Sunstone Press First Editions — The Definitive Collector's Identification Guide

When you pull a softcover with a small circular petroglyph design on the spine from a shelf in an Albuquerque estate library, odds are strong you are holding a Sunstone Press title. Sunstone has been the anchor independent publisher in Santa Fe since 1971, quietly producing the books that documented Southwest architecture, Hispano history, regional cooking, and literary culture when the major New York houses had no interest in any of it. The press is not flashy. It has never had a bestseller in the national sense. But for collectors of New Mexico and Southwest regional publishing, Sunstone Press occupies a foundational position — the steady, productive independent voice that filled the gap between the academic university presses and the fine-press limited editions that collectors chase at the high end of the market.

I handle Sunstone Press books constantly through NMLP intake. They surface in nearly every estate library I process across the Albuquerque metro and northern New Mexico. A retired schoolteacher's collection from the North Valley will have five or six. A Santa Fe historian's library will have thirty. They are the connective tissue of Southwest regional publishing, and this guide exists because identifying the first editions correctly — distinguishing them from the reprints and later printings that Sunstone has kept in circulation for decades — is a skill that matters for collectors and for anyone evaluating a library. If you have Sunstone Press books to sell or donate, I handle any quantity through my free pickup service.

Last verified May 2026 · Original research by Josh Eldred

The Press and Its Founder

Sunstone Press first editions are increasingly sought-after regional-press collectibles, with early titles commanding premium prices. Sunstone Press was founded in 1971 by James Clois Smith Jr. in Santa Fe, New Mexico. The press has operated continuously from Santa Fe for over five decades, with offices at 239 Johnson Street in the historic downtown district and a mailing address at PO Box 2321, Santa Fe, NM 87504. Smith has led the press as president through its entire history — an extraordinary continuity for an independent publisher in a period that has seen most small regional presses either fold, get acquired, or cycle through multiple ownership changes.

The original focus was nonfiction that preserved and documented the cultural, historical, and natural heritage of the American Southwest. In the 1970s and 1980s, this meant a catalog heavy on Southwest history, Native American culture, and regional architecture — subjects that were underserved by both the university presses (which skewed academic) and the New York trade houses (which had minimal interest in regional nonfiction about New Mexico). Sunstone filled this gap with trade-quality paperbacks and modest hardcover editions priced for the general reader in Santa Fe and Albuquerque bookstores, museum gift shops, and the nascent Southwest regional-interest distribution channels.

Over the decades the catalog expanded to include fiction, poetry, children's books, and titles with broader appeal, but the Southwest regional core has remained the spine of the list. The press earned recognition from industry reviewers including Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Library Journal, along with institutional honors including the Heritage Preservation Award from the State of New Mexico and multiple Spur Awards from the Western Writers of America.

The press navigated the disruptions of the digital era with the pragmatism characteristic of a small publisher run by its founder. When the decline of independent bookstores and the rise of online retail made the old distribution model unsustainable, Sunstone adapted by embracing print-on-demand technology and adding e-book editions to its catalog. The press filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in the early 2010s — a financial restructuring, not a closure — and emerged continuing to publish. The catalog has grown to include hundreds of titles, with many backlist titles kept continuously available through on-demand printing. This persistence matters for collectors: it means that true first editions of popular Sunstone titles can be distinguished from the later print-on-demand reprints by physical characteristics, paper quality, and binding details that I'll cover below.

Key Subject Areas and Their Collecting Significance

The Sunstone catalog organizes around several core subject areas, each of which has a distinct collector profile.

Southwest Architecture

This is one of Sunstone's signature strengths and one of its most collected categories. Titles like Ageless Adobe: History and Preservation in Southwestern Architecture by Jerome Iowa and Adobe Houses for Today: Flexible Plans for Your Adobe Home by Laura and Alex Sanchez represent the press's commitment to documenting adobe construction, Pueblo Revival design, and Southwest architectural preservation. These books connect directly to the broader Southwest architecture collecting tradition and are sought by both architectural historians and collectors of regional material culture.

