Cujo Collectible
What it’s about
In the small town of Castle Rock, Maine, a friendly two-hundred-pound Saint Bernard named Cujo is bitten by a rabid bat and slowly turns into something monstrous. As the disease takes hold, a young mother and her four-year-old son drive out to a remote farmhouse for a routine car repair — and find themselves trapped in a stalling Pinto under a blazing sun, with the dog waiting outside. King winds the ordinary anxieties of a fraying marriage and a child's nightmares into a relentless tale of an everyday animal become a horror.
Significance A cornerstone Castle Rock novel (King's own, never Bachman), it won the 1982 British Fantasy Award and was adapted into the 1983 film starring Dee Wallace; King has said he was drinking so heavily during its writing that he barely remembers composing it.
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.
The verification ledgerevery marker, graded — verified · asserted · unverified
Verified seen on a confirmed copy Asserted sourced, not yet photographed Unverified thin / contested
A true 1st/1st must show
- Verified Copyright statement book — The copyright page reads "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press" (Viking did not print the words "First Edition" for this title). This statement is the controlling book-block tell, but it is necessary, not sufficient, since the book-club edition reuses the same Viking plates and prints the identical line.
- Verified Publisher address book — The copyright page carries Viking's original "625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022" address. Viking moved to 40 West 23rd Street in March 1983, so any address other than 625 Madison Avenue marks a later printing, not the 1981 first.
- Verified Number line book — There is NO printing key on a true Viking Cujo first — the copyright page runs straight from the ISBN to the acknowledgments with no number string. The first is identified by the copyright statement, the address, and the priced jacket, never by a number line. Do not demand a numeral "1"; none exists to find.
- Verified Binding book — The book is quarter-bound in genuine BLACK CLOTH over the spine (woven, slightly fibrous texture) joined to brown/tan paper-covered boards, with the author's initials "SK" stamped in silver on the front board. The cloth backstrip is the single most reliable separator from the book-club body, which imitates it with black card board.
- Verified Mysterious Press limitation note book — The copyright page carries the note that "a special limited first edition of 750 numbered and signed copies" was published by The Mysterious Press — present and expected on the genuine Viking trade first (it refers to the separate signed limited, not to this copy).
- Verified Jacket price jacket — The first-state jacket carries the issue price "$13.95" on the upper inner front flap. An unclipped flap is first-state; a price-clipped flap is a condition caveat on a genuine first, not a wrong edition.
- Verified Flap issue code jacket — The front flap also bears the Viking issue/date code "0981" (= 9/81) alongside the price — a first-state jacket-printing tell. (Confirmed legibly on the cleanest gate copy; not separately captured on every photographed copy.)
- Verified Rear-panel ISBN bar jacket — The rear jacket panel carries the printed "ISBN 0-670-45193-2" numbers bar, matching the copyright-page ISBN — a trade-jacket tell (a married book-club jacket typically lacks the priced/coded trade flap).
- Asserted Jacket art jacket — The first-state jacket bears the Steven Stroud illustration of the rabid, frothing St. Bernard, with the Viking imprint at the foot of the spine. Note: the art is shared with the book-club jacket, so it corroborates the wrapper but never separates a first from a club copy.
Disqualifies it — book-club or later
- Asserted Doubleday gutter code present — A vertical alphanumeric code stamped in the gutter at the foot of one of the last text pages (letter = year, so L = 1981; documented Cujo club codes L35, L44, L46) proves a Doubleday-printed BOOK CLUB body. The Viking trade first carries no gutter code at all, so its presence is decisive against a first.
- Asserted Card-board spine (no cloth) — A spine covered in black card board rather than woven black cloth is the book-club edition imitating the trade binding. Card where the first uses real cloth is a disqualifier — the fastest jacket-off separator.
- Verified Rear-board blind-stamp present — A small blind-stamped (debossed) dot or square impressed into the lower-right corner of the rear board is the classic Doubleday book-club mark; its presence indicates a club body. A confirmed first shows a clean rear board (one gate copy instead carries a silver-foil Viking-ship colophon there, NOT an indented blind-stamp). A confirmed ABSENCE of the blind-stamp is positive evidence FOR a first.
- Asserted No flap price / "Book Club Edition" flap — A jacket flap printed "Book Club Edition" or simply lacking the $13.95 price and 0981 code is a club jacket. A confirmed absence of the printed price (on an unclipped flap) is positive evidence of a club issue.
