The Great Taos Bank Robbery [Signed Twice]

Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973. Very Good/Very Good. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1973. First Edition (stated), in *correct* first state dust jacket with two photos to rear (see below). Signed twice by Hillerman, presumably from the style at two different dates, without inscription on front free endpaper and on half title.

Octavo; [viii], 147pp. Illustrated dust jacket with $5.95 price intact. Boards in muted mustard cloth with black lettering. Jacket rubbed at corners, with a but of dulling to spine and very shallow chipping at head. Boards are clean and square. Front board opens easily with a tiny superficial split to paper at head of gutter. Binding is sound and pages unmarked.

The received wisdom, passed down from Louis A. Hieb's standard Hillerman bibliography, has generally given priority to the single-photo jacket and brownish endpapers, but a 2013 blog article "The Great Taos Bank Robbery: The Mystery of its Two States (published later in the May-June 2015 issue of Firsts Magazine) claims this priority is flipped, with corroboration from the book's jacket designer Dan Stouffer via fellow bookseller Marvin McIntyre of McInBooks. Stouffer wrote to McIntyre:

"You had asked about the first edition of The Great Taos Bank Robbery, so I checked mine and there are two illustrations on the back of the jacket. A photo of Las Trampas (I think) and my Shiprock illustration below. I know this is the first one, because the bindery foreman always called me down to the printing plant to inspect the first one off the line. I gave my approval and took it upstairs for Tony to sign and he wrote a very complimentary note to me, which I treasure."

[See the October 31, 2013 post on the Squid Ink Spots blog (online) or the 2015 Firsts Magazine article for more].