Is My 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 1 - Farrar, Straus and Company (founding, c.1945/46-1950): No number line and no consistent 'First Edition' statement. Identify a first printing by the stylized interlocked 'FS' publisher's device on the copyright pa…
• ERA 3 - Farrar, Straus and Cudahy (1953-1963): Imprint line reads 'Farrar, Straus and Cudahy' after the 1953 Pellegrini & Cudahy merger. First printings state 'First Printing (year)' or 'First Published (year)' on the co…

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. The census note misses a real precedence point that is corrected here: 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. Name both: 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.

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 — 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.