Selling N. Scott Momaday Books in Albuquerque
The 1968 Harper & Row House Made of Dawn first edition. The UNM Press Way to Rainy Mountain illustrated by his father Al Momaday. Memoir, poetry, signed copies with the hallmark ink-drawing flourish. Plain-language identification for northern-New-Mexico estate libraries.
Momaday sits differently in a New Mexico estate library than Hillerman or Anaya. He's an academic-household author. When I walk into a Santa Fe downsizing, a UNM professor's library, or a Corrales reader's shelf that has serious southwest nonfiction on it, Momaday is almost always there — and almost always next to Silko, Paula Gunn Allen, Joy Harjo, and Simon Ortiz. That's the shelf signal.
He was the writer who won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for House Made of Dawn and, in the process, is usually credited with opening the door for what became the Native American Renaissance in American literature. He lived across the Southwest — Jemez Springs as a child, Stanford for graduate school, then teaching appointments that included UNM and the University of Arizona. He was the Kiowa Poet Laureate of Oklahoma. He signed often, especially in Santa Fe and at UNM events, and he signed with a small drawing as often as not.
He died on February 24, 2024, which means the signing pool is now closed. That hasn't changed the pricing on clean signed first editions in any dramatic way — existing inventory is plenty — but it's why I'm writing this now. Momaday shelves are starting to come in more often, and the identification work gets skipped by almost every non-specialist sorter.
Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred
I won't post Momaday prices on the internet
Published prices on a volatile market are a disservice to everyone. What a signed House Made of Dawn first traded for two years ago isn't what it trades for today. What I'd pay depends on the jacket, the signature style, the inscription, and who else's books are on the shelf.
What I will do: identify what you have, tell you which pieces are worth photographing carefully, explain what the first-edition points are so you can be in the conversation, and — when you're ready — talk real numbers over the phone based on real photos of your real books. No ballpark estimates from a screenshot.
What's on this page
- The 1968 House Made of Dawn first edition — the 5-point check
- The UNM Press 1969 Way to Rainy Mountain — and the reprint trap
- The Names (1976) — the memoir
- The Ancient Child (1989) — the second novel
- The poetry — Angle of Geese, The Gourd Dancer, In the Presence of the Sun
- The essays — The Man Made of Words, Earth Keeper
- Signature authentication — and the ink-drawing flourish
- The shelf signal — Momaday + Silko + Allen + Harjo + Ortiz
- Your next step — send me photos
The 1968 Harper & Row House Made of Dawn first edition — the 5-point check
This is the book that won the 1969 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and it's the book that did more than any single volume to change American publishing's relationship to Native writing. The first-edition identification is the single most important thing on this entire page, because book-club editions are everywhere and they look superficially similar to non-specialist eyes.
Here's the 5-point check I run when a hardcover House Made of Dawn comes across the sort table:
- Imprint. Harper & Row, Publishers — New York, Evanston, and London — on the title page. The book was first published in 1968 in hardcover by Harper & Row. Any other imprint on a hardcover is either a foreign edition, a later reprint, or a book-club.
- Copyright page. Should say "FIRST EDITION" in small caps, with no later-printing language stacked below it. Book-club editions either omit the first-edition statement entirely or add something like "Book-of-the-Month Club Edition" or a year-stamped printing notice.
- Dust jacket price. The original jacket has a price on the front flap — clipped jackets (price cut off) and flapless jackets are a red flag for book-club provenance. Book club jackets are printed without a price. A clipped first-edition jacket isn't fatal but the flap price intact is the strongest single signal.
- Size and weight. The first edition is a full-trim hardcover with substantial paper. Book club editions are noticeably smaller, lighter, and thinner — you can feel the difference when you hold both at the same time. Width and height won't match.
- Blindstamp check. Flip the book over and run your thumb across the lower right corner of the back board, under the jacket. Book club editions usually have a small blindstamped square, circle, or maple-leaf shape pressed into the cloth. The first edition doesn't.
