Selling Max Evans Books in Albuquerque
The Rounders, The Hi Lo Country, Bluefeather Fellini, and the New Mexico cowboy-canon estate shelf
Max Evans · 1924–2020
Max Evans is New Mexico's definitive cowboy novelist. He worked cattle in Union County as a teenager, painted with the Taos Moderns in the 1950s, wrote The Rounders in 1960, The Hi Lo Country in 1961, and Bluefeather Fellini in 1993, and spent the last four decades of his life on Ridgecrest Drive SE in Albuquerque as the unofficial dean of New Mexico regional letters. Both The Rounders and The Hi Lo Country became films — Burt Kennedy's 1965 MGM Rounders with Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford, and Stephen Frears's 1998 Gramercy Hi Lo Country with Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, and Patricia Arquette. He died in Albuquerque in August 2020 at age 95. His signature pool is closed, and every signed copy still in circulation is now the entire signed-copy market forever.
Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred
Pillar Contents
Why collect Max Evans
Because Evans is the only New Mexico writer whose career crossed all three of the regional canons that matter to Albuquerque estate shelves — working cowboy literature, Taos Moderns visual-arts milieu, and Hollywood New Mexico film. He was friends with Sam Peckinpah, Brian Keith, Slim Pickens, Morgan Paull, and the Hi Lo Country film crew. His nonfiction books on Peckinpah (Sam Peckinpah: Master of Violence, 1972) and on the Taos modernist Woody Crumbo (This Chosen Place: Finding Shangri-La on the 4UR, 2006) put him adjacent to two collector communities — film-history and Taos art — that rarely overlap with cowboy fiction. That three-way adjacency is what makes his estate-shelf fingerprint so recognizable.
Max Evans — first editions by year
Long John Dunn of Taos
1959 · Westernlore PressEvans's first book — a biography of the Taos gambler. Scarce in first edition in jacket. Four-figure territory for sharp copies.
The Rounders
1960 · Macmillan (US)The breakthrough cowboy novella. First edition first printing has no book-club markings, original dust jacket with MGM-tie-in absent (that came later), stated first printing on copyright page. Sharp firsts in jacket are the cornerstone of any Evans shelf.
The Hi Lo Country
1961 · Macmillan (US)The second cowboy novel, set in Union County. 1998 film tie-in editions are abundant and inexpensive; 1961 Macmillan firsts in jacket are scarce and collectible.
The One-Eyed Sky
1963 · Houghton MifflinA cowboy novella plus two stories. Less valuable than the first two but part of any complete shelf.
Southwest Wind
1958 · NaylorEvans's first collection of stories, predating The Rounders. Very scarce. The Naylor Texas imprint.
My Pardner
1963 · Houghton MifflinCowboy novella, paired often with The One-Eyed Sky.
Shadow of Thunder
1969 · Swallow PressNovel.
Sam Peckinpah: Master of Violence
1972 · Dakota PressEvans's first book-length film-history study. The co-author was Robert Willott. Scarce; important crossover piece for Peckinpah collectors.
Bluefeather Fellini
1993 · University Press of ColoradoThe magnum-opus novel — twenty years in the writing. A first edition hardcover in jacket is a solid mid-tier collectible, signed copies more so.
Bluefeather Fellini in the Sacred Realm
1994 · University Press of ColoradoThe second half of the magnum opus, published a year later. Matched-set premium applies.
Hi Lo to Hollywood
1998 · Texas Christian University PressMemoir. Released around the Hi Lo Country film. Useful reference, mid-tier collectible.
Super Bull and Other True Escapades
1998 · University Press of ColoradoShort fiction/nonfiction collection.
Madam Millie: Bordellos from Silver City to Ketchikan
2002 · University of New Mexico PressUNM Press biography. Respected regional work. Signed copies are widely available through the late UNM Press signings.
Now and Forever
2003 · University of New Mexico PressNovel.
This Chosen Place: Finding Shangri-La on the 4UR
2006 · University of New Mexico PressBiography of the Taos painter Woody Crumbo. Taos art-collector crossover piece.
Goin' Crazy with Sam Peckinpah and All My Friends
2014 · University of New Mexico PressMemoir of Evans's friendship with Peckinpah. Film-history crossover. Signed copies from the UNM Press launch circulate.
Film & television adaptations
- The Rounders — 1965 MGM, directed by Burt Kennedy, starring Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, and Chill Wills
- The Hi Lo Country — 1998 Gramercy/Polygram, directed by Stephen Frears (produced by Martin Scorsese), starring Billy Crudup, Woody Harrelson, Patricia Arquette, and Penélope Cruz
Estate-shelf fingerprint
The Max Evans estate shelf in Albuquerque has four overlapping profiles. Profile one is the ranching-family estate — Union County, Colfax County, Harding County ancestry; Evans's novels were written about the country these families worked. Profile two is the Taos art-scene estate — Evans painted with the Taos Moderns in the 1950s, and those estates often carry his 1950s and 1960s hardcovers alongside Taos-painter monographs. Profile three is the New Mexico film-industry estate — producers, crew, and Santa Fe film-scene households who collected Evans as Peckinpah’s New Mexico friend. Profile four is the UNM Press regional-history shelf — the late UNM Press books (Madam Millie, This Chosen Place, Goin’ Crazy with Sam Peckinpah) arrived signed in volume at the author's own Albuquerque readings from 2002 through 2014.
Pricing & condition notes
Sharp 1960 Macmillan Rounders firsts with jacket land in the upper three to low four figures for signed copies; unsigned firsts in jacket hold mid to upper three figures. 1961 Macmillan Hi Lo Country firsts in jacket similar or slightly stronger because the 1998 Scorsese-produced film lifted the title's profile. Bluefeather Fellini matched first-edition set in jacket, signed on both volumes by Evans, is the tentpole mid-tier piece — solid three figures. The UNM Press late-career titles signed in stock run mid double to low three figures each. Film tie-in paperback editions (1965 Rounders, 1998 Hi Lo Country) are common and inexpensive — below a few dollars each unless signed.
What not to do
Do not cut or clip jackets. Do not re-glue split spines on Bluefeather Fellini paperbacks — they arrive naturally split and should be sold as-is. Do not conflate 1998 film-tie-in paperback editions of Hi Lo Country with 1961 Macmillan firsts — they have different ISBNs, different jacket imagery, and very different values. Do not assume every Evans signature is authentic; Evans signed heavily at Albuquerque readings in the 2000s and 2010s, but the 1960s and 1970s signatures are scarcer and correspondingly more prone to forgery.
Frequently asked questions
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Free pickup in Albuquerque and the Rio Grande corridor. I come to the house, I sort and grade the collection, I handle every title — the common reading copies, the mid-tier firsts, and the pillar-tier signature pieces. No stress, no donation-center triage, no trip to Goodwill.