# Is "The Missions of New Mexico, 1776" by Francisco Atanasio Domínguez a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Missions of New Mexico, 1776 by Francisco Atanasio Domínguez (University of New Mexico Press, 1956) is identified by: The first edition is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, copyright 1956 printing: xxi, 387 pages, illustrated, with maps (one folding) and facsimiles, 28 cm, recorded by the Library of Congress under card number 55-12223 (call number F799.D64). The 1956 University of New Mexico Press printing is the true first edition of this translation.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, copyright 1956 printing: xxi, 387 pages, illustrated, with maps (one folding) and facsimiles, 28 cm, recorded by the Library of Congress under card number 55-12223 (call number F799.D64)
- The copyright page reads "Copyright University of New Mexico Press 1956, All Rights Reserved" with the Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 55-12223 and carries no edition statement and no later-printing line, so the working test is the 1956 copyright with no printing statement and no ISBN. The full title is The Missions of New Mexico, 1776: A Description by Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, with Other Contemporary Documents, translated and annotated by Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angélico Chávez, with drawings by Horace T. Pierce
- The title page is printed in red and black, with the title and a seal device in red
- A color plate of the reredos of Our Lady of Light, 1776, is tipped in as the frontispiece, and the front panel of the jacket notes forty-four illustrations
- The leaf after the copyright page carries the printed dedication "France Vinton Scholes, His Book"; it appears in every copy and honors the historian, so it is not an ownership mark
- The copy examined for this entry is bound in pale linen-grain cloth, in a jacket printed in red, black and cream with a line drawing of a mission church on the front panel, and the front flap carries the printed price
- Publisher imprint reads University of New Mexico Press

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Francisco Atanasio Domínguez |
| Publisher | University of New Mexico Press |
| Year | 1956 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, copyright 1956 printing: xxi, 387 pages, illustrated, with maps (one… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first edition is the University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, copyright 1956 printing: xxi, 387 pages, illustrated, with maps (one folding) and facsimiles, 28 cm, recorded by the Library of Congress under card number 55-12223 (call number F799.D64). The copyright page reads "Copyright University of New Mexico Press 1956, All Rights Reserved" with the Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 55-12223 and carries no edition statement and no later-printing line, so the working test is the 1956 copyright with no printing statement and no ISBN. The full title is The Missions of New Mexico, 1776: A Description by Fray Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, with Other Contemporary Documents, translated and annotated by Eleanor B. Adams and Fray Angélico Chávez, with drawings by Horace T. Pierce. The title page is printed in red and black, with the title and a seal device in red. A color plate of the reredos of Our Lady of Light, 1776, is tipped in as the frontispiece, and the front panel of the jacket notes forty-four illustrations. The leaf after the copyright page carries the printed dedication "France Vinton Scholes, His Book"; it appears in every copy and honors the historian, so it is not an ownership mark. The copy examined for this entry is bound in pale linen-grain cloth, in a jacket printed in red, black and cream with a line drawing of a mission church on the front panel, and the front flap carries the printed price.

## Is this the true first?
The 1956 University of New Mexico Press printing is the true first edition of this translation. It is a US first, published in Albuquerque, and no earlier edition of the translation exists.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is documented. Reprint tells: the University of New Mexico Press reissued the book in 1975 with an ISBN (0-8263-0373-0), and dealers describe a 1975 bicentennial limited issue, numbered and signed by Adams and Chávez, bound in three-quarter leather and housed in a slipcase; treat those limited-issue details as dealer-reported. Sunstone Press of Santa Fe reprinted the book in 2012 (ISBN 978-0-86534-869-1), noting that it was originally published by the University of New Mexico Press in 1956, and print-on-demand reprints appeared in 2021. Any ISBN, a 1975 date, or a Sunstone or print-on-demand imprint rules out the first edition. Do not confuse it with John L. Kessell's separate book, The Missions of New Mexico Since 1776 (University of New Mexico Press, 1980).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Missions of New Mexico, 1776* by Francisco Atanasio Domínguez a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-missions-of-new-mexico-1776
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.