# Is "A Clubbable Woman" by Reginald Hill a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Clubbable Woman by Reginald Hill (Collins Crime Club, 1970) is identified by: Collins Crime Club firsts of this period carry no first-printing statement, so the identification is negative: the copyright page shows the 1970 date and nothing indicating a later impression. UK Collins Crime Club, London, 1970 is the true first — the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Collins Crime Club firsts of this period carry no first-printing statement, so the identification is negative: the copyright page shows the 1970 date and nothing indicating a later impression
- ILAB's publisher guide records Collins (U.K.) as "no statement on the first edition; presumably subsequent printings would be noted"; other guides describe a "First published 1970" line with no additional printings listed — the guides differ on wording but agree on the operative test, which is the absence of any later-impression note
- The binding is the publisher's red boards with gilt titling to the spine
- The jacket should be unclipped with the publisher's price present at the front flap; because the book appeared shortly before UK decimalisation, dealer copies record a dual-currency price at the flap (pre-decimal shillings alongside the decimal equivalent), and a price-clipped flap destroys this point
- Publisher's review copies with a review slip laid in are recorded by more than one ABA/ILAB dealer
- No first-state text error is documented for this title
- Publisher imprint reads Collins Crime Club

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Reginald Hill |
| Publisher | Collins Crime Club |
| Year | 1970 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Collins Crime Club firsts of this period carry no first-printing statement, so the identification is negative: the copyright page shows the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Collins Crime Club firsts of this period carry no first-printing statement, so the identification is negative: the copyright page shows the 1970 date and nothing indicating a later impression. ILAB's publisher guide records Collins (U.K.) as "no statement on the first edition; presumably subsequent printings would be noted"; other guides describe a "First published 1970" line with no additional printings listed — the guides differ on wording but agree on the operative test, which is the absence of any later-impression note. The binding is the publisher's red boards with gilt titling to the spine. The jacket should be unclipped with the publisher's price present at the front flap; because the book appeared shortly before UK decimalisation, dealer copies record a dual-currency price at the flap (pre-decimal shillings alongside the decimal equivalent), and a price-clipped flap destroys this point. Publisher's review copies with a review slip laid in are recorded by more than one ABA/ILAB dealer. No first-state text error is documented for this title.

## Is this the true first?
UK Collins Crime Club, London, 1970 is the true first — the census claim is confirmed. It is Hill's first book and the first Dalziel & Pascoe novel. The first American edition did not follow until fourteen years later: Foul Play Press / The Countryman Press, Woodstock, Vermont, published 28 September 1984, in dark grey cloth with gilt-stamped spine titling, 256pp. That US edition is collected in its own right as the first American edition but is not the true first, and it should not be confused with one.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
"Crime Club" on the spine is not a book-club tell — Collins Crime Club was a William Collins hardcover imprint (1930–1994), not a subscription club; readers joined only a mailing list. No book-club issue of the 1970 first is documented. Later-issue traps: the Fontana/Collins paperback (1972) and the 1984 Foul Play Press US edition are reprints / "first thus", not firsts.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Clubbable Woman* by Reginald Hill a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-clubbable-woman
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.