# Is "Sacred Clowns" by Tony Hillerman a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sacred Clowns by Tony Hillerman (HarperCollins, 1993) is identified by: The trade first is HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-016767-X), octavo, 305 pp., bound in half white cloth over rust-colored boards, in a priced jacket with cover art by Peter Thorpe depicting a koshare (Pueblo sacred clown) against a pueblo village in an oval. The census claim of a "US-only first" is incorrect: a first UK edition was published by Michael Joseph, London, also dated 1993 (ISBN 0-7181-3527-X, jacket illustration by Janet Pontin), recorded by the Tony Hillerman Portal (University of New Mexico); some listings date the Michael Joseph 1994.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The trade first is HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-016767-X), octavo, 305 pp., bound in half white cloth over rust-colored boards, in a priced jacket with cover art by Peter Thorpe depicting a koshare (Pueblo sacred clown) against a pueblo village in an oval
- Dealers identify the first printing by the "FIRST EDITION" statement on the copyright page; the Quill & Brush publisher guide records that HarperCollins states "First Edition" alongside a number row and warns the statement was sometimes left standing on later printings, so the number row must be checked as well
- Two separate signed limited issues exist and are not the trade first: a numbered, slipcased signed limited (dealer and auction descriptions give the limitation variously as 500 and as 526 copies — check the limitation leaf), and Buffalo Medicine Press copies carrying an original hand-drawn or watercolored Ernest Franklin illustration tipped in at the half-title
- Publisher imprint reads HarperCollins
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tony Hillerman |
| Publisher | HarperCollins |
| Year | 1993 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The trade first is HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-016767-X), octavo, 305 pp., bound in half white cloth over rust-colored boards… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The trade first is HarperCollins, New York, 1993 (ISBN 0-06-016767-X), octavo, 305 pp., bound in half white cloth over rust-colored boards, in a priced jacket with cover art by Peter Thorpe depicting a koshare (Pueblo sacred clown) against a pueblo village in an oval. Dealers identify the first printing by the "FIRST EDITION" statement on the copyright page; the Quill & Brush publisher guide records that HarperCollins states "First Edition" alongside a number row and warns the statement was sometimes left standing on later printings, so the number row must be checked as well. Two separate signed limited issues exist and are not the trade first: a numbered, slipcased signed limited (dealer and auction descriptions give the limitation variously as 500 and as 526 copies — check the limitation leaf), and Buffalo Medicine Press copies carrying an original hand-drawn or watercolored Ernest Franklin illustration tipped in at the half-title.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim of a "US-only first" is incorrect: a first UK edition was published by Michael Joseph, London, also dated 1993 (ISBN 0-7181-3527-X, jacket illustration by Janet Pontin), recorded by the Tony Hillerman Portal (University of New Mexico); some listings date the Michael Joseph 1994. The US HarperCollins printing is the edition collected as the true first for this American author and American publisher; the Michael Joseph is collected as the first UK. Both are collected, and neither should be described as the only first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Sacred Clowns was a Mystery Guild selection and a Literary Guild / Doubleday Book Club alternate, so club copies are common. Tells: a blind stamp (dot, circle, square or similar) impressed into the rear board near the spine; no price present at the jacket flap; frequently a small contrasting code block on the rear panel and a vertical string of numbers near the margin of the last page. A club copy can still print "First Edition" on the copyright page — the physical tells govern.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sacred Clowns* by Tony Hillerman a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sacred-clowns
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.