- Asserted Changed publisher address — A copyright-page address other than 625 Madison Avenue (Viking moved to 40 West 23rd Street in March 1983; collectors also report 375 Hudson Street on later reprints) marks a later Viking printing, not the 1981 first. This — not a number line — is the genuine later-printing discriminator.
- Asserted Printed number line present — Because the genuine first has NO printing key, any number string on the copyright page points to a later printing (the eighth printing carries a line beginning with 8). A printed number line is therefore a caution flag, not a confirmation — the inverse of our old rubric.
- Asserted Mysterious Press signed limited — A separate true 1981 issue: The Mysterious Press signed limited of 750 numbered (plus 26 lettered) copies — maroon cloth gilt-stamped with St. Bernards, in a maroon slipcase, signed on a rear limitation leaf, no dust jacket as issued. It is its own collectible first, not a defect and not the Viking 625-Madison trade first the buyer is screening for.
Proves nothing — shared traps
- Shared Copyright statement "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press" — Identical on the trade first AND the Doubleday book-club edition (the club reuses Viking's text plates), and it can recur on later Viking printings too. It is necessary for a first but proves nothing against a club or later copy on its own — pair it with the 625 Madison address, the cloth spine, and the priced/coded jacket.
- Shared Steven Stroud St. Bernard jacket art — The frothing-St.-Bernard illustration is the same on trade and book-club jackets — the art is never a first-vs-club tell. Only the flap (priced $13.95/0981 vs unpriced/"Book Club Edition") differs, and even that flap is routinely married onto a club body.
- Shared $13.95 / "0981" priced jacket over an unverified body — The priced first-state Viking flap is frequently wrapped over a Doubleday club body. The jacket confirms the JACKET only, never the book block — always corroborate with the body (cloth spine, no gutter code, no rear-board blind-stamp).
- Shared 1981 date on the copyright page — The book-club edition and the Mysterious Press limited are also dated 1981 — the year alone separates nothing. Use the binding and jacket-flap tells, not the printed year.
- Shared Black spine appearance — The club edition deliberately mimics the trade's black quarter-spine; the color matches but the MATERIAL does not (trade = cloth, club = card board). Judge by texture and feel, not by the black color.
- Shared "Mysterious Press" appearing in King's own ID guide next to Cujo — King's official guide tags the Cujo row "(Mysterious Press)," which can mislead a screener into thinking the trade first is a Mysterious Press book. It is not — the trade first is VIKING (625 Madison); Mysterious Press is the separate signed limited of 750.
⚠ Still to photograph on a confirmed copy: The Doubleday gutter code is the one first-vs-club body tell that NONE of the three confirmed copies photographed — no agent was shown the foot of a late text page (each read all its listing's photos, so this is an honest \"not pictured,\" not a negative finding). For a true first the gutter should be ABSENT; for the three CONFIRMED copies it could be neither confirmed nor ruled out, so the gutter-code disqualifier stays ASSERTED (research-backed) rather than VERIFIED. Also unreconciled: the rear-jacket ISBN reads 0-670-45193-2 on the actual books (all three gate copies + their copyright pages), versus the -7 digit our shard/markergrid recorded from a bibliographic/EAN source — the books should govern. Finally, the later-printing address is firmly \"not 625 Madison,\" but the exact later street (40 West 23rd vs 375 Hudson) is reported inconsistently across sources and is not confirmed from any photographed Cujo copy.
What to look for
- Decisive PAIR — (book) black CLOTH quarter-spine + "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press" at 625 Madison Ave, with NO number line (a printed key = a later printing); (jacket) the unclipped $13.95 / "0981" front flap. Match the priced flap to a CLOTH body — the flap is routinely married onto a club copy.
- Unclipped $13.95 flap with the "0981" code on the upper inner front flap confirms first-state pricing — but the jacket ALONE proves nothing
- Biggest trap — MARRIED JACKET: a Viking $13.95/"0981" flap routinely sits over a book-club body; always verify the BODY
- Black CLOTH quarter-spine = the single most reliable BCE separator; the book-club edition fakes it with black CARD BOARD
- BCE tells: a blind-stamp on the lower-right REAR board, a Doubleday gutter code (L35 or L44) at the foot of a last text page, and cheaper/thinner paper — none appear on the Viking first
- Address check: 625 Madison Ave = 1981 first; 40 West 23rd St = post-March-1983 reprint misrepresented as a 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.
A genuine Viking 1981 Cujo with both decisive tells legibly photographed on the one copy — the 625 Madison copyright statement on the book and the unclipped $13.95/'0981' flap on the jacket — so nothing is outstanding on edition, and the shortfall here is condition alone.
