# Is "The Tower" by W. B. Yeats a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Tower by W. B. Yeats (Macmillan and Co. Ltd., London, 1928) is identified by: London: Macmillan and Co. UK is the true first and the census claim is correct: London (Macmillan), 14 February 1928, precedes the New York Macmillan edition of 22 May 1928 by over three months.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: Macmillan and Co
- Ltd., published 14 February 1928 in a first impression of 2,000 copies (Wade 158)
- Collation vi, 110 pp. plus terminal advertisement leaves; octavo
- Bound in publisher's green (olive-green) cloth, elaborately stamped in gilt on both front cover and spine with T. Sturge Moore's design of Thoor Ballylee, Co
- Galway, reflected in the water below it; fore and bottom edges untrimmed
- The dust jacket reproduces the Sturge Moore cover design; priced jacket — the publisher's printed price is present at the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co. Ltd., London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | W. B. Yeats |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. Ltd., London |
| Year | 1928 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | London: Macmillan and Co |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., published 14 February 1928 in a first impression of 2,000 copies (Wade 158). Collation vi, 110 pp. plus terminal advertisement leaves; octavo. Bound in publisher's green (olive-green) cloth, elaborately stamped in gilt on both front cover and spine with T. Sturge Moore's design of Thoor Ballylee, Co. Galway, reflected in the water below it; fore and bottom edges untrimmed. The dust jacket reproduces the Sturge Moore cover design; priced jacket — the publisher's printed price is present at the front flap. Critical caution: the first impression sold out at once, a second impression followed in March 1928 and a third in July 1929 (the latter introducing textual corrections), so a 1928 title-page date alone does not establish the first impression — the verso must be checked for a reprint or impression notice.

## Is this the true first?
UK is the true first and the census claim is correct: London (Macmillan), 14 February 1928, precedes the New York Macmillan edition of 22 May 1928 by over three months. Both are collected — the New York Macmillan 1928 is the American first (its own second impression followed in January 1929) and should be described as such, not as "the" first edition. First-thus trap: the 2004 Scribner "The Tower: A Facsimile Edition" is a modern facsimile reprint, not an edition of issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented. The reprint traps are the later London impressions (second, March 1928; third, July 1929, textually corrected), the New York Macmillan edition of 22 May 1928 and its January 1929 second impression, and the 2004 facsimile paperback.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Tower* by W. B. Yeats a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-tower
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.