Southwest History

Sunstone's history catalog spans the full chronological range of the Southwest, from Spanish colonial exploration through the territorial period, statehood, and modern New Mexico. The press published key works by Marc Simmons (1937–2023), the historian widely regarded as the dean of New Mexico history, including Turquoise and Six-Guns: The Story of Cerrillos, New Mexico, Charles F. Lummis: Author and Adventurer, Southwestern Colonial Ironwork: The Spanish Blacksmithing Tradition (with Frank Turley), and New Mexico Mavericks: Stories from a Fabled Past. The Simmons Sunstone titles sit within a broader bibliography of more than forty books published across multiple houses — collectors tracking Simmons comprehensively need to know which titles are Sunstone originals versus which appeared under other imprints.

Hispano Literature and History

Sunstone became an important publisher of Hispano New Mexico literature and history through its relationship with Fray Angelico Chavez (1910–1996). Chavez — a Franciscan friar, historian, poet, and painter — is one of the most significant literary figures in New Mexico history, and Sunstone published or brought back into print several of his essential works. But Time and Chance: The Story of Padre Martinez of Taos, 1793–1867 and La Conquistadora: The Autobiography of an Ancient Statue are core Sunstone titles in the Chavez bibliography. Sunstone also republished Chavez's My Penitente Land: Reflections on Spanish New Mexico, which had originally appeared with the University of New Mexico Press in 1974 — the Sunstone reprint edition is distinct from the UNM Press original, and collectors should not confuse them.

Art, Cooking, and Regional Culture

The press has published extensively on Southwest art, Native American culture, regional cooking, and cultural traditions. Cooking titles connect to the New Mexico cookbook collecting tradition. Art and Native American titles overlap with museum-shop distribution channels, which gave Sunstone an important retail presence in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, and Bandelier that supplemented standard bookstore distribution.

Poetry and Literary Fiction

Sunstone's poetry and fiction catalog is smaller than its nonfiction program but includes notable Southwest literary voices. Poetry chapbooks and slim literary volumes from the Sunstone catalog are among the scarcest titles in the press's output because print runs were minimal and the audience was concentrated among the Santa Fe literary community.

First Edition Identification

Identifying Sunstone Press first editions requires attention to six elements: the logo, the copyright page statement, the ISBN prefix, the binding, the dust jacket, and the paper stock. Sunstone's practices have evolved over five decades, so the identification conventions differ by era.

Distinguishing Sunstone Originals from Reprint Editions

Because Sunstone both originated titles and brought previously published titles back into print, collectors need to distinguish three categories. First: Sunstone originals — titles first published by Sunstone Press, where the Sunstone first edition is the true first edition. Second: Sunstone reprints of other publishers' titles — titles that originally appeared with UNM Press, the University of Oklahoma Press, or other houses and were later republished by Sunstone. The Chavez My Penitente Land is the key example: the 1974 UNM Press edition is the true first, and the Sunstone edition is a reprint regardless of whether it says "first" on the copyright page. Third: Sunstone titles later republished by others — rare, but some early Sunstone titles have appeared in other editions. The ISBN prefix is the fastest way to sort this: if it starts with 0-913270 or 0-86534, it is a Sunstone edition. Cross-reference against the original publisher and date for titles that moved between houses.

The Most Collected Sunstone Press Titles

Not every Sunstone title is collected. The catalog includes hundreds of titles ranging from genuinely significant historical works to modest regional-interest booklets. The following titles represent the core of what collectors seek, organized by the tier framework used throughout the NMLP collecting guides.

Top Tier: The Essential Sunstone Titles

• But Time and Chance: The Story of Padre Martinez of Taos, 1793–1867 by Fray Angelico Chavez. The definitive biography of the controversial Padre of Taos by the foremost Hispano historian of the twentieth century. Originally published in 1981 by Sunstone Press (ISBN prefix 0-913270). Signed copies from the closed Chavez signature pool (d. March 18, 1996) are the most collected Sunstone titles.
• La Conquistadora: The Autobiography of an Ancient Statue by Fray Angelico Chavez. Chavez lets the famous willow-wood statue of My Lady brought to New Mexico in 1625 speak her own story. The Sunstone edition (ISBN 0-913270-43-1) is a revised edition of a work originally published in 1954. Collectors prize the Sunstone edition for the Chavez revisions and annotations.
• Turquoise and Six-Guns: The Story of Cerrillos, New Mexico by Marc Simmons. The history of turquoise mining and frontier life in the Cerrillos mining district south of Santa Fe. A Sunstone original that has remained in the press catalog for decades. First-edition copies with the original cover art are sought. Signed copies from the closed Simmons signature pool (d. September 14, 2023) carry a meaningful premium.

