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

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Winding Stair by W. B. Yeats (The Fountain Press, New York, 1929) is identified by: Wade 164; also cited as Connolly, The Modern Movement, 56b. A US-before-UK trap and a contents trap at once.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Wade 164; also cited as Connolly, The Modern Movement, 56b
- A signed limited edition of 642 copies, the limitation leaf carrying the statement, with Yeats's signature at the front on the half-title
- Sources conflict on the signing: several ABAA dealers describe all 642 copies as signed, while others record 642 printed of which 600 were signed on the half-title — treat the figure as unsettled and rely on the limitation leaf and the signature in the copy at hand rather than on a remembered number
- Slim octavo, 26 pages plus a blank leaf
- Original blue cloth, gilt-stamped, with red morocco spine label, gilt decoration to the boards, purple endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed
- One dealer source records the book as designed by Frederic Warde and printed at William Edwin Rudge's press; that attribution is single-sourced here
- Publisher imprint reads The Fountain Press, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | W. B. Yeats |
| Publisher | The Fountain Press, New York |
| Year | 1929 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Wade 164; also cited as Connolly, The Modern Movement, 56b |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Wade 164; also cited as Connolly, The Modern Movement, 56b. A signed limited edition of 642 copies, the limitation leaf carrying the statement, with Yeats's signature at the front on the half-title. Sources conflict on the signing: several ABAA dealers describe all 642 copies as signed, while others record 642 printed of which 600 were signed on the half-title — treat the figure as unsettled and rely on the limitation leaf and the signature in the copy at hand rather than on a remembered number. Slim octavo, 26 pages plus a blank leaf. Original blue cloth, gilt-stamped, with red morocco spine label, gilt decoration to the boards, purple endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. One dealer source records the book as designed by Frederic Warde and printed at William Edwin Rudge's press; that attribution is single-sourced here. No number line or printing statement. A copy lacking the limitation leaf or the signature should be examined closely rather than accepted as an unsigned variant.

## Is this the true first?
A US-before-UK trap and a contents trap at once. The Fountain Press (New York) 1929 signed limited is the true first appearance of The Winding Stair — the collection reached print in America, not in Ireland or England. Macmillan's London trade edition of 1933 is a different and substantially larger book, 'The Winding Stair and Other Poems' (Wade 169), in green cloth decorated in blind on the upper board and lettered in gilt on the spine, issued in a dust jacket. Macmillan's New York 1933 printing is the first American trade edition and follows London. Both the 1929 Fountain Press and the 1933 Macmillan London are collected — the former for priority of the title, the latter as the first appearance of the enlarged collection. The discriminator is the title itself: a volume titled with 'and Other Poems' is never the 1929 first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition of the 1929 Fountain Press limited; signed limiteds are not club-issued. The reprint risk sits with the 1933 Macmillan, where the New York issue and later impressions follow the London first printing. For the 1929, the risk is not a club copy but a made-up one — confirm the limitation leaf, the half-title signature, and the Fountain Press imprint together.

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