Reference Table · Albuquerque Estate Library Authors
Closed Signature Pools
New Mexico, Southwest, and Albuquerque-estate-library authors whose signature supplies are permanently fixed, with death dates, trophy books, and pillar cross-links.
When an author dies, no new signatures can be made, so the set of authentic signed copies is fixed. This table lists New Mexico and Southwest authors whose signature pools are closed, with death dates and the first editions collectors look for. It is an identification reference, not a price guide. Apply the authentication methodology to verify signatures from this list; cross-reference each author's pillar guide for title-specific points of issue.
Last verified October 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred
The Closed Pool Table
Sorted by death date, oldest closures first, with the New Mexico UFO research authors grouped at the end. "Trophy book" is the first edition collectors look for first. All authors appear in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, or Taos estate libraries with documented frequency.
| Author | Born / Died | Pool Closed | Trophy Book |
|---|---|---|---|
| D. H. Lawrence | 1885-1930 | Mar 2, 1930 | Mornings in Mexico 1927 Knopf; St. Mawr 1925 Knopf (Kiowa Ranch Taos) |
| Mary Hunter Austin | 1868-1934 | Aug 13, 1934 | The Land of Journeys' Ending 1924 Century |
| Raymond Otis | 1900-1938 | 1938 | Fire in the Night 1934 Farrar & Rinehart |
| Willa Cather | 1873-1947 | Apr 24, 1947 | Death Comes for the Archbishop 1927 Knopf (NM-set canonical novel) |
| Alice Corbin Henderson | 1881-1949 | Jul 18, 1949 | The Sun Turns West 1933 Writers' Editions |
| Lynn Riggs | 1899-1954 | Jun 30, 1954 | Green Grow the Lilacs 1931 Samuel French (became Oklahoma!) |
| Haniel Long | 1888-1956 | Oct 17, 1956 | Pinion Country 1941 Duell Sloan; Interlinear to Cabeza de Vaca 1936 Writers' Editions |
| Mabel Dodge Luhan | 1879-1962 | Aug 13, 1962 | Edge of Taos Desert 1937 Harcourt Brace; Intimate Memories 4-vol |
| Oliver La Farge | 1901-1963 | Aug 2, 1963 | Laughing Boy 1929 Houghton Mifflin (Pulitzer Prize) |
| C. S. Lewis | 1898-1963 | Nov 22, 1963 | The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 1950 Geoffrey Bles UK first |
| Erna Fergusson | 1888-1964 | Jul 6, 1964 | Our Southwest 1940 Knopf; New Mexico: A Pageant of Three Peoples 1951 Knopf |
| Spud Johnson | 1897-1968 | 1968 | Horse Fly magazine archives + Mabel Dodge Luhan circle materials |
| Witter Bynner | 1881-1968 | Jun 1, 1968 | Indian Earth 1929 Knopf (Santa Fe poet circle foundational) |
| Harvey Fergusson | 1890-1971 | 1971 | Followers of the Sun trilogy 1934-37 (Knopf NM Hispano-history novels) |
| J. R. R. Tolkien | 1892-1973 | Sep 2, 1973 | The Hobbit 1937 Allen & Unwin first (1,500-copy run) |
| Quinto Sol Press | 1967-1974 (publisher) | ~1974 dissolved | Anaya, Rivera, Hinojosa firsts; El Grito journal |
| Dorothy Brett | 1883-1977 | Aug 27, 1977 | Lawrence and Brett: A Friendship 1933 Lippincott |
| Ansel Adams | 1902-1984 | Apr 22, 1984 | Taos Pueblo 1930 (with Mary Hunter Austin); canonical NM photography |
| Tomás Rivera | 1935-1984 | May 16, 1984 | ...Y No Se Lo Tragó La Tierra 1971 Quinto Sol (first Premio Quinto Sol) |
| Georgia O'Keeffe | 1887-1986 | Mar 6, 1986 | Georgia O'Keeffe 1976 Viking (autobiographical); signed monographs |
| Peggy Pond Church | 1903-1986 | Oct 23, 1986 | The House at Otowi Bridge 1959 UNM Press (Edith Warner / Los Alamos) |
| Louis L'Amour | 1908-1988 | Jun 10, 1988 | Hondo 1953 Fawcett Gold Medal pb original; Sackett saga. See the Western Fiction Collecting Guide for full genre context. |
| Edward Abbey | 1927-1989 | Mar 14, 1989 | The Monkey Wrench Gang 1975 Lippincott (R. Crumb wrap-around dust jacket). See the nature writing collecting guide for the full Southwest desert-writing canon. |