The UNM Press 1969 Way to Rainy Mountain — and the reprint trap
The University of New Mexico Press 1969 first edition of The Way to Rainy Mountain is one of the most important Kiowa-literature texts published in the twentieth century. It's illustrated throughout by Scott Momaday's father, Al Momaday, whose pen-and-ink drawings are integral to the book — not ornaments. The father-and-son collaboration is part of why the UNM Press first matters, separately and together.
Here's the problem most non-specialist sorters miss: the book stayed in print continuously at UNM Press for decades, and later printings say "University of New Mexico Press" on the title page just like the first. The distinction is on the copyright page.
- First printing: Copyright 1969, with no later-printing notation. Original jacket. Full-size hardcover.
- Later UNM Press printings: Copyright 1969, but with additional text like "Second printing, 1976" or a year-stamped printing history running down the page. Jackets change over time.
- Ballantine paperback reprint: Common and readable. Carries a fraction of the weight of the UNM Press hardcover first, regardless of condition.
- University of Arizona Press and later mass-market editions: Also common. Readable, donateable, but not the book collectors chase.
A signed UNM Press first is a meaningful piece — especially if the signature is in a UNM Press edition bought at a Santa Fe or Albuquerque signing, which is where the bulk of signed copies in northern-New-Mexico estates originated.
The Names: A Memoir (1976)
Harper & Row 1976 hardcover. Subtitle-on-title-page: A Memoir. Momaday's autobiographical account of his Kiowa heritage, his childhood at Jemez Pueblo where his parents taught at the Day School, and his family's long migration story. Less famous than House Made of Dawn, and that's part of what makes it valuable in an estate — the people who own this also own the deeper cuts.
First-edition identification follows the same Harper & Row pattern as House Made of Dawn: "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page, jacket price on the front flap, full-trim hardcover, no back-board blindstamp. Book club editions of memoirs are less common than of novels, but they exist.
Signed copies of The Names are worth their own conversation — Momaday did a lot of memoir-focused readings at Santa Fe venues in the late '70s and signed heavily.
The Ancient Child (1989)
Doubleday 1989 hardcover. Momaday's second novel, published 21 years after House Made of Dawn. Takes its structure from the Kiowa bear legend and interlaces Billy the Kid material — a more expansive, formally inventive book than the debut. Underrated in the broader cultural memory and, for that reason, genuinely collectible when it's a clean first in jacket.
First-edition identification: Doubleday 1989 imprint on the title page, "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page or a full number line with "1" present. The original jacket is distinctively designed — unclipped jacket flap matters. Book club editions of 1989-era Doubleday fiction are common and have the usual smaller-trim, blindstamped-back, clipped-flap fingerprints.
Signed copies from the 1989-1990 tour sometimes include a drawing of a bear — a direct reference to the novel's central Kiowa imagery. When that's what you see, you're looking at a signed first with authentic provenance.
The poetry — Angle of Geese, The Gourd Dancer, In the Presence of the Sun
Momaday's poetry is scholar-collected and small-print-run. The poetry hardcovers in a Santa Fe academic estate can be the most surprising pieces on the shelf because the people who bought them bought them at readings or from specialty presses and kept them meticulously.
- Angle of Geese and Other Poems (1974) — David R. Godine, Publisher. Small Boston fine-press house, limited-edition hardcover. Earliest collection of Momaday's poetry in book form. Scarce. If you have the Godine edition with the original glassine or jacket intact, take photos before you move anything.
- The Gourd Dancer (1976) — Harper & Row. Full-trim hardcover. First edition points are the Harper & Row pattern: "FIRST EDITION" on copyright page, priced jacket flap.
- In the Presence of the Sun: Stories and Poems, 1961–1991 (1992) — St. Martin's Press. Illustrated by Momaday himself. Combines earlier poetry with new work. The St. Martin's Press first in jacket is the meaningful one; later trade paperbacks are common.
- Again the Far Morning: New and Selected Poems (2011) — University of New Mexico Press. Later career, UNM Press hardcover. Meaningful for collectors who want late-period Momaday poetry in a durable edition.
The essays — The Man Made of Words, Earth Keeper, and the children's books
- The Man Made of Words: Essays, Stories, Passages (1997) — St. Martin's Press. The single best prose-essay collection for the range of Momaday's thinking about language, land, and Kiowa memory. Hardcover first edition in clean jacket is what to photograph.
