# Is "Masked Gods" by Frank Waters a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Masked Gods by Frank Waters (University of New Mexico Press, 1950) is identified by: The first edition of Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1950 printing, 438 pages, illustrated and decorated by Ralph Douglass, professor of art at the University of New Mexico; a contemporary scholarly review in The Americas independently records the Albuquerque/UNM Press/1950/438pp collation. The census is right that the UNM Press 1950 printing is the true first, but "UNM Press 1950 only" understates the trap and is corrected here: a Sage Books / Swallow Press SECOND edition is also dated 1950 and is cataloged variously at Denver and at Chicago, so the year alone identifies nothing.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition of Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1950 printing, 438 pages, illustrated and decorated by Ralph Douglass, professor of art at the University of New Mexico; a contemporary scholarly review in The Americas independently records the Albuquerque/UNM Press/1950/438pp collation
- The trade issue is tan cloth with black spine lettering and a black Hopi pottery design across the upper third of the front board, with endpapers adapted from an Acoma pottery cloud-and-rain design
- Identification runs on the IMPRINT, not on a printed statement: no source consulted confirms a copyright-page edition statement for this book, so verify the University of New Mexico Press / Albuquerque imprint on the title page and rule out the Sage/Swallow issue below rather than looking for a stated first
- A separate numbered issue of 300 copies also exists, distinguished by a limitation leaf signed by Frank Waters — dealers record copies numbered 31, 49, 183 and 228 of 300 — and it is that signed limitation page, not an inscription on the half-title, that identifies it
- Jacketed copies carry the price at the flap
- Publisher imprint reads University of New Mexico Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frank Waters |
| Publisher | University of New Mexico Press |
| Year | 1950 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition of Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1950 printing, 438… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first edition of Masked Gods: Navaho and Pueblo Ceremonialism is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, 1950 printing, 438 pages, illustrated and decorated by Ralph Douglass, professor of art at the University of New Mexico; a contemporary scholarly review in The Americas independently records the Albuquerque/UNM Press/1950/438pp collation. The trade issue is tan cloth with black spine lettering and a black Hopi pottery design across the upper third of the front board, with endpapers adapted from an Acoma pottery cloud-and-rain design. Identification runs on the IMPRINT, not on a printed statement: no source consulted confirms a copyright-page edition statement for this book, so verify the University of New Mexico Press / Albuquerque imprint on the title page and rule out the Sage/Swallow issue below rather than looking for a stated first. A separate numbered issue of 300 copies also exists, distinguished by a limitation leaf signed by Frank Waters — dealers record copies numbered 31, 49, 183 and 228 of 300 — and it is that signed limitation page, not an inscription on the half-title, that identifies it. Jacketed copies carry the price at the flap.

## Is this the true first?
The census is right that the UNM Press 1950 printing is the true first, but "UNM Press 1950 only" understates the trap and is corrected here: a Sage Books / Swallow Press SECOND edition is also dated 1950 and is cataloged variously at Denver and at Chicago, so the year alone identifies nothing. Multiple ABAA and independent dealers list the Sage/Swallow book explicitly as the second edition. US-only, English-language original; no UK or foreign edition precedes it. Both the UNM Press trade issue and the signed, numbered limited issue of 300 are collected.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The dominant reprint tell is the Sage Books/Swallow Press issue bearing the same 1950 date — check the title-page imprint, because "1950" alone does not mean first. Later reissues that are "first thus" rather than firsts include Swallow Press printings (1970 and 1975), Ballantine and later University of New Mexico Press paperbacks (recorded circa 1962, 1972, 1973, 1984 and 1987), and the Swallow Press/Ohio University Press edition under ISBN 0-8040-0641-5. One dealer reports that the 300-copy limited issue was made up from original first-edition sheets recovered at the bindery after the book had been out of print for about eighteen months, but that account is single-sourced and is flagged here as unverified.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Masked Gods* by Frank Waters a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/masked-gods
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.