| Paul Horgan | 1903-1995 | Mar 8, 1995 | Great River 1954 Farrar Straus (Pulitzer Prize for History) |
| Frank Waters | 1902-1995 | Jun 3, 1995 | The Man Who Killed the Deer 1942 Farrar & Rinehart |
| Roger Zelazny | 1937-1995 | Jun 14, 1995 | Lord of Light 1967 Doubleday (Hugo winner) |
| Fray Angélico Chávez | 1910-1996 | Mar 18, 1996 | Origins of New Mexico Families 1954 Historical Society of NM |
| Richard Bradford | 1932-2002 | Mar 23, 2002 | Red Sky at Morning 1968 Lippincott |
| Sabine Ulibarrí | 1919-2003 | Jan 4, 2003 | Tierra Amarilla 1964; Mi Abuela Fumaba Puros 1977 (Quinto Sol) |
| Paula Gunn Allen | 1939-2008 | May 29, 2008 | The Sacred Hoop 1986 Beacon Press (canonical Native feminist literary criticism) |
| Tony Hillerman | 1925-2008 | Oct 26, 2008 | The Blessing Way 1970 Harper & Row (Leaphorn series begins). See the mystery & detective collecting guide for full genre context. |
| Christopher Tolkien | 1924-2020 | Jan 16, 2020 | The History of Middle-earth 12-vol 1983-1996 (editor) |
| Rudolfo Anaya | 1937-2020 | Jun 28, 2020 | Bless Me, Ultima 1972 Quinto Sol first (6-point colophon authentication) |
| Max Evans | 1924-2020 | Aug 26, 2020 | The Rounders 1960 Macmillan; The Hi Lo Country 1961 Macmillan |
| Rolando Hinojosa-Smith | 1929-2022 | Apr 19, 2022 | Estampas del Valle y Otras Obras 1973 Quinto Sol (Klail City Death Trip series) |
| Cormac McCarthy | 1933-2023 | Jun 13, 2023 | Blood Meridian 1985 Random House (pictorial dust jacket) |
| Marc Simmons | 1937-2023 | Sep 14, 2023 | Albuquerque: A Narrative History 1982 UNM Press |
| John Nichols | 1940-2023 | Nov 27, 2023 | The Milagro Beanfield War 1974 Holt Rinehart |
| N. Scott Momaday | 1934-2024 | Jan 24, 2024 | House Made of Dawn 1968 Harper & Row (1969 Pulitzer Prize) |
| Stanley Crawford | 1937-2024 | Jan 25, 2024 | Mayordomo: Chronicle of an Acequia in Northern New Mexico 1988 UNM Press |
| Edward J. Ruppelt | 1923-1960 | Sep 15, 1960 | The Report on Unidentified Flying Objects 1956 Doubleday (Project Blue Book lead) |
| Frank Scully | 1892-1964 | Jun 23, 1964 | Behind the Flying Saucers 1950 Holt (foundational Aztec NM text) |
| J. Allen Hynek | 1910-1986 | Apr 27, 1986 | The UFO Experience 1972 Regnery (Project Blue Book consultant; CUFOS founder) |
| Coral Lorenzen | 1925-1988 | Apr 12, 1988 | The Great Flying Saucer Hoax 1962; APRO Bulletin runs (co-founder) |
| Donald E. Keyhoe | 1897-1988 | Nov 29, 1988 | The Flying Saucers Are Real 1950 Fawcett pb; Flying Saucers from Outer Space 1953 Holt |
| Charles Berlitz | 1914-2003 | Dec 18, 2003 | The Roswell Incident 1980 Grosset & Dunlap (with William Moore) |
| John E. Mack | 1929-2004 | Sep 27, 2004 | Abduction: Human Encounters with Aliens 1994 Scribner (Harvard psychiatrist) |
| Philip J. Klass | 1919-2005 | Aug 9, 2005 | UFOs Explained 1974; UFOs: The Public Deceived 1983 (skeptical authority) |
| Walter Haut | 1922-2005 | Dec 15, 2005 | Roswell PIO press release (Jul 8 1947); signed Roswell Museum-circuit memorabilia |
| Karl T. Pflock | 1943-2006 | Jun 5, 2006 | Roswell: Inconvenient Facts and the Will to Believe 2001 Prometheus |
| John A. Keel | 1930-2009 | Jul 3, 2009 | The Mothman Prophecies 1975 Saturday Review; Operation Trojan Horse 1970 |
| Wendelle C. Stevens | 1923-2010 | Sep 7, 2010 | UFO Crash at Aztec 1986 Sherbrooke (with Bill Steinman) |
| Budd Hopkins | 1931-2011 | Aug 21, 2011 | Missing Time 1981 Marek; Intruders 1987 Random House |
| Stanton T. Friedman | 1934-2019 | May 13, 2019 | Crash at Corona 1992 Marlowe; TOP SECRET/MAJIC 1996 Marlowe |
Dates are verified to the day where public record exists; the few year-only entries ("1938", "1968", "1971") reflect cases where the exact day is sometimes disputed in secondary sources.