- Earth Keeper: Reflections on the American Land (2020) — HarperCollins. Slim, beautifully made late volume. Signed copies from 2020-2023 readings exist and are the latest authentic Momaday signatures you'll see in any estate.
- Circle of Wonder: A Native American Christmas Story (1994) — Clear Light Publishers. Children's book illustrated by Momaday. Clear Light is a Santa Fe publisher; a signed first from a Santa Fe bookstore event is the version to identify.
- In the Bear's House (1999) — St. Martin's Press. Blending poetry, essay, and drawing — one of his more formally unusual books. Hardcover first in jacket matters.
None of these are individually as important as a 1968 House Made of Dawn or the UNM Press Rainy Mountain. But together, on a single shelf, they document a reader who followed Momaday's career for fifty years — which is exactly the kind of provenance that matters when a whole Momaday shelf comes through.
Signature authentication — and the ink-drawing flourish
Momaday was a visual artist as well as a writer. He drew, painted, and illustrated several of his own later books — which means his signatures often include a small drawing. A bear figure. A bird. A Kiowa-motif glyph. A simple line of horizon. In signed-with-drawing copies, the drawing is frequently the strongest authentication evidence, because facsimile plates and stamped signatures don't include drawings.
What authentic Momaday signatures look like
- Blue or black fountain-pen or felt-tip ink, always ink — never printed.
- "N. Scott Momaday" — he signed consistently with the "N." initial rather than "Navarre" (his given first name).
- Often dated, especially at bookstore signings where the store asked for dates.
- Often with a small drawing — bear, bird, horizon line, Kiowa motif — in the same ink, on the signing line or just above/below.
- On the half-title page or the title page of the book itself, not on a bookplate tipped in.
Three fake-type warnings
- Facsimile-plate signatures. A few reprints and special editions include a printed facsimile of Momaday's signature on a title page or a colophon. Printed. Not a real signature. Check with a loupe — printed ink sits on top of the paper uniformly; real ink varies in pressure and absorption.
- Tipped-in bookplates. A bookplate signed by Momaday and then pasted into a later printing is a real signature on a plate, but the book itself is not a signed first edition. Distinguish the two in the sale conversation.
- Inscription without signature. A personal inscription ("For Mary, with warmth —") in Momaday's hand but without a separate signature is less valuable than a signed-and-inscribed copy. Rare but it happens.
The shelf signal — Momaday + Silko + Allen + Harjo + Ortiz
If a single shelf in a home has Momaday hardcovers alongside Leslie Marmon Silko, Paula Gunn Allen, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, Luci Tapahonso, and some UNM Press academic titles, you are looking at a Native American Renaissance collection built deliberately, probably over decades, probably by someone with a scholarly or teaching connection to the material.
Those shelves behave differently from a general estate. The individual titles matter more. The provenance — bookplates, inscriptions, library-donation signatures from authors who knew the owner — matters more. And the decision about whether to break them up for sale or keep them together as a teaching collection is often emotionally significant to the family, not just financial.
My strong preference when a shelf like this comes in: photograph the whole shelf before anything is pulled, separate the inscribed copies from the plain copies, and have a real conversation with the family about whether the collection wants to stay together. Sometimes the best outcome is a university archive donation, not a resale. I'll tell you when that's the case, because the first thing I want to do with a Native Literature teaching library is keep it intact if possible.
Text a photo to 702-496-4214 before you sort anything
Shelf shot first, then copyright pages of the hardcovers. I'll tell you which titles I'd buy, which I'd donate into circulation, and — if it's a built collection — whether a university archive is worth the conversation.
What people ask about selling Momadays in Albuquerque
How do I know if I have a 1968 first edition of House Made of Dawn? +
Harper & Row 1968 hardcover. The copyright page should say simply "First Edition" with no later-printing language stacked beneath it. The original dust jacket is muted earth-tone with the Harper colophon and should show a price on the front flap — a clipped or missing flap price is the number one book-club tell. Book club editions also run smaller and lighter, with no jacket price and often a blindstamp indent on the back board. If you have the jacket price intact and a clean "First Edition" statement, photograph the copyright page, the jacket flaps, and the spine before you do anything else.
