1st editions
Chris Mckinney
How to ID First Editions...
Checking out first editions of King titles...
It can be difficult telling the first editions of some of his earlier
works. That changed with Firestarter. Following is a synopsis.
Published by Doubleday:
Carrie - '1974' on title page (TP). 'First Edition' on copyright (CP)
page. Date code "P6" on inner margin of page 199.
Salem's Lot - 'First Edition' on CP. Date code 'Q37' on page 439.
This book has two dust wrappers - first with a $8.95 price
(most of these have had their price clipped and stamped
with
the $7.95 price!) the second with a $7.95 price. Both have
'Father Cody' reference on DW. A third state dust wrapper
with 'Father Cody' corrected to 'Father Calahan' and
priced
at $7.95 was also done and is reported to be the most
common
of the three.
The Shining - 'First Edition' on CP. Date Code R49 on page 447.
Night Shift - '1978' on TP. 'First Edition' on CP. Date code S52 on page
336.
The Stand - 'First Edition' on CP. Date Code T39 on page 823.
Pet Sematary - '1983' on TP. 'First Edition' on CP, no other 'edition'
numbers. On back of first issue DW, Tabitha King's
'Caretakers' listed as 1982. Changed to 1983 on second
state.
Published by Viking:
The Dead Zone - No date on TP. 'First published in 1979 by the Viking
Press' on CP.
Different Seasons - No date on CP. 'First Published in 1982' on CP,
no other 'edition' numbers.
IT - No date on TP. 'First Published in 1986 by Viking Penguin Inc.' on
CP. No other numbering.
The Eyes of the Dragon - No date on TP. 'First Published in 1987 by
Viking
Penguin Inc.' on CP. No other numbering.
Misery - No date on TP. 'First Published in 1987 by Viking Penguin
Inc.'
on CP. No other numbering.
The Dark Half - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1989 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.' and
numbered
'1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' on CP.
Four Past Midnight - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1990 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.' and
numbered '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1' on CP.
Needful Things - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1991 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc' and numbered
'1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' on CP.
Gerald's Game - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1992 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc' and numbered
'1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' on CP.
Delores Claiborne - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1993 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.' and
numbered '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' on CP.
Nightmares and Dreamscapes - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1993
by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.'
and
numbered '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' on CP.
Rose Madder - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1995 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. and
numbered '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2' on CP.
Desperation - No Date on TP. 'First Published in 1996 by Viking
Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc. and
numbered '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1' on CP.
Published by Putnam:
The Tommyknockers - No date on TP. 'Copyright 1987 by Stephen King,
Tabitha King and Arthur B. Greene, Trustee", numbers
'1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10' above 'Permissions to come' on CP.
Red or Gold foil title lettering on front of dust
wrapper.
Some copies did not have 'permissions to come' on the
CP.
Published by New American Library (NAL):
Thinner - (Richard Bachman) - 'First printing, November 1984'on CP
numbers '1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9' below.
Published by Dutton:
The Regulators - (Richard Bachman) - 'First Trade Printing, October
1996'
on CP numbers '10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1' below.
The following are signed/numbered limited firsts - easy to spot. There
are
several variations on these books. Some are marked 'Presentation'
copies; Some
are marked 'Publisher's' copies. There are extra books printed to make
up
books lost in the mail. I have tried to give the best information I can,
but
am still open to any additions to this list which I can verify. Be that
as it
may, here we are:
Firestarter - Phantasia Press - 1980, 26 copies signed and lettered
A-Z with
asbestos board covers, dated July 8,1980.
725 copies signed and numbered and dated either July
5,6,7,8,1980.
Cujo - Mysterious Press - 1981, limited to 750 copies signed and
numbered.
(??) copies signed and lettered.
Christine - Donald M. Grant - 1983, limited to 1000 copies signed and
numbered.
26 (?) copies signed and lettered.
20 (?) publisher's copies.
The Talisman - Donald M. Grant - 1984, 2 Volume set in presentation box,
limited to copies 1200 copies signed and numbered.
1200 copies unsigned.
70 copies numbered and signed by King, Straub and all
10 illustrators.
30 Author's copies
52 (??) lettered copies - lettered A-ZZ(??) - signed by both
authors and all artitsts. These have the same limitation
page
as the 70 copy edition.
(?) unsigned publisher's copies.
Cycle of the Werewolf - The Land of Enchantment - 1983, limited to 100
copies
signed by King and Bernie Wrightson and numbered 1-100, with
a tipped in original drawing by Bernie Wrightson;
250 copies signed by King and Wrightson and numbered
101-350,
with no sketch
8 (?) publisher's copies.
7500 unsigned.
Eyes of the Dragon - Philtrum Press - 1984, 26 copies signed and
lettered
A-Z in red ink,
26 copies signed and lettered A-Z in black ink,
10 artists copies - signed.
250 copies signed and number 1-250 in red ink. 1000 copies
signed
and numbered 1-1000 in black ink.
(this edition predates and differs textually from the Viking
Edition).
Skeleton Crew - Scream Press - 1985, limited to 1000 copies signed and
numbered. (this edition includes the story 'The Revelations
of
Becka Paulson')
52 copies signed and lettered A-ZZ in a leather zippered
case.
Also, 17 presentation copies and one (1)(?) publishers copy
bound entirely differently.
Dolan's Cadillac - Lord John Press - 1989, limited to 26 copies signed
and
lettered A-Z, "specially bound" and slip-cased,
250 copies signed and numbered 1-250, quarter bound in
leather,
100 copies signed with a colophon imprinted 'Presentation
Copy'
1000 copies signed and numbered 1-1000.
Also, presentation copies (qty?)