Currently Open Signature Pools (Albuquerque-Area Authors)
These authors are living, so their signature pools are still open.
- George R.R. Martin (b. 1948), Santa Fe resident.
- Leslie Marmon Silko (b. 1948)
- Joy Harjo (b. 1951) — U.S. Poet Laureate 2019-2022.
- Simon J. Ortiz (b. 1941) — Acoma Pueblo.
- Anne Hillerman (b. 1949) — continuation of the Leaphorn/Chee series.
- Michael McGarrity (b. 1939)
- Jimmy Santiago Baca (b. 1952)
- Pat Mora (b. 1942)
- Luci Tapahonso (b. 1953)
- Arthur Sze (b. 1950), U.S. Poet Laureate since 2025.
- Denise Chávez (b. 1948)
- Robert Julyan (b. 1943)
- V.B. Price (b. 1940)
When any author on this list closes, the corresponding pillar guide will be updated with the death date and the closed-pool data table here will gain a new row.
What Changes When an Author Dies
When an author dies, two things happen to the signed-first market:
- Supply becomes fixed. No new authentic signatures can enter the market. The total population of signed firsts is now permanent.
- Authentication scrutiny tightens. The closed pool elevates forgery risk; high-end transactions move toward auction-house and ABAA dealer channels with documented provenance, increasing the gap between authenticated and unauthenticated copies. Understanding local bookstore signing histories becomes essential for verifying where and when a closed-pool signature was obtained.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a closed signature pool?
A closed signature pool is the supply of authentic signatures available from a deceased (or permanently unable to sign) author. Once an author dies, no new authentic signatures can enter the market, so the supply is fixed for good.
How do I authenticate a signed copy from a closed-pool author?
Apply the 7-tier signature framework documented at the authentication methodology. The death date constrains the latest possible authentic signing; verify signing-venue history matches provenance (Bookworks ABQ, Page One ABQ, Collected Works Santa Fe, Bubonicon for the New Mexico authors); compare against documented exemplars; examine ink, aging, and absorption; check for autopen or razor-cut indicators; for any transaction above upper collectible prices require auction-house, ABAA, or PSA/JSA/Beckett provenance. Forgeries spike after an author's death, so a closed-pool signature needs the most scrutiny.
Which Albuquerque-area authors still have open signature pools?
The current open-pool list of major Albuquerque-area authors includes George R.R. Martin (b. 1948, Santa Fe resident), Leslie Marmon Silko (b. 1948), Joy Harjo (b. 1951), Simon J. Ortiz (b. 1941), Anne Hillerman (b. 1949), Michael McGarrity (b. 1939), Jimmy Santiago Baca (b. 1952), Pat Mora (b. 1942), Luci Tapahonso (b. 1953), Arthur Sze (b. 1950), Denise Chávez (b. 1948), Robert Julyan (b. 1943), V.B. Price (b. 1940).
What is the trophy book for each closed-pool author?
The trophy book is the first edition collectors look for first for each author. McCarthy → Blood Meridian 1985 Random House; Zelazny → Lord of Light 1967 Doubleday; Abbey → The Monkey Wrench Gang 1975 Lippincott; Tolkien → The Hobbit 1937 Allen & Unwin (1500-copy run); Lewis → The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe 1950 Geoffrey Bles; Hillerman → The Blessing Way 1970 Harper & Row; Anaya → Bless Me, Ultima 1972 Quinto Sol; Momaday → House Made of Dawn 1968 Harper & Row (Pulitzer); Waters → The Man Who Killed the Deer 1942 Farrar & Rinehart; Horgan → Great River 1954 Farrar Straus (Pulitzer); La Farge → Laughing Boy 1929 Houghton Mifflin (Pulitzer); L'Amour → Hondo 1953 Fawcett Gold Medal pb original. Each trophy book has a dedicated pillar guide.
Authenticate before transacting
Closed-pool authors are the highest-value targets for forgery. Apply the systematic 6-point first edition checklist and 7-tier signature framework before relying on any signature. Confirm edition state first using the First Edition Identification Encyclopedia; a signed second printing is not a signed first. For documented examples of this canon, see the archived Southwestern art & Native American book collection — a donated library NMLP picked up free, in any condition, and kept out of the landfill.
Authentication Methodology → All Pillar Guides →