# Is "The Old Gringo" by Carlos Fuentes (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden & the author) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Old Gringo by Carlos Fuentes (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden & the author) (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York, 1985) is identified by: First English edition, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with the author: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, October 1985, octavo, 199 pages. The true first edition is the Spanish 'Gringo viejo' (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 1985).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First English edition, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with the author: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, October 1985, octavo, 199 pages
- Bound in white cloth spine over burnt-orange paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt, in the publisher's decorated dust jacket whose printed price should be present on the flap
- A translation of 'Gringo viejo'; the novel is built around the disappearance of the American writer Ambrose Bierce during the Mexican Revolution, and was noted as the first novel by a Mexican author to become a US bestseller
- Signed copies exist
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Carlos Fuentes (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden & the author) |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus & Giroux, New York |
| Year | 1985 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English edition, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with the author: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, October 1985, octavo, 199… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First English edition, translated by Margaret Sayers Peden with the author: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, October 1985, octavo, 199 pages. Bound in white cloth spine over burnt-orange paper-covered boards, stamped in gilt, in the publisher's decorated dust jacket whose printed price should be present on the flap. A translation of 'Gringo viejo'; the novel is built around the disappearance of the American writer Ambrose Bierce during the Mexican Revolution, and was noted as the first novel by a Mexican author to become a US bestseller. Signed copies exist.

## Is this the true first?
The true first edition is the Spanish 'Gringo viejo' (Fondo de Cultura Económica, Mexico, 1985). The English Farrar, Straus & Giroux edition appeared in 1985 as well; the Spanish is generally cited as the true first, and some sources place the English translation in the year following the Spanish. The English text differs from the Spanish in wording and chapter count, reflecting the author's collaboration on the translation.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Harper and Farrar, Straus paperbacks (including the FSG Classics reissue) are reprints, not the 1985 white-cloth-and-orange-boards cloth first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Old Gringo* by Carlos Fuentes (trans. Margaret Sayers Peden & the author) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-old-gringo
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.