My Pretty Pony - Whitney Museum of American Art - 1988, Metal cover
front
and back with front clock designed to stop functioning after
one year (though battery is replaceable).
limited to 35 copies signed and numbered I - XXXV.
250 copies copies signed and numbered 1 - 250, of which
only 150 were for sale.
50 copies signed and unnumbered(??)
(It is reported that ONLY the 35 authors copies are
numbered,
but I haven't been able to confirm either the numbering
OR the
lack thereof of the remaining 300 copies.)
The Stand - Complete and Uncut - Doubleday - 1990, packaged in a black
wooden box with a metal plate on the cover.
Limited to 1250 copies signed and numbered 1-1250 and 52
copies
signed and lettered A-ZZ.
It has been reported that a few copies with a different
metal plate on the box exist. I have been informed by
someone associated with the preparation of this edition
that no copies were released with a different plate.
Insomnia - Mark V. Ziesing Books - 1994, 1250 copies signed and
numbered 1-1250 leather bound,
6 (?) artist's copies.
3750 copies unsigned.
Desperation - Donald M Grant Publisher, Inc. - 1996, 2000 copies signed
and numbered 1-2000,
4000 copies unsigned.
The Regulators - Dutton - 1996, 500 copies signed and numbered, via
check, 1-500
30 Publisher's copies identical to the S&N copies (of a
planned 50 PC copies) 5 of which were used to replace
S&N copies that were damaged in shipping. The
remaining
25 have signed checks (62) that were done for the
planned
50 PC copies and are simply lettered "PC". (Not sure
which
of the 62 made it into the books.)
52 copies signed and lettered, via check,(A-ZZ?)
Six Stories - Philtrum Press, 1997, 900 copies, wraps, signed and
numbered 1-900.
200 copies, signed and numbered with roman numerals.
this is a paperback and is included as a curiosity only.
Now, The Dark Tower series:
The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger - Donald M. Grant - 1982,
12 Publishers copies,
35 signed lettered copies (A-Z and AA-II??),
500 copies signed and numbered 1-500.
10,000 copies unsigned.
10,000 copies unsigned, second printing.
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three - Donald M. Grant - 1987,
50 Publisher's copies - signed (?).
50 (?) Author's copies - signed (?).
35 signed and lettered copies (A-Z and AA-II??),
850 copies signed and numbered 1-850, of which only 800 were
for sale (Were the publisher copies the first 50 in this
run?),
30,000 copies unsigned.
The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands - Donald M. Grant - 1991,
1250 copies signed and numbered 1-1250 of which only 1200
were
for sale (were the first 50 once again the publisher's
copies?),
40,000 copies unsigned.
Since there were 35 lettered copies of the first two, I feel
certain that there are 35 lettered copies of this book
also.
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass - Donald M. Grant - 1997,
1200 copies signed and numbered 1-1200 of which only 1200
were
for sale (No word on publisher copies or if the total run
was
greater than 1200 - as with the last book in the series),
40,000 copies unsigned.
Ditto to the 35 lettered copies as I noted in the entry for
DTIII. THis is not for sure, though.
There have been some other 'publications' of King's works over the
years.
Danse Macbre - 1981 ... was issued in 3 versions of the first printing -
15 copies lettered A-O signed 'First Edition' on CP,
35 copies unsigned, with a tissue DW 'FIrst Edition' on CP,
250 copies signed and numbered with 'First Edition' on the
CP.
(The first trade edition has 'RRD281' - the '1' looks
like a
capital 'I' - on the CP)
Frankenstein or The Modern Prometheus - By Mary W. Shelley - 1983
4 page intro by King. Illustrated by Bernie Wrightson.
26 lettered and signed copies,
500 numbered and signed copies (both Wrightson and King)
a few 'out of series' signed copies (no numbers or
letters).
Also, there were four stories published under the Bachman Pseudonym.
These were paperbacks. They were collected under the NAL label in
"The Bachman Books. Four Early Novels by Stephen King" - The first
Edition of this combined work says 'First (Omnibus) Printing, October,
1985' and has the numbers '1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9' below this.
The Paperbacks were published by Signet and had
"First Printing (pub. date)
123456789"
at the bottom of the CP.
Also, The Green Mile is being published in PB. It is a 6 part
serialized novel. The first printings are from Signet and have
"First Printing (pub. date)
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"
on the CP.
These are (in most cases) world wide first editions. However, there are
others that have been released prior to the American editions. Examples
are
"ES" ("IT") - a German language edition in a full leather cover which
was published several weeks prior to the American
edition.
Unsigned. One of the rarest editions of SK's work - this
book
was recalled at the 'request' of SK and his publisher
and
only a few were ever sold.
"Rose Madder" - Which has been published in a 200 copy limited edition
in
Great Britain. Signed and numbered via bookplate.
"Insomnia" - Published in Great Britain in a 200 copy limited edition
signed and numbered via book plate.
WW first edition??.
"The Regulators" - Published in the UK as a 250 copy limited edition.
Unsigned.
"Desperation" - Published (along with The Regulators) as a 250 copy
limited
edition signed and numbered(??) via book plate.
And finally, while not a frist edition, this book bears speacial note as
the
first DT book published as a limited by anyone other than DMG. (Are
there
ANY other hard cover versions in any language?)
"Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass" Published in the UK as a 500 copy
limited
edition signed and numbered via book plate.
I am sure there are others, but I will limit this list to the American
editions with mention of World Wide editions of note for comparison.
--
John for e-mail, "mod_con" = "modcon"; "nospam.org" = "ionet.net"
JSM
Hmmm. At least he left in my signature line!
;)