# Is "Turning Point (Στροφή / Strophi)" by George Seferis (Giorgos Seferis / Georgios Seferiadis) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Turning Point (Στροφή / Strophi) by George Seferis (Giorgos Seferis / Georgios Seferiadis) (Printed at the author's own expense in Athens, 1931) is identified by: The true first is the 1931 Athens printing of Στροφή (Strophi), which Seferis issued at his own expense — his debut, on whose appearance he was at once hailed "the poet of the future" (Britannica). The true original-language first is Στροφή (Strophi / Turning Point), Athens 1931 — the self-financed debut and the cornerstone first collectors chase.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the 1931 Athens printing of Στροφή (Strophi), which Seferis issued at his own expense — his debut, on whose appearance he was at once hailed "the poet of the future" (Britannica)
- It carries the poet-name "Giorgos Seferis," the pseudonym of the diplomat Georgios Seferiadis, making this the first book to bear the Seferis byline
- Contents, per standard sources, are thirteen short poems (most in traditional metre and rhyme) framing the long central poem "Erotikos Logos" (96 rhymed fifteen-syllable verses) — often counted as fourteen pieces in all
- The debut is famous for a small self-financed limitation: a run of roughly 200 copies is widely repeated, and the hand-numbered limitation is the point of issue to look for (confirm the 1931 date and a copy number)
- Treat the more granular claims — an exact 41-page collation, a "May 1931" month, and ~50 hors-commerce copies — as under-documented (they trace to a single Greek blog, not a standard bibliography) and verify against the physical copy
- These small Greek literary printings carried no "First Edition" statement, so identify by date, imprint and numbering, and treat any specific wrapper, format, paper or price claim skeptically unless the copy confirms it
- Publisher imprint reads Printed at the author's own expense in Athens

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Seferis (Giorgos Seferis / Georgios Seferiadis) |
| Publisher | Printed at the author's own expense in Athens |
| Year | 1931 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The true first is the 1931 Athens printing of Στροφή (Strophi), which Seferis issued at his own expense — his debut, on whose appearance he… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the 1931 Athens printing of Στροφή (Strophi), which Seferis issued at his own expense — his debut, on whose appearance he was at once hailed "the poet of the future" (Britannica). It carries the poet-name "Giorgos Seferis," the pseudonym of the diplomat Georgios Seferiadis, making this the first book to bear the Seferis byline. Contents, per standard sources, are thirteen short poems (most in traditional metre and rhyme) framing the long central poem "Erotikos Logos" (96 rhymed fifteen-syllable verses) — often counted as fourteen pieces in all. The debut is famous for a small self-financed limitation: a run of roughly 200 copies is widely repeated, and the hand-numbered limitation is the point of issue to look for (confirm the 1931 date and a copy number). Treat the more granular claims — an exact 41-page collation, a "May 1931" month, and ~50 hors-commerce copies — as under-documented (they trace to a single Greek blog, not a standard bibliography) and verify against the physical copy. These small Greek literary printings carried no "First Edition" statement, so identify by date, imprint and numbering, and treat any specific wrapper, format, paper or price claim skeptically unless the copy confirms it.

## Is this the true first?
The true original-language first is Στροφή (Strophi / Turning Point), Athens 1931 — the self-financed debut and the cornerstone first collectors chase. His mature masterpiece is Μυθιστόρημα (Mythistorema), 24 free-verse poems, Athens 1935 (issued in association with the journal Ta Nea Grammata; the Kastalia imprint is sometimes cited — verify); a passage from "Mythistorema 3" was recited in the "Allegory" segment of the 2004 Athens Olympics opening ceremony. On English translations, note precedence carefully: the earliest English appearance in book form is the slim shared pamphlet "Six Poems from the Greek of Sikelianos and Seferis," privately printed in Rhodes in 1946, translated by Lawrence Durrell (three Seferis poems alongside three by Sikelianos, ~18 pp., wrappers) — NOT a standalone Seferis book and not published in the UK. The first substantial, UK-published, book-length Seferis volume in English is "The King of Asine and Other Poems" (London: John Lehmann, 1948, 82 pp.), translated by Bernard Spencer, Nanos Valaoritis and Lawrence Durrell, with an introduction by Rex Warner (pp. 7–13) and a dust-wrapper design by Keith Vaughan. Common trap: Rex Warner here is the INTRODUCER, not a translator; his own Warner-translated "Poems" came later (London: Bodley Head, 1960). The standard scholarly English is the Keeley & Sherrard bilingual Collected Poems (Princeton).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club-edition tradition applies to this Greek modernist material. The real traps are (1) later Athens reprints and the revised/expanded settings Seferis authorized over the decades — later Ikaros collected-poems printings (Poiimata) are common and are NOT the 1931 first; do not confuse the 1931 Strophi with its later second edition or its reappearance inside collected editions; and (2) the English-language volumes (the 1946 Rhodes pamphlet, the 1948 Lehmann King of Asine, the 1960 Warner Poems, the Princeton Keeley–Sherrard), which are translations and must never be represented as the true first however handsome the copy.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Turning Point (Στροφή / Strophi)* by George Seferis (Giorgos Seferis / Georgios Seferiadis) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/turning-point
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.