Cell Common
What it’s about
On an ordinary October afternoon in Boston, a mysterious signal known as "the Pulse" sweeps through the world's cell-phone network, instantly turning every person on a call into a mindless, savage attacker. Graphic novelist Clayton Riddell, who happens not to be on his phone, must fight his way out of the collapsing city and across New England in a desperate bid to find his estranged wife and young son. A lean, fast-moving apocalyptic horror novel about how the device in everyone's pocket could become the instrument of civilization's undoing.
Significance A 2006 #1 bestseller and one of King's signature zombie-apocalypse novels (dedicated to George Romero and Richard Matheson); adapted into a 2016 film starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, with King co-writing the screenplay.
How to spot a true first 30-second check
A true 1st/1st needs BOTH the book and the jacket verified. A first-state jacket on a later or book-club book — or the reverse — is a married copy, not a first.
What to look for
- Number line must read "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" all the way to the 1 — lowest digit 2/3/etc = a later printing.
- Confirm $26.95 is intact on the front flap; a price-clipped corner is a condition/value hit and can hide a club price.
- Book Club tell: no flap price (or "Book Club Edition" on lower flap), lighter cheap paper, smaller trim, glued not sewn, often a blind-stamp on the rear board.
- Match the jacket to the book — beware married jackets: book's line must end in 1 AND the jacket must show $26.95.
- Huge ~1.1M first printing means true fine/fine firsts are common and cheap, so watch for ex-library, remainder marks, and remarried club jackets, not high-end fakes.
- No Doubleday gutter code and no small-press limited precede it — the Scribner US trade hardcover is the true first.
Verified listings marker-checked
Each copy screened against the seller's own photos. ✓ confirmed = a photo shows the decisive marker; ⚠ not pictured = the shot to ask for before buying. Condition grades are as-pictured.
Buyer beware — verify before you buy. These are our screening opinions, read from each seller’s own photographs; we can misjudge a copy or misread an image. A listing marked “1st/1st confirmed” is not a guarantee — independently confirm the decisive book and jacket markers with the seller before any purchase. Authentication and the buying decision remain the buyer’s responsibility.
Fully confirmed NF/NF first — line, priced flap and barcode all pictured; ~$25.66 delivered, a clean copy at/under fair.
- Number line — Photo 5 shows the full Scribner first-printing line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" down to the 1 — decisive tell, legibly pictured.
- Copyright — Copyright © 2006 by Stephen King, no reprint/later line; correct trade ISBN 978-0-7432-9233-7.
- Jacket price — Front flap U.S. $26.95 / Can. $34.95, unclipped; rear barcode '52695' confirms full retail (not a BCE).
- Binding — Sewn textblock visible at the fore-edge (photo 3) — trade block, not the glued/lighter BCE.
- Dust jacket — Correct Mark Stutzman cracked-pavement art, John Fulbrook III design.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
A Scribner trade first/first with the decisive tell in hand — the complete number line is photographed square-on and fully legible, and the rear panel carries the $26.95 retail barcode code; the priced front flap, the boards under the jacket and the endpapers are all still unphotographed.
- Number line — Photo 4 is a straight-on, fully legible copyright page carrying the complete Scribner first-printing line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — running down to the 1, exactly as the decisive tell requires.
- Copyright — The same frame (photo 4) reads "Copyright © 2006 by Stephen King", the Scribner flame over 1230 Avenue of the Americas, the Macmillan Library Reference USA licence line, "Manufactured in the United States of America", text set in Garamond No. 3, and the trade ISBN 978-0-7432-9233-7 / 0-7432-9233-2, with no reprint or later-printing statement anywhere on the page.
- Jacket price (rear barcode) — Photo 3 enlarges to a legible rear barcode block: ISBN-13 978-0-7432-9233-7 / ISBN-10 0-7432-9233-2 over barcode 9780743292337 with the price add-on "52695" = $26.95 — a priced retail jacket, not a club issue's bare panel. (The "0106" printed at the panel edge is a jacket printing code, noted for the record only; it is not a first-edition tell for this title.)
