# Is "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo A. Anaya a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Bless Me, Ultima by Rudolfo A. Anaya (Quinto Sol Publications, 1972) is identified by: Copyright page carries a 'First Printing' statement dated June 1972 (Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications). Quinto Sol, Berkeley, June 1972 is the true first; no edition precedes it.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Copyright page carries a 'First Printing' statement dated June 1972 (Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications)
- Issued SIMULTANEOUSLY in two states:
- pictorial card wrappers — the common state — collating xiv, 248, [2] pp.; and
- a small hardcover state in black cloth boards with the spine lettered in silver
- The key point sits on the hardcover's dust jacket: the FIRST-issue jacket mistakenly prints the WRAPPERS (paperback) price at the front flap, and the publisher quickly revised it up to the hardcover price by pasting a correction sticker over the flap
- A hardcover whose jacket still shows the uncorrected (lower, wrappers) flap price — or the tell-tale sticker-shadow where a correction label was later peeled — carries the sought first-issue jacket
- Publisher imprint reads Quinto Sol Publications

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Rudolfo A. Anaya |
| Publisher | Quinto Sol Publications |
| Year | 1972 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Copyright page carries a 'First Printing' statement dated June 1972 (Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Copyright page carries a 'First Printing' statement dated June 1972 (Berkeley: Quinto Sol Publications). Issued SIMULTANEOUSLY in two states: (1) pictorial card wrappers — the common state — collating xiv, 248, [2] pp.; and (2) a small hardcover state in black cloth boards with the spine lettered in silver. The key point sits on the hardcover's dust jacket: the FIRST-issue jacket mistakenly prints the WRAPPERS (paperback) price at the front flap, and the publisher quickly revised it up to the hardcover price by pasting a correction sticker over the flap. A hardcover whose jacket still shows the uncorrected (lower, wrappers) flap price — or the tell-tale sticker-shadow where a correction label was later peeled — carries the sought first-issue jacket. Anaya's first book and winner of the Premio Quinto Sol.

## Is this the true first?
Quinto Sol, Berkeley, June 1972 is the true first; no edition precedes it. Cloth and wrappers were issued at the same time, so neither format 'precedes' the other — but the cloth (hardcover) state is markedly scarcer, and the hardcover wearing the uncorrected first-issue jacket (the mistaken wrappers price at the flap) is the recognized collecting trophy. Signed copies (Anaya) are sought. Later Warner Books and TQS Publications printings are 'first thus,' not firsts.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. The usual confusion is with later Warner Books and TQS Publications reprints — a different publisher, and no 'First Printing / June 1972' statement on the copyright page. On the 1972 hardcover itself, a jacket whose flap price has been corrected (sticker pasted over the mistaken wrappers price) is simply a later jacket STATE, not a reprint of the book — the book block is still the 1972 first printing.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Bless Me, Ultima* by Rudolfo A. Anaya a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/bless-me-ultima
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.