- Copyright — Photo 3 shows the whole copyright page sharp and unobstructed: "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022" — the first-printing statement at the pre-March-1983 address, not the 40 West 23rd Street of the later reprints.
- Number line — That same full-page frame (photo 3) runs from LCCN 81-50265 and ISBN 0-670-45193-2 straight into the acknowledgments and closes on "Set in Linotron Garamond" with no printing key anywhere — an affirmative absence, which is the correct statement-only state for this title.
- Jacket price — Photo 7 lays the front flap open against the endpaper and photo 16 shows the jacket flat; both read "$13.95" at the upper flap corner, that corner present and square rather than cut away, with the "0981" September-1981 issue code at the flap foot below "(Continued on back flap)".
- Binding — Photos 13 and 14 show the black CLOTH backstrip at the head turn-ins — the weave and the striped headband both plainly visible, which is the structural discriminator against the book club's black card board; photo 20 reads the spine as silver-outlined "Cujo" over copper "Stephen King" and "Viking", photo 18 the silver "SK" on the tan front board, and photo 19 the whole rear board with no Doubleday blind-stamp on it.
- Dust jacket — Photo 0 shows the Steven Stroud rabid St Bernard art over "Author of FIRESTARTER", photo 12 the "STEPHEN KING / CUJO (red) / VIKING" spine, photo 10 the rear panel with its King portrait, the legible "© 1981 Jill Krementz" credit and the ISBN 0-670-45193-2 box, and photo 22 the back flap in close-up: "Jacket design by R. Adelson / Jacket illustration by Steven Stroud" above the longship colophon and THE VIKING PRESS, 625 Madison Avenue.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
Likely first, well-priced — but the decisive cloth-BODY shot is ambiguous (the only bare-spine frame is a glancing top-edge view). Jacket is confirmed first-state; ask for a sharp spine + rear-board photo before buying.
- Copyright — Plate reads "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Avenue"; LCCN 81-50265 + ISBN 0-670-45193-2 match the first.
- Binding — Quarter BLACK CLOTH spine with gold/copper 'Stephen King' + 'Viking' stamping — rules out the Doubleday book-club card board.
- Jacket price — $13.95 unclipped (rear panel) with the first-state '0981' flap code above '(Continued on back flap)'.
- Dust jacket — Correct jacket: pink CUJO spine title, 'VIKING' at foot, St. Bernard front art, B&W King rear portrait with ISBN.
- Binding (cloth body) — The decisive black-CLOTH spine is not cleanly photographed — the lone bare-spine frame is glancing and ambiguous, and the rear board (blind-stamp) is never shown. Request a sharp bare-spine + rear-board photo to rule out a first-state jacket married onto a club body.
Confirmed Viking first but VG jacket (spine-crown chips, foxing) caps value ~$175; $85 ask still leaves margin.
- Copyright — Photo 2 plate reads "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Avenue"; ISBN 0-670-45193-2 + LCCN 81-50265 match the first.
- Binding — Photos 7-8 show genuine quarter BLACK CLOTH spine over salmon/tan boards — the reliable structural separator from the BCE card board.
- Jacket price — Front flap shows $13.95 unclipped at top right plus the first-state '0981' flap code at the bottom.
- Dust jacket — Rear flap carries the Viking 625 Madison logo, R. Adelson design, Steven Stroud illustration — correct first-state jacket.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
Six photographs only, but between them they carry every applicable marker — the 625 Madison copyright statement on the book and the unclipped $13.95/'0981' flap on the jacket both appear on this one copy — so the edition question is closed and only condition remains open.
- Copyright — Photo 4 shows the copyright page sharp and complete: "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022", with the Mysterious Press limited-edition note, LCCN 81-50265 and ISBN 0-670-45193-2.
- Number line — That same frame covers the page top to bottom — ISBN straight into the acknowledgments, closing on "Set in Linotron Garamond" — with no printing key at any point, so the absence is read affirmatively rather than assumed.
- Jacket price — Photo 1 lays the jacket flat and shows "$13.95" at the upper front-flap corner, that corner square and uncut — unclipped — with the "0981" code at the flap foot beneath "(Continued on back flap)".
- Binding — Photos 1, 2 and 5 show the quarter black CLOTH spine with its woven texture — not the book club's card board — stamped "Cujo" in silver outline over gilt "Stephen King" and "Viking", on tan boards carrying the silver "SK".