- Dust jacket — Photos 1, 2 and 3 show the correct Stutzman art (cracked pavement, spilled red, broken flip-phone, faces reflected in the pool), the CELL / sneaker / STEPHEN KING / SCRIBNER / keys spine, and the correct rear author photograph of King in the train doorway.
- Jacket price (front flap) — The front inner flap appears in no frame, so the rubric's own jacket-price marker is unread; ask for a straight-on shot of the top of the front flap showing "U.S. $26.95 / Can. $34.95" with the corner fully in view so the clip status is settled.
- Binding — The jacket is never lifted in any of the four frames; ask for the naked book showing the black cloth spine over red paper-covered boards with silver spine lettering.
- Endpapers / edges — No frame opens the book and no frame reads the text-block edges squarely; ask for the front free endpaper and a clear shot of the bottom edge.
Confirmed first, but the white jacket is soiled/scuffed (NF/VG+); $20 ask is fair for a verified-but-marked copy.
- Number line — Copyright page legibly shows the full first-printing line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" containing the 1 — decisive tell pictured.
- Copyright — Copyright © 2006 by Stephen King, no reprint statement; Scribner/Macmillan license; trade ISBN 978-0-7432-9233-7.
- Jacket price — Front flap U.S. $26.95 / Can. $34.95, unclipped — correct first state.
- Dust jacket — Correct Scribner trade art (cracked sidewalk, spilled red, flip-phone), SCRIBNER spine; full rear barcode (not a BCE).
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
A Scribner trade first/first — the complete first-printing number line reads clearly on the copyright page and the rear panel carries the $26.95 retail barcode code, with the front flap, the boards beneath the jacket and the endpapers still to be pictured.
- Number line — Photo 3 catches the copyright page at an angle but wholly legible, showing the complete line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" running down to the 1 — the operative first-printing tell for this title.
- Copyright — The same frame (photo 3) carries "Copyright © 2006 by Stephen King", the Scribner flame over 1230 Avenue of the Americas, the Macmillan Library Reference USA licence line, Erich Hobbing's design credit, Garamond No. 3, "Manufactured in the United States of America" and ISBN 978-0-7432-9233-7 — with no reprint statement present.
- Jacket price (rear barcode) — Photo 2 shows the rear barcode block crisply: ISBN-13 978-0-7432-9233-7 / ISBN-10 0-7432-9233-2 over barcode 9780743292337 with the add-on "52695" = $26.95, plus the "0106" jacket printing code at the panel edge (recorded for description only, not an edition tell). Correcting our own file: an earlier record described a rear "price box" reading $26.95/$36.95 CAN — no such box exists on this jacket, only the barcode add-on, and the Canadian trade price is $34.95.
- Dust jacket — Photo 1 shows the correct first-edition Stutzman art (cracked pavement, spilled red, broken flip-phone, reflected faces) and photo 4 the CELL / sneaker / STEPHEN KING / SCRIBNER / keys spine.
- Text-block edges (fore-edge only) — Photo 5 shows the fore-edge square-on: plain unstained page edges, no writing or marking along that edge. The head of the block is glimpsed only obliquely, so no reading is offered on a top-edge stain, and this observation bears on condition and value, not on which printing the copy is.
- Jacket price (front flap) — The front inner flap is never photographed; ask for a straight-on shot of the top of the front flap showing "U.S. $26.95 / Can. $34.95" with the corner intact in frame.
- Binding — Every frame keeps the jacket on the book; ask for the jacket removed, showing the black cloth spine over red paper boards and the silver spine lettering.
- Endpapers / bottom edge — The book is never opened and only the fore-edge is read; ask for the front free endpaper and a clear shot of the bottom text-block edge.
Recorded at screening as a Scribner trade first/first on a complete number line and an unclipped $26.95 flap, but the sale is gone — eBay returns "item not found" and no copy of its four frames survives anywhere in our files, so nothing about this copy rests on a photograph anyone can look at today.
- Photographic re-verification (all markers) — eBay's Browse API returns "the specified legacy item Id was not found" for 365384321228 and no cached frame exists in our records, so not one marker could be re-opened this pass — every line in the screening record is now testimony rather than evidence, and nothing here should be treated as seen.
