The original White Sands portfolio, produced in 1949, contained twelve photographs and was printed in an edition of fifty. In 1975 Weston printed a second edition of the portfolio in an edition of seventeen. It included eight of the original ten photographs made in the 1940s (negatives from two of the photographs in the original portfolio were damaged and unprintable), two others from the 1940s that had not been included in the first portfolio and two from 1975, for a total of twelve prints. This book contains the original ten photographs plus the four new pictures from Weston's 1975 edition. The original 1949 title page and the introduction by Nancy Newhall are reproduced in facsimile. Included is an Afterword by art historian Roger Aikin. As a bonus, the book includes an additional photograph along with a facsimile reproduction of Brett's letter describing the picture as "Edward's favorite". Although it was not included in either of the original portfolios, Brett included it as a gift with the portfolio from which this book has been reproduced.