# Is "El Señor Presidente" by Miguel Ángel Asturias a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of El Señor Presidente by Miguel Ángel Asturias (Ediciones Costa-Amic, 1946 (published 30 August 1946, Mexico City)) is identified by: True first: Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1946, in Spanish. Precedence — Original Spanish first edition: Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1946 (30 Aug 1946), self-financed, in wrappers.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first: Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1946, in Spanish
- Points: Costa-Amic imprint (NOT Losada/Buenos Aires); published 30 August 1946; self-financed by Asturias with support from his family (his mother's funds), after the manuscript was rejected by other houses; issued privately in wrappers; the text carries the numerous uncorrected typographical errors of the original setting and LACKS the substantial authorial revisions later introduced for the definitive Losada text of 1952
- Genuinely scarce owing to very limited/poor distribution
- Publisher imprint reads Ediciones Costa-Amic
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Miguel Ángel Asturias |
| Publisher | Ediciones Costa-Amic |
| Year | 1946 (published 30 August 1946, Mexico City) |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first: Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1946, in Spanish |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first: Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1946, in Spanish. Points: Costa-Amic imprint (NOT Losada/Buenos Aires); published 30 August 1946; self-financed by Asturias with support from his family (his mother's funds), after the manuscript was rejected by other houses; issued privately in wrappers; the text carries the numerous uncorrected typographical errors of the original setting and LACKS the substantial authorial revisions later introduced for the definitive Losada text of 1952. Genuinely scarce owing to very limited/poor distribution.

## Is this the true first?
Precedence — Original Spanish first edition: Costa-Amic, Mexico City, 1946 (30 Aug 1946), self-financed, in wrappers. The corrected/revised definitive text did not appear until the Losada, Buenos Aires editions of 1948 and 1952 (the 1952 printing being the first definitive version with Asturias's substantial changes). First English translation: 'The President,' translated by Frances Partridge, Victor Gollancz, London, 1963; first US edition: Atheneum, New York, 1964.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Not applicable — 20th-century work; no BCE dating issues.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *El Señor Presidente* by Miguel Ángel Asturias a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/el-senor-presidente
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.