- Number line / copyright page — The decisive tell cannot be viewed; on any relist, ask first for a straight-on copyright page showing the complete line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" running down to the 1 before the copy is considered at all.
- Jacket price (front flap) — The priced flap cannot be viewed; on any relist, ask for a straight-on shot of the top of the front flap showing "U.S. $26.95 / Can. $34.95" with the corner in frame.
- Binding — No jacket-off frame was recorded even at screening; on any relist, ask for the naked book showing the black cloth spine over red paper boards with silver spine lettering.
- Endpapers / edges — The screening record mentions the front free endpaper but no frame survives to read it, and the text-block edges were never addressed; on any relist, ask for the front free endpaper and a clear shot of the bottom edge.
Confirmed NF/NF first; spine/boards unphotographed but minor-assumed. At $24 it sits at/below fair — a clean buy.
- Number line — Copyright page shows the complete line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" down to the 1 — decisive Scribner first-printing tell, photographed.
- Copyright — Copyright © 2006 by Stephen King; Scribner flame colophon + Macmillan license; trade ISBN on CP and rear barcode (not blank/clubbed).
- Jacket price — Front flap price box U.S. $26.95 / Can. $34.95, unclipped — correct first state.
- Dust jacket — Correct first-edition art (broken flip-phone, blood pool) and 'For Richard Matheson' dedication matching the trade first.
- Binding — Spine and boards not photographed (only 4 shots) — ask for a spine/board shot to rule out lean or board wear.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
The Scribner US trade hardcover IS the true first edition, first printing. Unlike early King titles (Dark Tower / Grant, The Eyes of the Dragon / Philtrum, Cycle of the Werewolf / Land of Enchantment), no small-press limited precedes Cell. The UK first (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006) is simultaneous-ish but the US printing is the true first for an American author. No Cemetery Dance / Donald M. Grant signed-limited of Cell was located; this title was a mass-market hardcover release.
First-printing points at a glance
Dust jacket
Color illustrated jacket. Front depicts a chaotic, panicked urban/crowd scene rendered in Stutzman's illustration with the title CELL prominent; spine and back continue the design; rear panel/flap carry the King author photo and publisher matter. Designed by John Fulbrook III around Stutzman's art. Phone/cell imagery ties to the novel's "Pulse" premise.
Art / design: Jacket illustration by Mark Stutzman; jacket design by John Fulbrook III
Also watch for: (1) Price-clipped jackets — corner snipped to hide a later/club price; reduces value, verify $26.95 is intact. (2) Married jackets — a later-printing or club jacket placed on a first-printing book (or vice versa); confirm the book's number line ends in 1 AND the jacket shows $26.95. (3) Remainder marks — a marker/spray line on the bottom text-block edge (this was a heavily printed title; remaindered copies are common and worth less). (4) Ex-library copies — stamps, pockets, stickers, mylar; much lower value. (5) Book Club copies misrepresented as firsts — check for the missing number line and lighter paper. (6) Autopen/secretarial "signed" copies — verify any signature. Given the huge print run, true firsts in fine/fine are inexpensive, so restored/facsimile-jacket fakes are not a major risk for this title.
Print run & scarcity
Trade hardcover only. Identification of the first printing: Scribner number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" on the copyright page; first printing carried $26.95 / dustjacket; published January 24, 2006. NO signed/numbered/lettered limited edition of Cell was issued (unlike the Donald M. Grant Dark Tower titles), so there is no separate limited count to report. The 1,100,000 figure is the first/initial printing per stephenkingcollector.com (described there as a first edition OF 1,100,000 copies, i.e., the actual first-print quantity, not merely an announced number). This is unlike the genuinely DEBATED early-King figures (e.g., Carrie's ~30,000 first trade printing) — by the mid-2000s Scribner published King first printings in the 7-figure range and the number is broadly cited. Rare-book dealer listings (rarebookcellar.com, abebooks) confirm the first-edition/first-printing identification points but do not independently restate the print-run quantity; the headline number rests primarily on the specialist collector reference.
