Is My Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is The Southwest Press, Dallas, 1930, illustrated by Ben Carlton Mead: black cloth stamped with a treasure-chest design on the front cover, gilt spine lettering, pictorial map endsheets, 367 pp., 6 x 9
• The decisive point is the dedication on page iii
• The first issue reads "To the memory of my father, R. J. Dobie, A Cowman of the Texas Soil"; the second issue inserts the word "clean," reading "A Clean Cowman of the Texas Soil." Multiple independent dealers catalogue copies bearing "clean" as first edition, second issue, so the dedication wording — not the 1930 title-page date — decides the issue
• A priced jacket with the price present at the flap is expected on a first-issue copy; jackets are scarce on this title and many surviving copies lack them

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Southwest Press (Dallas) 1930 is the true first; there is no earlier UK or foreign-language edition, and the first UK edition is much later (Hammond, London, 1960). Note a common cataloguing error: this is Dobie's second book, following A Vaquero of the Brush Country (1929), not his first. "First thus" traps include the Bantam paperback (A-1089, first printing thus February 1953), the University of Texas Press reissues (a 1978 signed limitation of 300, plus 1979 and 1998 issues), and the 1980 Neiman-Marcus / Arion Press goatskin-bound limitation of 300.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The Literary Guild of America issue (New York, copies commonly dated 1931; some catalogued 1930) is the classic trap sold as a first — it is the book-club issue, reported in orange cloth stamped in gilt, and it carries the second-state "A Clean Cowman of the Texas Soil" dedication. A Grosset & Dunlap reprint also exists and is frequently mis-catalogued as a first edition; one gallery listing consulted during this check offered a Grosset & Dunlap copy as a "first edition, 1930."

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest a first edition?

A first edition of Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest by J. Frank Dobie (The Southwest Press) is identified by: The true first is The Southwest Press, Dallas, 1930, illustrated by Ben Carlton Mead: black cloth stamped with a treasure-chest design on the front cover, gilt spine lettering, pictorial map endsheets, 367 pp., 6 x 9.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Southwest Press (Dallas) 1930 is the true first; there is no earlier UK or foreign-language edition, and the first UK edition is much later (Hammond, London, 1960).

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

The Literary Guild of America issue (New York, copies commonly dated 1931; some catalogued 1930) is the classic trap sold as a first — it is the book-club issue, reported in orange cloth stamped in gilt, and it carries the second-state "A Clean Cowman of the Texas Soil" dedication. A Grosset & Dunlap reprint also exists and is frequently mis-catalogued as a first edition; one gallery listing consulted during this check offered a Grosset & Dunlap copy as a "first edition, 1930."

I have a first edition of Coronado's Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasures of the Southwest — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.