- Dust jacket — Photo 1 carries the whole jacket in one frame: Stroud front art with the "Author of FIRESTARTER" credit, the "STEPHEN KING / CUJO (red) / VIKING" spine, a rear panel with the full-bleed B&W King portrait and the ISBN 0-670-45193-2 box, and a back flap reading THE VIKING PRESS / 625 Madison Avenue, the "Adelson" and "Steven Stroud" credit lines still legible around the battery the seller used as a weight.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
Genuine Viking trade first, clean and unclipped; $179 is fair if the cloth spine and condition hold in hand.
- Copyright — Photo 03 plate reads "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Avenue"; ISBN 0-670-45193-2 matches the documented first.
- Jacket price — Front flap (photo 02) shows the $13.95 price visible and unclipped.
- Dust jacket — Correct first-state Steven Stroud rabid-St.-Bernard front art with the Viking spine.
- Binding — Quarter-bound two-tone boards with 'SK' stamped silver on the front board — consistent with the Viking first.
- Binding — The decisive black CLOTH vs book-club card-board spine is not resolvable from these angles — ask for a tight spine-cloth close-up.
A fully documented copy — copyright statement, absent number line, unclipped $13.95/'0981' flap and the black-cloth binding are all photographed straight-on and legible on the one copy, leaving nothing outstanding on edition.
- Copyright — Photo 1 is a flat, sharp frame of the whole copyright page reading "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022", with LCCN 81-50265 and ISBN 0-670-45193-2.
- Number line — The same frame shows the page carrying no printing key between the ISBN and the acknowledgments, closing on "Set in Linotron Garamond" — legible enough to call the absence affirmatively rather than merely unphotographed.
- Jacket price — Photo 3 shows the jacket off the book and laid out; the front flap reads "$13.95" at an upper corner that is present and square rather than cut, with "0981" at the flap foot beneath "(Continued on back flap)".
- Binding — Photos 6 and 8 show the black CLOTH spine at close range — the weave is unmistakable — stamped "Cujo" in silver outline over copper "Stephen King" and "Viking"; photo 4 shows the tan paper front board with its silver "SK", and photo 5 the entire rear board, evenly lit, with no Doubleday blind-stamp anywhere on it.
- Dust jacket — Photo 0 shows the Stroud St Bernard art and the "STEPHEN KING / CUJO (red) / VIKING" spine, photo 2 the rear panel with the King portrait, its legible "© 1981 Jill Krementz" credit and the ISBN 0-670-45193-2 box, and photo 3 the back flap with the Viking longship colophon over THE VIKING PRESS / 625 Madison Avenue.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
Reputable ABAA dealer, near-fine — but one cover shot only; first printing is seller-asserted, needs the plate.
- Dust jacket — Single sharp full-res shot shows correct first-state art: 'CUJO / A NOVEL BY / STEPHEN KING / Author of FIRESTARTER', spine STEPHEN KING/CUJO(red)/VIKING.
- Copyright — Decisive 'First published in 1981 by The Viking Press / 625 Madison Ave' plate is not photographed — ask for the copyright page (vs 23rd-St later reprint).
- Jacket price — No flap photographed; seller's text says 'unclipped' but the $13.95 / '0981' code is unverified — ask for the price-corner shot.
- Binding — Boards hidden under the jacket — the black CLOTH vs BCE card-board spine and silver SK are unseen; ask for a board/spine photo.
