Jack's Return Home

UK Michael Joseph, London, 9 February 1970 is the true first — the census claim is confirmed. A first American edition followed in the same year from Doubleday, Garden City, New York, 1970 (LCCN 71097670, 206pp; Doubleday firsts of this era state "First Edition" on the copyright page and carry no statement on later printings). The Doubleday is collected as the first US edition but is preceded by the Michael Joseph. Key "first thus" trap: the book was never first published as Get Carter. That title belongs to later reissues — Pan's 1971 film tie-in paperback was retitled Carter, and Allison & Busby's 1993 paperback used Get Carter — and copies so titled are reprints under a changed title, not firsts.