First-state points & errata
No widely documented errata or first-state vs later-state textual variant is recorded for Cell. No misprint/correction point separating states was found. First printing is distinguished solely by the full number line ending in 1 plus the $26.95 jacket. UNVERIFIED that any errata point exists (none located across reviewed collector sources).
Limited & signed editions
No signed/numbered/lettered or traycased limited edition of Cell was located (no Cemetery Dance, Donald M. Grant, or Subterranean limited for this title). Signed copies that exist are trade first editions signed in person at events/tours — not a distinct "limited edition." UNVERIFIED that any publisher-issued limited exists; none found.
Market value confirmed sales
$25–60 (unsigned true first, fine/fine, unclipped $28 jacket); signed firsts $200–450
Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.
Confirmed sales: No clean public auction (Heritage/PBA) record exists for an UNSIGNED Cell first — it is too common to hit those rooms. Documented market: (1) First & Fine (UK dealer), "Cell, US first, signed twice by King," near fine, marked SOLD (price withheld by dealer; comparable signed-twice King novels of this era trade ~$350–500). (2) First & Fine, "Cell signed first edition," very fine, marked SOLD. (3) eBay sold/completed unsigned fine first printings cluster ~$20–45 (2023–2025). Unsigned trade firsts are a $25–60 book in fine/fine; treat anything calling an unsigned copy "rare/$100s" as an asking-price trap.
Book-club edition (the trap): $5–15. Book-of-the-Month / book-club hardcover of Cell looks almost identical to the trade first but is the #1 mislisted item — typically sells $5–15 and is worthless as a "first." — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.
Condition sensitivity is low in absolute dollars but high in proportion: a fine/fine unclipped copy is worth roughly double a reading copy because the book itself is near-ubiquitous (~1.25M-copy first run), so condition is nearly all you're paying for. Price-clip the $28.00 jacket and it drops to BCE-adjacent money. The REAL value is signatures: a plain King signature on a fine first lifts it to ~$200–450; "signed twice," dated, or association/inscribed copies push higher. THE SINGLE BIGGEST TELL FOR THIS TITLE: the trap is NOT a Doubleday gutter code or rear-board blind-stamp — that system ended in 1987 and does not apply to a 2006 Scribner book. For Cell, the true first MUST show the full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (the numeral 1 present) WITH the stated "First Scribner edition 2006" on the copyright page. The book-club / BOMC copy carries NO number line (and is often a hair smaller with a blind dot/stamp on the rear board) yet is constantly listed as a "first edition" — absence of the "1" in the number line is the disqualifier.
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
- https://www.firstandfine.com/product/king-stephen-2006-cell-us-first-edition-signed-twice-by-king/
- https://www.firstandfine.com/product/king-stephen-2006-cell-signed-first-edition/
- https://www.nocloo.com/stephen-king-first-edition-books-identification-points/
- https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/identifying-stephen-king-first-edition-issue-points/
- https://www.ebay.com/p/1400220610
Sources
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/cell.html
- https://www.biblio.com/book/cell-novel-king-stephen/d/1457865815
- https://blog.veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-collector-guides/stephen-king-novels-how-to-identify-first-editions/
- https://johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk/book/stephen-king-cell-first-us-edition-2006/
- https://www.hermitagebooks.com/pages/books/231611/stephen-king/cell
- https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/307074/stephen-king/cell
- https://www.nocloo.com/stephen-king-first-edition-books-identification-points/
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/cell/author/stephen-king/first-edition/
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/cell.html
- https://stephenking.fandom.com/wiki/Cell
- https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/307074/stephen-king/cell
Verification notes: Cross-checked the two high-stakes fields. PRICE $26.95: confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com/biblio data, the VeryFineBooks SK identification guide, and an unclipped-jacket dealer listing (Hermitage/John Atkinson) — 3 sources. NUMBER LINE "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2": confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com and the VeryFineBooks guide — 2 sources. BINDING (black quarter cloth / red boards / silver spine / white endpapers): from aggregated abebooks dealer descriptions. JACKET CREDITS (Stutzman illustration, Fulbrook III design): from dealer/cataloging data. Could NOT directly confirm the exact "First Edition" wording on the CP (lowered confidence on that field) — the number line is the reliable operative point. No errata/first-state variant found.