Is the UNM Press 1969 Way to Rainy Mountain different from the Ballantine paperback? +
Yes, and it matters. The University of New Mexico Press 1969 first edition is the one illustrated by Al Momaday — Scott Momaday's father — and it's the edition scholars and collectors chase. The Ballantine paperback reprint is readable and common but carries a fraction of the weight. If the book has the UNM Press imprint on the title page, shows the original jacket with the UNM Press colophon, and includes Al Momaday's pen-and-ink illustrations at full quality, you have the one that matters.
Why is Momaday's signature sometimes paired with a small drawing? +
Because Momaday was a visual artist as well as a writer — he painted, drew, and illustrated some of his own later books. Signed-with-drawing copies are common in Santa Fe and Oklahoma City estate libraries because he signed at readings and bookstore events with that flourish. A bear figure, a bird, or a simple Kiowa motif beside the signature is authentic Momaday — facsimile plates don't include the drawing, so the drawing is actually useful authentication evidence when it's in ink and integrated with the signature.
Does it matter that Momaday died in February 2024? +
For the written work itself, no — literary significance was set well before he died. For the signing pool, yes. The supply of new signed copies stopped on February 24, 2024. Signatures already in the wild are now a closed population, which is what happens with every signed author eventually. Don't let anyone use this fact to rush you, though — existing signed inventory is plenty, and nobody reasonable is going to price a clean signed House Made of Dawn first edition any differently in 2026 than they did in 2023. The point is that if you have signed Momadays, take your time and photograph them carefully.
I have a bunch of Momaday paperbacks — are those worth anything separately? +
The paperbacks (Harper Perennial, Ballantine, Signet, University of Arizona Press reissues) are common and don't separate from the main shelf — they're readable trade paperbacks. What I care about in a mixed Momaday shelf is whether the hardcovers include the 1968 House Made of Dawn, the UNM Press Rainy Mountain, signed copies of any title, and the smaller-press poetry volumes like the Godine Angle of Geese limited edition. The paperbacks come along with the whole collection; I don't need to pull them separately.
What's the most common mistake sellers make with Momaday? +
Two, and they're related. First: mistaking a University of New Mexico Press later printing for the 1969 first because both say "UNM Press" on the title page. Check the copyright page for later-printing language. Second: treating a Ballantine or University of Arizona Press Way to Rainy Mountain paperback as equivalent to the UNM Press first. They're not. The Al Momaday illustrations survive reprints, which makes the printing distinction easy to miss — but the first edition is the one collectors want.
I have a whole academic or Santa Fe household shelf — what should I do first? +
Photograph before you sort. A Momaday shelf that also has Silko, Paula Gunn Allen, Joy Harjo, Simon Ortiz, and UNM Press academic titles is a built-by-someone-who-knew library, and the pieces are worth more as a provenance-intact group than picked apart. Text the photos to 702-496-4214 — shelf shot, then copyright pages of the hardcovers — and I'll tell you which titles I'd buy, what I'd donate into circulation, and what should just stay on the shelf because it's irreplaceable to the family.
Related Pillar Guides
Selling Leslie Marmon Silko Books
The Laguna circle author who sits on almost every Momaday shelf — Ceremony first edition, Storyteller oversize-jacket problem, the academic-estate pattern.
Selling Simon J. Ortiz Books
Acoma Pueblo poet — the voice Momaday's 1968 House Made of Dawn Pulitzer cleared the ground for. Ortiz's 1976 Navajo Community College Press Going for the Rain and the 1981 From Sand Creek Thunder's Mouth shelve with Momaday in every serious Native American Renaissance collection in Albuquerque.
Selling Edward Abbey Books
The Abbey shelf that turns up next to almost every Momaday shelf — 6-point Monkey Wrench Gang Lippincott/R. Crumb first check, Desert Solitaire reissue trap, the UNM thesis, and closed-signing-pool authentication.