Ciudad Santa Fe: Spanish Domination (1610-1821). / Cuidad Santa Fe: Volume II -- Mexican Rule 1821-1846 by STANLEY, F - 1958

Denver: The World Press, Inc, 1958. Hardcover. Complete 2-volume set. 8vo. Yellow cloth with red lettering, dust jackets. ix, 412pp; iii, 302pp. Near fine/very good. Very faintest of jacket edgewear, with spine of Volume II jacket lightly sunned. Appropriate brand-like ownership signature on front pastedown of first volume. A tight and quite nice first edition of this double decker, each limited to 500 copies. (Note misspelling of "Ciudad" in second volume, both on the jacket, binding and title page -- at least it's consistent!) Title page of first volume is boldly inscribed and signed by the author in blue ink "for Mr. L.H. Geddes / Sincerely / F Stanley / No 28," while the front flyleaf of the second volume bears an identical inscription and signature (sans number) in blue ballpoint. "F. Stanley" was the nom-de-plume of the mysterious Father Stanley Crocchiola (1908-96), a Catholic priest in Texas whose passion for writing history led him to author a prolific number of Western histories -- by one count 177, by another count 190. While some historians criticize him for factual errors, many others applaud his original research. The second volume was not published by World Press, but rather by Pampa Print Shop in Pampa, Texas. A scarce signed pair.