# Is "El Gringo; or, New Mexico and Her People" by W. W. H. Davis a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of El Gringo; or, New Mexico and Her People by W. W. H. Davis (Harper & Brothers, 1857) is identified by: New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857, octavo, collating xii, [13]-432 pages, with a frontispiece and text illustrations.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857, octavo, collating xii, [13]-432 pages, with a frontispiece and text illustrations
- The primary first-issue binding is maroon cloth, blind- and gilt-stamped, with dark brown endpapers, measuring about 19.5 cm; a second recorded binding of the same first edition is gray cloth, blind-stamped with gilt spine titles only, yellow endpapers, and measures about 20 cm
- Davis served as U.S. Attorney and territorial secretary at Santa Fe in the 1850s, and this is one of the earliest full-length American accounts of New Mexican society and daily life under U.S. territorial rule
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | W. W. H. Davis |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1857 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857, octavo, collating xii, [13]-432 pages, with a frontispiece and text illustrations |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1857, octavo, collating xii, [13]-432 pages, with a frontispiece and text illustrations. The primary first-issue binding is maroon cloth, blind- and gilt-stamped, with dark brown endpapers, measuring about 19.5 cm; a second recorded binding of the same first edition is gray cloth, blind-stamped with gilt spine titles only, yellow endpapers, and measures about 20 cm. Davis served as U.S. Attorney and territorial secretary at Santa Fe in the 1850s, and this is one of the earliest full-length American accounts of New Mexican society and daily life under U.S. territorial rule.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The University of Nebraska Press "Bison Books" paperback (1982, ISBN 9780803265585) is a modern reprint of the 1857 Harper text and should not be mistaken for the first edition or either of its two recorded first-edition bindings.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *El Gringo; or, New Mexico and Her People* by W. W. H. Davis a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/el-gringo-or-new-mexico-and-her-people
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.