# Is "The Land of the Pueblos" by Susan E. Wallace a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Land of the Pueblos by Susan E. Wallace (John B. Alden, 1888) is identified by: Alden, 1888, octavo, collating 285 pages, illustrated with twelve plates, most reproducing photographs of Pueblo and Zuni subjects but including two full-page plates after sketches by Lew Wallace (the frontispiece and a view of El Palacio in Santa Fe).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: John B. Alden, 1888, octavo, collating 285 pages, illustrated with twelve plates, most reproducing photographs of Pueblo and Zuni subjects but including two full-page plates after sketches by Lew Wallace (the frontispiece and a view of El Palacio in Santa Fe)
- First-edition copies are recorded in more than one publisher's cloth, including tan cloth stamped in black with a pueblo scene and dark green cloth with gilt lettering and black-embossed decoration
- The essays collected here, on Pueblo life, ruins, and folklore of the New Mexico Territory, had first appeared separately in the Independent, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Tribune; the author, wife of Territorial Governor Lew Wallace, joined him in Santa Fe in 1879, during the governorship in which he completed "Ben-Hur."
- Publisher imprint reads John B. Alden
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Susan E. Wallace |
| Publisher | John B. Alden |
| Year | 1888 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: John B. Alden, 1888, octavo, collating 285 pages, illustrated with twelve plates, most reproducing photographs of Pueblo and Zuni… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
New York: John B. Alden, 1888, octavo, collating 285 pages, illustrated with twelve plates, most reproducing photographs of Pueblo and Zuni subjects but including two full-page plates after sketches by Lew Wallace (the frontispiece and a view of El Palacio in Santa Fe). First-edition copies are recorded in more than one publisher's cloth, including tan cloth stamped in black with a pueblo scene and dark green cloth with gilt lettering and black-embossed decoration. The essays collected here, on Pueblo life, ruins, and folklore of the New Mexico Territory, had first appeared separately in the Independent, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Tribune; the author, wife of Territorial Governor Lew Wallace, joined him in Santa Fe in 1879, during the governorship in which he completed "Ben-Hur."

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Land of the Pueblos* by Susan E. Wallace a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-land-of-the-pueblos
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.