Ride the Pink Horse

US Duell, Sloan and Pearce (New York) 1946 is the true first edition; the census claim is confirmed. No British hardcover preceding the 1946 US printing was located. Some dealers catalogue the 1946 Duell as the "First American Edition" — that is house cataloguing style and does not imply an earlier English edition exists. The Bantam paperback and all later reissues, including the modern American Mystery Classics reprint, are "first thus" traps; likewise the 1947 Robert Montgomery film generated tie-in printings that are not firsts. The novel's Santa Fe Fiesta setting makes this a natural New Mexico collecting title, which is a provenance interest, not a bibliographic point.