Strong Collector Interest

• Southwestern Colonial Ironwork: The Spanish Blacksmithing Tradition by Marc Simmons and Frank Turley. The first historical and practical survey of ornamental and utilitarian ironwork in the Spanish colonial Southwest. A Sunstone original that bridges the Hispano material culture and craft-history collecting traditions.
• Charles F. Lummis: Author and Adventurer by Marc Simmons. A biographical study of the journalist, photographer, and preservationist who championed Indian rights and Hispano culture while introducing Easterners to the heritage of the Southwest. A Sunstone original connecting to the broader narrative of Southwest cultural promotion.
• New Mexico Mavericks: Stories from a Fabled Past by Marc Simmons. Collected frontier stories from across New Mexico history. A Sunstone original that represents Simmons's narrative gift for making Southwest history accessible to general readers.
• Ageless Adobe: History and Preservation in Southwestern Architecture by Jerome Iowa. More than two hundred illustrations documenting adobe preservation methods and architectural history. A core title in the Sunstone architecture catalog and a practical reference that is used as well as collected.
• Adobe Architecture: A Simple Guide with Plans for Building with Earth by Myrtle and Wilfred Stedman. A practical building guide that has remained in the Sunstone catalog since its original publication. Early printings on offset paper are the collected state.

Regional Collector Interest

• Adobe Houses for Today: Flexible Plans for Your Adobe Home by Laura and Alex Sanchez. Twelve plans for compact adobe homes in modern and traditional styles. Collected by both architecture enthusiasts and Southwest lifestyle collectors.
• Stalking Billy the Kid by Marc Simmons. Simmons's contribution to the vast Billy the Kid bibliography, bringing his characteristic primary-source rigor to the most mythologized figure in New Mexico frontier history.
• Sunstone poetry chapbooks — Various authors. The slimmest and scarcest items in the Sunstone catalog. Print runs were minimal, distribution was almost entirely through Santa Fe bookstores, and survival rates are low. Individual titles vary widely in collector interest based on the author's subsequent reputation.
• Southwest cooking titles — Sunstone's cooking catalog connects to the New Mexico cookbook collecting tradition. First editions of early Sunstone cooking titles with original cover art are collected as part of the broader Southwest culinary-publishing record.
• Native American culture and folklore titles — Sunstone's catalog of Indian folktales, legends, and cultural studies represents the press's engagement with the indigenous literary and oral traditions of the Southwest. Early titles in this category with the 0-913270 ISBN prefix are the most collected.

Condition and Grading Notes

Sunstone Press books present specific condition challenges that differ from those of the major trade publishers. Understanding these patterns is essential for accurate grading.

Sun fading. The dominant condition issue for Sunstone titles. These books spent their lives on shelves in Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Taos, and other high-altitude, high-UV-exposure locations. Spine fading on softcover editions is endemic. Cover art that was originally in warm earth tones can fade to washed-out pastels after decades of New Mexico sunlight. Collectors who care about condition should look for copies that were stored spine-in on shelves or in enclosed bookcases rather than displayed face-out in sunny rooms.

Softcover binding durability. Sunstone softcovers from the 1970s and 1980s were well-made by the standards of small-press trade paperbacks, but the card-stock covers are susceptible to corner bumping, spine creasing from opening, and edge wear from retail handling. A tight, uncreased Sunstone softcover from this era is genuinely uncommon. The difference between a Fine and a Very Good softcover is significant in the collector market.

