The Delight Makers

The Delight Makers (1890) is a novel by Adolph Francis Alphonse Bandelier with an introduction by Charles Fletcher Lummis. Written after nearly a decade of research spent living among the Pueblo tribes of New Mexico, The Delight Makers attempts to recreate the past through a blend of fiction and historical analysis. This unique anthropological novel, although naturally limited in scope due to Bandelier’s western worldview, is nevertheless a fascinating example of creative scholarship and a well-intentioned project by an important preservationist of America’s indigenous history. “It is a narrow valley, nowhere broader than half a mile; and from where it begins in the west to where it closes in a dark and gloomy entrance, scarcely wide enough for two men to pass abreast, in the east, its length does not exceed six miles. Its southern rim is formed by the slope of a timbered mesa, and that slope is partly overgrown by shrubbery.” Set in the beautiful landscape of New Mexico, The Delight Makers is the story of the Queres, ancestors of the modern Pueblos. Once a powerful people ruled by the secretive Koshare, or “Delight Makers,” the Queres faced opposition between local clans and eventually engaged in a catastrophic war with the Tehua tribe. This edition of The Delight Makers is a classic of American literature reimagined for modern readers. Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book. With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.