Constantius Kavafis wrote and published many more poems than the 154 in the first collected edition (1935), which expressed his editorial will.

The present book, in addition to the 154, includes, in an appendix, thirteen of his so-called "hidden" poems, found in his archive and on papers of friends and relatives, which, for various reasons, Kavafis chose not to publish and whose quality was deemed to be on par with the poems of the Kavafian canon.

The scholarly foundation of this edition is the fundamental editorial work of G. P. Savvidis, on which Kavafian studies mainly rely today.

The poems are presented in the chronological order of their first publication in their definitive form – those in the appendix according to the date of their composition – using the monotonic system.

Excerpt from the introductory note by Nasos Vagenas.