Dust jacket survival. For Sunstone hardcovers, dust jacket survival follows the pattern typical of small-press regional titles: many copies entered circulation through museum shops and gift stores where jackets were removed, price-stickered, or otherwise damaged. A Sunstone hardcover with a clean, unchipped dust jacket in the original state is the exception rather than the rule. Price-clipped jackets (where the price was cut from the front flap) are common and represent a modest condition note rather than a serious deficiency for all but the top-tier titles.

Inscriptions and bookplates. Because Sunstone books circulated primarily within the tight-knit Santa Fe and northern New Mexico literary and historical community, inscriptions and bookplates from notable prior owners are not uncommon. A Sunstone title inscribed by the author to another known Southwest literary figure constitutes an association copy with collector significance beyond the base edition.

The Collecting Market

The market for Sunstone Press first editions operates in three distinct tiers, consistent with the framework used across all NMLP collecting guides. No dollar amounts — the tiers describe relative collector interest and scarcity.

Tier One: Signed First Editions by Closed-Pool Authors

The highest tier consists of signed first editions by authors whose signature pools are permanently closed. For Sunstone Press, the two critical closed pools are Fray Angelico Chavez (d. March 18, 1996) and Marc Simmons (d. September 14, 2023). No new signed copies of their Sunstone titles will ever enter the market. The supply is fixed and diminishing as copies enter institutional collections and leave private circulation. Signed Chavez Sunstone titles have been in a closed pool for nearly three decades; the Simmons pool closed more recently, and the market is still absorbing the implications. These are documented in the closed signature pools reference.

Tier Two: Unsigned First Editions of Key Titles

The second tier consists of unsigned first editions of the most significant Sunstone titles — the architecture books, the Chavez histories, the Simmons frontier narratives. These are collected based on the importance of the content, the scarcity of true first printings versus later reprints, and the condition premium for clean copies. The print runs for most Sunstone titles were modest by national standards — a first printing of a Sunstone regional-history title might run to one or two thousand copies. That is not a tiny edition by small-press standards, but it means that clean firsts in collectible condition are not abundant.

Tier Three: The Broader Catalog

The third tier encompasses the rest of the Sunstone catalog: the general-interest Southwest titles, the later reprints of earlier works, the cooking and architecture titles that are useful but not individually significant. These books have reading value and regional-reference value, but collector interest is modest. The exception is when a copy turns out to be an association copy with provenance linking it to the Santa Fe literary community — then it jumps from Tier Three to Tier One regardless of the title itself.

The Sunstone collecting market is concentrated among a relatively small community of Southwest regional-book collectors, ABAA dealers who specialize in Western Americana, and institutional libraries building comprehensive Southwest collections. Santa Fe bookstores — particularly the surviving independent shops — remain an important venue for Sunstone titles both as new books and as secondhand copies that circulate within the local community.

Sunstone Press in the Southwest Publishing Ecosystem

Sunstone occupies a specific position within the broader Southwest publisher landscape that collectors should understand. The press is not a university press like UNM Press (founded 1929), which has the academic infrastructure, peer review, and institutional funding of a major research university. It is not a museum press like the Museum of New Mexico Press, which publishes primarily in connection with exhibition programs and institutional collections. It is not a fine press in the tradition of Carl Hertzog or the Rydal Press, where production values and limited editions are the point.

Sunstone is an independent trade publisher — commercially operated, founder-led, producing books for the general reading public with a strong regional focus. Its closest analogs in the Southwest publishing world are Ancient City Press (Santa Fe, founded 1961) and Clear Light Publishers (Santa Fe, founded 1981), both of which operated in similar territory. What distinguishes Sunstone from these peers is longevity: fifty-plus years of continuous operation under the same founder, producing a catalog of hundreds of titles that collectively constitute a significant documentation of Southwest culture, history, and built environment.

For collectors sorting through an estate library that contains titles from multiple Southwest publishers, the key differentiation is this: a Sunstone first edition is valuable as a Sunstone first edition when the title is significant, the author is collected, and the condition is strong. A Sunstone reprint of a title that originally appeared elsewhere is a Sunstone product but not a first edition in the bibliographic sense. The identification skills covered above — logo, ISBN prefix, copyright page convention, binding, paper stock — let you make that determination quickly and accurately.