The Great Taos Bank Robbery – The Mystery of its Two States
by Bob Maddox
Squid Ink
Books
Tucson, Arizona
Background
Tony Hillerman’s book, The
Great Taos Bank Robbery and Other Indian Country Affairs, was first
published, in hard cover, by the University
of New Mexico Press in
1973. It consists of nine essays written by Hillerman about incidents,
characters, and places in New Mexico.
This was Hillerman’s first non-fiction book and it followed two mysteries and a
childrens’ book. A third mystery, Dance
Hall of the Dead, was also published in 1973, but apparently after the
non-fiction title.
Over the years Hillerman’s books have become very
collectible in their first editions. Louis A. Hieb published a bibliography of
Hillerman writing titled, Tony Hillerman:
From The Blessing Way to Talking God A Bibliography (Press of the Gigantic
Hound, Tucson, 1990). This book has become the definitive reference regarding
Hillerman books published from 1970 through 1989. Hieb (p.59-60) describes the
two states of The Great Taos Bank Robbery as follows:
“Binding: Two issues
exist which have identical cover and
spine lettering but differ with regard to cloth and end-paper colors and dust
jackets. Cover lettering: [decorative
band]/The. Great/Taos/Bank Robbery/[two rules]/ And Other Indian Country
Affairs / [decorative band]. Spine lettering: [vertically] HILLERMAN /
[horizontally, decorative device]/ [vertically] THE GREAT TAOS BANK ROBBERY/ [horizontally,
decorative device]/ [vertically] NEW
MEXICO.
1. Yellowish gray (93) cloth lettered in black (267) . Light yellowish
brown (near 76) endpapers. Illustrated
paper jacket printed in grayish brown (61) with single illustration (Shiprock)
on back panel.
2. Grayish yellow (90) cloth lettered in black (267). Yellowish white
(92) endpapers. Illustrated paper jacket
printed in medium purplish blue (200) with two illustrations on back panel.
Jacket design[s] by
Dan Stouffer. Price $5.95.
Hieb refers to a state one book and jacket that is bound in
gray cloth , with a yellow tint, having a jacket with a single drawing of
Shiprock on the back panel. The second state of the book is described as being
bound in yellow cloth, with a gray tint, having a jacket with two illustrations
on the back. These are a photograph of the Church of San Jose de Gracia, Las
Trampas, New Mexico,
above the drawing of Shiprock.
The book notes, in both states, on the copyright page,
“Designed by Dan Stouffer.” The jacket design is credited to Dan Stouffer on
the back flap of both states. Dan is an artist who worked for the University of New Mexico Press until 1979 and several
of the illustrations are also by him. The jackets are distinctly different,
more so than one would think given Hieb’s bibliographic descriptions. The
jacket referred to as state 1 is on textured stock that is of a light yellow
color. The jacket referred to as state 2 is on heavier, non-textured stock that
is of a light orange color.
Today in the book collectors’ market the book in grey cloth which
has the single drawing on the rear dust jacket panel is usually referred to as
the first state book and jacket, which commands slightly higher prices than the
second state variant. Ernie Bulow (writer, bookseller, and publisher) had
written in an article in Firsts
Collecting Modern First Editions magazine (“Collecting Tony Hillerman”,
June issue of 1994) that Hillerman and people at the University of New Mexico Press
did not know which variant came first, but that he had no reason to question
Hieb’s bibliography. However, in a NOTE added to a Hillerman price list that
Bulow distributed by mail to his customers during the summer of 2007, he wrote:
“When Louis Hieb
published his bibliography of Hillerman in 1990 he noted two states of this
publication. One dust jacket had a single photo on the back, the other had two
photos. Since Hieb listed the books in that order, it was assumed that was the
first and second state and everyone has held to that order ever since. I asked
Tony at the time and he couldn’t remember. I asked Jack Rittenhouse who had
been the director of the press at the time and he couldn’t remember either.
Since I found the single photo version more aesthetic than the other, I felt it
had to be the second state, since it didn’t make sense to make the jacket less
attractive. A few years later a noted book dealer from Southern
California gave me a copy for Tony to sign. It was the version
with two photos. It had all the review material laid in the front and every
indication showed they had been there all along. As far as I am concerned that
settled the issue once and for all. The other order persists.”
Bulow had ended up questioning the sequence of the two
versions reported by Hieb, but to a limited audience. Currently (early November,
2013) there are 42 first editions listed for sale on ABE Books. Fifteen are
indentified as 1st state, 11 are identified as 2nd state, and 14 listings do
not mention states of the book. There are two listings that question the
validity of the states noted by Hieb. So, the current situation is muddled, but
most booksellers follow Hieb’s bibliography.
A visit from Marvin McIntyre
Last spring Marvin McIntyre and his wife visited me here at
Squid Ink Books. They were in town for the Tucson Festival of Books. Marvin is
an internet book dealer (McInBooks) from Farmington,
New Mexico. He noticed a copy of The Great Taos Bank Robbery on my
shelves and mentioned that the states of this book were different than had been
reported by Hieb. He said that he knew this because they were friends with Dan
Stouffer, who had designed the book and jacket back in 1973.
Marvin had mentioned to Dan at an art show (a year or so ago)
that there were two states of the book that he (Dan) had designed. Dan was not
aware of this and checked the copy that he had when he returned home. He wrote
the following noted to Marvin:
“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.”
Below are photos of Dan Stouffer holding the first bound
copy of The Great Taos Bank Robbery.
The following photos illustrate the dramatic differences
between the two states of both the book and the dust jacket (the true 1st state
is shown at left or on top).
Louis Hieb had apparently discussed the two states of this
book in reverse chronological order when he prepared his Hillerman
bibliography. So, part of this mystery has been solved by Dan Stouffer, former
employee of the University
of New Mexico Press.
The rest of the mystery
I exchanged emails with Dan, hoping to find out when the
book and jacket were redone in the second state. He responded that he was never
aware of any changes to the book while he was at the Press – i.e., up to 1979.
Current staff at the Press were also unaware that there had been changes to the
book and jacket. An important question remains: When and why was the book
modified? The changes were not subtle or minor changes and the two variants of
the book and jacket are quite different. However, the page blocks are identical
and the price is the same on both variants.
I have a hypothesis regarding what may have transpired. The
Press issued its first trade paperback edition of The Great Taos Bank Robbery in 1980. I think that someone at the
Press decided to do a new printing of the hardback version at this time, making
changes to the binding and jacket (the second state jacket is clearly more simple,
printed on lighter weight stock, and probably more economical). However, the
plates were apparently used without making any changes or adding a second
printing statement. This makes some sense, since Hillerman’s popularity had
increased rapidly as his Navajo mysteries drew greater and greater attention.
Similar things have happened at other University
Presses. The example I am most familiar with is that of Aldo Leopold’s A Sand County Almanac from Oxford
University Press. An edition was printed several years after the First Edition
had come out. This edition had a slightly modified binding and a jacket with a
new price and blurbs on the back panel that clearly show that it was printed
several years after the original printing. Some think that this particular
edition used left over pages from the original first printing.