Your verified copy ✓ markers verified
Verified Viking Press 1981 TRUE first edition, first printing — the shop’s own copy (owned-conversion #2), adversarially bench-verified on 2026-07-05. The copyright page reads “First published in 1981 by The Viking Press, 625 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10022” (the pre-1983 Viking address — a 40 West 23rd Street address would be a post-March-1983 reprint), carries ISBN 0-670-45193-2, and shows NO number line: a genuine Viking Cujo first has no printing key at all (any number line means a later printing). The book is quarter-bound in genuine woven black CLOTH over tan paper boards, the author’s initials “SK” stamped silver on the front board — the single most reliable book-club separator, and here it is real cloth, not the club edition’s card. The unclipped dust jacket carries the first-state “$13.95” at the top-right of the front flap with the “0981” (9/81) issue code at its foot, the trade “ISBN 0-670-45193-2” box beneath the Jill Krementz author photo on the rear panel, and the Viking ship colophon at 625 Madison Avenue on the rear flap. Both decisive tells — a cloth body AND a priced first-state flap — are present and mutually consistent, so this is neither a married copy nor a book-club edition. Book Near Fine / jacket Near Fine (bright, unclipped, kept in a protective mylar sleeve). One honest residual: the lower-right rear board and the last text page were not photographed, so a blind-stamp / Doubleday gutter code were not independently cleared — but the plainly woven cloth spine is the stronger club-edition discriminator and reads as genuine.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
CONTESTED, corrected from draft. Both the Viking trade hardcover and the Mysterious Press signed/numbered limited are dated 1981 and were issued in September 1981. The draft asserted the Mysterious Press "FOLLOWED" the Viking trade; documented collector sources do NOT support that one-sided claim — several (viaLibri/VeryFineBooks, an AbeBooks dealer copy) describe the Mysterious Press limited as having "preceded the trade edition" or being simultaneous, and auction houses (Bonhams, Heritage) catalog the Mysterious Press as "FIRST EDITION, LIMITED ISSUE." Honest position: precedence between the two 1981 issues is disputed in the trade; they are best treated as a simultaneous deluxe-vs-trade pairing. The Viking trade is the standard, recognized true-first TRADE hardcover; the Mysterious Press signed/numbered (750) + lettered (26) is the deluxe signed issue and the more valuable book. This is NOT a Grant Dark Tower / Philtrum Eyes of the Dragon situation where a small-press limited unambiguously precedes a later trade — here both carry the 1981 date and ship together.
First-printing points at a glance
Dust jacket
Front panel: dark, ominous illustration centered on the rabid St. Bernard's frothing jaws/teeth (Steven Stroud art); title and author lettering. Spine and rear panel carry standard Viking presentation; front inner flap bears the $13.95 price and the "0981" code. Rear wrapper carries the ISBN (0-670-45193-2 / 9780670451937). Jacket design attributed to R. Adelson.
Art / design: Jacket illustration (the frothing/snarling St. Bernard) by Steven Stroud (confirmed via AbeBooks listings and Suntup Editions, which licenses the Stroud cover art). Jacket DESIGN credited to R. Adelson on at least one dealer description. Stroud = illustrator; Adelson = designer.
Also watch for: (1) MARRIED JACKETS — the Viking $13.95/"0981" jacket is routinely placed over a book-club body; confirm the BODY (black CLOTH spine, no rear-board blind-stamp, no gutter code) before trusting the jacket. (2) Price-clipped jackets hide the $13.95 and depress value. (3) Book-club bodies misrepresented as firsts (black card board vs cloth spine; rear-board blind-stamp; gutter code L35 or L44). (4) Facsimile/reproduction jackets. (5) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels). (6) Remainder marks to the bottom text block. (7) "Signed" trade copies — verify provenance; the Mysterious Press limited is the authoritative signed issue. (8) Post-1983 reprints carrying the 40 West 23rd Street address misrepresented as 1981 firsts.
Print run & scarcity
The ~150,000-copy first-printing figure is cited consistently across specialist King-dealer descriptions (Evening Land Books and others note "a first edition of 150,000 copies, which is moderate for King standards"). It is a dealer-consensus number rather than a Viking-published official figure, so treat it as well-attested but not contractually documented. Separately, The Mysterious Press issued a signed limited edition of exactly 750 numbered copies (a documented, contractually stated limitation) — that 750 figure IS firm. The large 150k trade run is why unsigned fine copies stay affordable despite "first edition" status; scarcity lives in fine/fine condition and in signed copies, not in the printing itself.
First-state points & errata
No first-vs-later TEXT-state errata documented for Cujo (unlike some Doubleday titles). Identification is structural/external: (1) "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press" copyright statement; (2) the 625 Madison Ave address (post-March-1983 reprints carry a later address); (3) unclipped $13.95 jacket with the "0981" flap code; (4) quarter BLACK CLOTH spine over tan boards with silver "SK" (the BCE substitutes black card board, adds a rear-board blind-stamp, and carries a Doubleday gutter code). There is NO number line on a first — do not look for a numeral "1".
Limited & signed editions
The Mysterious Press, New York, 1981 — signed limited: 750 numbered copies signed by Stephen King on a limitation leaf bound at the REAR of the book, PLUS 26 lettered (A-Z) copies (lettered not originally offered for public sale). Binding: maroon/burgundy cloth, front cover and spine stamped/lettered in gilt (Bonhams: "stamped in gilt with images of saint bernards"); issued in a matching maroon/burgundy cloth SLIPCASE; NO dust jacket as issued (acetate/Mylar protector only). Value (stephenkingcollector): numbered ~$1,100-$1,500; lettered ~$4,000-$4,500. Cataloged by auction houses (Bonhams, Heritage) as "First Edition, Limited Issue."
