960) — this is the copy serious collectors want; the first printing is commonly reported at 815 copies (attributed to Elytis's biography via Encyclopedia.com; treat as a stated figure rather than a bibliographically verified one).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the Ikaros (Athens) edition: a slim wrappered volume of 96 pages (approx
- 24.5 x 16 cm) in publisher's printed paper wrappers
- Two production points are integral to the genuine first issue: the cover design by painter Yannis Tsarouchis and the frontispiece (προμετωπίδα) by painter Yannis Moralis
- The critical dating point is the imprint/colophon date of December 1959 even though the book was not actually distributed until March 1960; a genuine first shows the 1959 imprint with no later printing statement
- It carries no ISBN, so identification rests on the 1959 imprint, the Tsarouchis cover and Moralis frontispiece, the original wrappers, and the absence of any second-edition or later-year reprint notice
- Publisher imprint reads Ikaros
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Odysseas Elytis |
| Publisher | Ikaros |
| Year | 1959 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The true first is the Ikaros (Athens) edition: a slim wrappered volume of 96 pages (approx |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the Ikaros (Athens) edition: a slim wrappered volume of 96 pages (approx. 24.5 x 16 cm) in publisher's printed paper wrappers. Two production points are integral to the genuine first issue: the cover design by painter Yannis Tsarouchis and the frontispiece (προμετωπίδα) by painter Yannis Moralis. The critical dating point is the imprint/colophon date of December 1959 even though the book was not actually distributed until March 1960; a genuine first shows the 1959 imprint with no later printing statement. It carries no ISBN, so identification rests on the 1959 imprint, the Tsarouchis cover and Moralis frontispiece, the original wrappers, and the absence of any second-edition or later-year reprint notice.

## Is this the true first?
The true first edition is the original-language Greek Το Άξιον Εστί, published by Ikaros (Ίκαρος), Athens, imprint-dated December 1959 (physically distributed March 1960) — this is the copy serious collectors want; the first printing is commonly reported at 815 copies (attributed to Elytis's biography via Encyclopedia.com; treat as a stated figure rather than a bibliographically verified one). The first English-language edition is The Axion Esti, translated and annotated by Edmund Keeley and George Savidis, published by the University of Pittsburgh Press (Pittsburgh, PA) in 1974 as an International Poetry Forum Selection, issued in both hardcover and paperback. English-speaking collectors should note the 1974 Pittsburgh printing is a distinct book from the 1959/1960 Greek first and does not substitute for it.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No U.S./UK book-club (BCE/BOMC) edition of this title exists — it is a Modern Greek literary work, so the usual book-club tells (blind-stamp on rear board, "Book Club Edition" on the flap, gutter-code dots) do not apply. The real trap is the opposite: Ikaros reprinted Το Άξιον Εστί continuously from the 1960s onward in near-identical format, so many later Ikaros printings look superficially like the first. Distinguish by the imprint/colophon date and any added reprint line; a copy with a later year, an ISBN (added only on much later printings), or a numbered "έκδοση" (edition) statement is not the 1959 first. On the English side, the London Anvil Press Poetry issue (from 1980) is a later reprint, not the first English — the 1974 University of Pittsburgh Press printing is the first English edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Axion Esti (Το Άξιον Εστί / To Axion Esti)* by Odysseas Elytis a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-axion-esti
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.