The book is printed in a modest run. For two years, it gathers dust.
Over eighteen months, Fernández translates every footnote, every ceramic typology, every Quechua and Nahuatl phrase. The title becomes Las Culturas Precolombinas . It is published in 1958 by Fondo de Cultura Económica in a striking yellow-and-black cover. It sells out in six weeks.
He writes to Lehmann in Paris. The reply arrives three months later. Lehmann agrees on one condition: the Spanish edition must include a new preface acknowledging recent Mexican archaeological finds—specifically the newly dated . No cuts. No simplifications. Fernández agrees.