# Is "Last Bus to Woodstock" by Colin Dexter a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Last Bus to Woodstock by Colin Dexter (Macmillan, 1975) is identified by: First UK printing: London, Macmillan, 1975 — orange-brown boards with titles in black on the spine and cream endpapers, octavo, in the unclipped jacket with the publisher's printed price present at the front flap. London: Macmillan, 1975 is the true first edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First UK printing: London, Macmillan, 1975 — orange-brown boards with titles in black on the spine and cream endpapers, octavo, in the unclipped jacket with the publisher's printed price present at the front flap
- No distinctive copyright-page statement is documented for the first printing; identification rests on the Macmillan 1975 imprint, the binding, and the priced jacket
- Macmillan used poor paper stock for this title, so genuine firsts almost always show heavy toning and some foxing to the text block — a clean white text block should raise suspicion of a later printing or facsimile jacket pairing
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Colin Dexter |
| Publisher | Macmillan |
| Year | 1975 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First UK printing: London, Macmillan, 1975 — orange-brown boards with titles in black on the spine and cream endpapers, octavo, in the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First UK printing: London, Macmillan, 1975 — orange-brown boards with titles in black on the spine and cream endpapers, octavo, in the unclipped jacket with the publisher's printed price present at the front flap. No distinctive copyright-page statement is documented for the first printing; identification rests on the Macmillan 1975 imprint, the binding, and the priced jacket. Macmillan used poor paper stock for this title, so genuine firsts almost always show heavy toning and some foxing to the text block — a clean white text block should raise suspicion of a later printing or facsimile jacket pairing.

## Is this the true first?
London: Macmillan, 1975 is the true first edition. The first American edition (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1975) followed the same year and is collected separately as the first US printing of the first Inspector Morse novel.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club points are documented in the sources consulted. Many surviving copies circulated through public library systems — check for library stamps, cancels, pockets, and rebound ex-library copies, which are common for this title.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Last Bus to Woodstock* by Colin Dexter a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/last-bus-to-woodstock
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.