# Is "Taos Pueblo signed first" by Ansel Adams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Taos Pueblo signed first by Ansel Adams (Grabhorn Press, 1930) is identified by: The true first edition is the 1930 Grabhorn Press (San Francisco) folio, text by Mary Hunter Austin with twelve original photographs by Ansel Adams. The 1930 Grabhorn Press folio with actual tipped-in silver photographs, signed by both Austin and Adams in the colophon, is the true first and is the only edition containing original photographic prints.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition is the 1930 Grabhorn Press (San Francisco) folio, text by Mary Hunter Austin with twelve original photographs by Ansel Adams
- Limited to 108 copies (100 numbered for sale plus 8 hors-commerce / artist copies), each signed in ink by both Austin and Adams in the colophon
- Large folio (roughly 17 by 12.5 inches) hand-bound by Hazel Dreis in quarter tan morocco over orange buckram, with a Thunderbird motif designed by Angelo Valenti
- Critically, the twelve plates are genuine hand-made silver photographic prints tipped in (silver-bromide prints Adams printed himself on rag paper sensitized by William Dassonville), not halftone or gravure reproductions
- Confirm the ink signatures of both Austin and Adams in the colophon and that the plates are real mounted photographs
- Publisher imprint reads Grabhorn Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ansel Adams |
| Publisher | Grabhorn Press |
| Year | 1930 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition is the 1930 Grabhorn Press (San Francisco) folio, text by Mary Hunter Austin with twelve original photographs by… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first edition is the 1930 Grabhorn Press (San Francisco) folio, text by Mary Hunter Austin with twelve original photographs by Ansel Adams. Limited to 108 copies (100 numbered for sale plus 8 hors-commerce / artist copies), each signed in ink by both Austin and Adams in the colophon. Large folio (roughly 17 by 12.5 inches) hand-bound by Hazel Dreis in quarter tan morocco over orange buckram, with a Thunderbird motif designed by Angelo Valenti. Critically, the twelve plates are genuine hand-made silver photographic prints tipped in (silver-bromide prints Adams printed himself on rag paper sensitized by William Dassonville), not halftone or gravure reproductions. Confirm the ink signatures of both Austin and Adams in the colophon and that the plates are real mounted photographs.

## Is this the true first?
The 1930 Grabhorn Press folio with actual tipped-in silver photographs, signed by both Austin and Adams in the colophon, is the true first and is the only edition containing original photographic prints.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Do not confuse with the 1977 New York Graphic Society facsimile: it was limited to 950 copies, is signed by Adams alone, and reproduces the images as gravure plates rather than original silver prints. That 1977 edition (and any later reprint) is not the 1930 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Taos Pueblo signed first* by Ansel Adams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/taos-pueblo-signed-first
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.