# Is "No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories" by Gabriel García Márquez a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories by Gabriel García Márquez (Harper & Row, 1968) is identified by: First English-language edition: Harper & Row, New York, 1968, translated by J.S. True first edition in English and García Márquez's first book to appear in English, predating the English One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English-language edition: Harper & Row, New York, 1968, translated by J.S. Bernstein
- First printing has no statement of a later printing on the copyright page
- Quarter red cloth over yellow paper boards, brown spine lettering, decorated endpapers; pictorial dust jacket (jacket design by Guy Fleming) with a price printed on the front flap
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Row
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gabriel García Márquez |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
| Year | 1968 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English-language edition: Harper & Row, New York, 1968, translated by J.S. Bernstein |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First English-language edition: Harper & Row, New York, 1968, translated by J.S. Bernstein. First printing has no statement of a later printing on the copyright page. Quarter red cloth over yellow paper boards, brown spine lettering, decorated endpapers; pictorial dust jacket (jacket design by Guy Fleming) with a price printed on the front flap.

## Is this the true first?
True first edition in English and García Márquez's first book to appear in English, predating the English One Hundred Years of Solitude (1970). US precedence is not close: the first UK edition (Jonathan Cape, London) did not appear until 1971, three years after the Harper & Row first, so no US-versus-UK month question arises.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition concern for the true first. The genuine first-issue dust jacket carries a printed price on the front flap; a price-clipped or unpriced jacket is not a point of the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *No One Writes to the Colonel and Other Stories* by Gabriel García Márquez a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/no-one-writes-to-the-colonel-and-other-stories
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.