The Third Policeman

MacGibbon & Kee (London), 1967, is the accepted true first; Walker and Co. (New York) issued the first American edition, also dated 1967, and both are collected. The two are easily confused because the Walker issue is likewise in brown paper-covered boards with gilt spine lettering — the reliable separators are the imprint and the jacket, the Walker jacket being pictorial with artwork credited to John Farman, against the London issue's plain white spine lettered in black. Month-level precedence within 1967 was not documented in the sources consulted: the UK priority rests on the consistent position of independent ABAA/ILAB dealers cataloguing the MacGibbon & Kee as the first edition and the Walker as the first American, rather than on a dated bibliographic finding.