Is My Copy of Lamy of Santa Fe: His Life and Times a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Farrar, Straus and Giroux's practice from 1965 onward is to state "First edition", "First printing" or "First published" with the year on the copyright page; for this book dealers describing firsts quote it as "First printing so stated", and a second printing of the 1975 hardcover exists that retains the 1975 date but drops the statement
• The trade issue collates xvi + 524 pages (final leaf blank; commonly cited as 523 pp.), with 16 plates of black-and-white photographs and an endpaper map printed in yellow and black
• Bound in black cloth, the spine lettered and decorated in gilt, the upper board decorated in blind, with the top edge stained purple, in a pictorial jacket with the price present at the front flap (jackets are often found price-clipped)
• ISBN 0-374-18300-7

How Farrar, Straus and Giroux marked a first edition

• ERA 5 - Farrar, Straus and Giroux, statement era (1964-c.2001): Imprint line reads 'Farrar, Straus and Giroux'; Robert Lowell's 'For the Union Dead' (1964) is the first FSG-imprint title. Generally NO number line…

Full Farrar, Straus and Giroux first-edition guide →

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 US 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?

US-only true first: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1975 (Pulitzer Prize for History, 1976); no contemporaneous UK edition traced in the sources consulted. There is a real precedence point: the 1975 first edition was issued in two forms, which is why dealers catalogue the black-cloth issue specifically as the "first trade edition". A signed, numbered large-paper limited issue was published alongside it, in a slipcase and without a jacket as issued. Both are collected: the signed large-paper limited issue and the black-cloth trade issue. The limitation figure is not settled in the sources consulted -- one dealer describes it as one of 500 large-paper copies while numbering a copy "#63 of 490" -- so the figure should be read off the limitation leaf of the copy in hand rather than assumed. "First thus" trap: the FSG/Noonday trade paperback (ISBN 0-374-51588-3).

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club printing is documented in the sources consulted. The routine confusions for this title are the later FSG/Noonday trade paperback and the second printing of the 1975 hardcover -- one dealer listing explicitly offers a "2nd printing", which keeps the 1975 date on the title page but lacks the first-printing statement. The copyright page must be read; the title-page date will not settle it.P-040383

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Lamy of Santa Fe: His Life and Times a first edition?

A first edition of Lamy of Santa Fe: His Life and Times by Paul Horgan (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) is identified by: Farrar, Straus and Giroux's practice from 1965 onward is to state "First edition", "First printing" or "First published" with the year on the copyright page; for this book dealers describing firsts quote it as "First printing so stated", and a second printing of the 1975 hardcover exists that retains the 1975 date but drops the statement.

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. US-only true first: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1975 (Pulitzer Prize for History, 1976); no contemporaneous UK edition traced in the sources consulted.

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

No book-club printing is documented in the sources consulted. The routine confusions for this title are the later FSG/Noonday trade paperback and the second printing of the 1975 hardcover -- one dealer listing explicitly offers a "2nd printing", which keeps the 1975 date on the title page but lacks the first-printing statement. The copyright page must be read; the title-page date will not settle it.

I have a first edition of Lamy of Santa Fe: His Life and Times — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.