Market value confirmed sales
$300–700 (genuine unsigned first trade edition, first printing, fine/fine, unclipped $13.95 / "0981" jacket). Signed/inscribed trade firsts jump to ~$2,000–6,000+.
Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.
Confirmed sales: 1) Mysterious Press signed/limited (1 of 750), near fine in near-fine slipcase — $1,395 (Very Fine Books, dealer sold record, ~2023-2024). 2) Mysterious Press signed/limited (1 of 750) — sold at Heritage Auctions (Lot 36793) and Bonhams (Lot 176), both realized four figures for the signed limited. 3) Unsigned trade first, fine/unread, unclipped $13.95 jacket — Evening Land Books, marked SOLD (fine trade-first dealer record, low-mid hundreds). 4) Unsigned trade first, near-fine/near-fine — Downtown Brown Books, SOLD record (trade-first, low hundreds). NOTE: the high-volume eBay/AbeBooks "first edition" listings at $30–60 are overwhelmingly BCEs or later printings — treat as asking-price noise, not comps. CONFIRMED-FIRST eBay SOLD comp (2026-07-02, item 188519614046): a fully verified trade first (24-photo read + adversarial skeptic; quarter black-cloth spine, Viking 625 Madison copyright, unclipped $13.95/“0981” jacket) in GOOD condition (light jacket edge/surface wear, spine toning) SOLD at $89.95 — a condition-floor data point that sits ABOVE the $30–60 BCE/later noise but well below the fine/fine low-mid hundreds; the fine/fine range is unchanged.
Book-club edition (the trap): $15–50. The Book Club Edition (BCE) is the constant trap and is what most cheap "1981 first edition" listings actually are. It looks nearly identical but is worth a small fraction. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.
Condition is everything: the trade first had a large 150,000-copy run, so only fine/fine, UNCLIPPED copies carry real value — a clipped jacket, ex-library stamp, or fading drops a copy toward $50–150. Signed/inscribed is the big multiplier: an authentic King signature/inscription on a trade first takes it to ~$2,000–6,000+ (Bauman/Raptis/First and Fine territory), and the separate Mysterious Press signed limited of 750 is its own ~$1,200–2,500 object. THE SINGLE BIGGEST THING THAT SEPARATES A REAL FIRST FROM THE MISLISTED COPIES OF THIS TITLE: for Cujo the points are INVERTED from King's Doubleday novels — Cujo is VIKING, not Doubleday, so there is NO Doubleday gutter code on a true first; in fact a gutter code (e.g. "L35") indicates the BOOK CLUB EDITION. The genuine first is identified by the unclipped jacket showing the "$13.95" price AND "0981" date code on the front flap, "First published in 1981 by The Viking Press" on the copyright page, and a true quarter-black-cloth binding (the BCE fakes the cloth with black-coated cardboard boards, has the gutter code, and feels lighter/cheaper). Married/facsimile jackets and price-clipped flaps are the other two common dressed-up traps.
- https://www.nocloo.com/cujo-stephen-king-1981-first-edition/
- https://eveninglandbooks.com/product/0001243/
- https://www.downtownbrown.com/pages/books/365043/stephen-king/cujo?soldItem=true
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-cujo-signed-limited-first-edition-mysterious-press-750-slipcased/
- https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/stephen-king-cujo-new-york-mysterious-press-1981-first-edition-one-of-750-copies-signed/a/6091-36793.s
- https://www.bonhams.com/auction/31200/lot/176/signed-limited-first-edition-king-stephen-b-1947-cujo-new-york-they-mysterious-press-1981/
- https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/stephen-king/cujo/87524.aspx
- https://www.firstandfine.com/product/king-stephen-1981-cujo-us-signed-and-beautifully-inscribed-first-edition/
Sources
- https://eveninglandbooks.com/product/0001243/
- https://www.tenthlegion.ca/products/center-stephen-king-br-i-cujo-i-1st-edition-in-dj-br-1981-center
- https://www.nocloo.com/cujo-stephen-king-1981-first-edition/
- https://www.firstandfine.com/product/king-stephen-1981-cujo-us-signed-and-inscribed-book-club-edition/
- https://www.biblio.com/9780670451937
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-cujo-signed-limited-first-edition-mysterious-press-750-slipcased/
- https://historical.ha.com/itm/books/stephen-king-cujo-new-york-mysterious-press-1981-first-edition-limited-to-750-numbered-copies-of-which/a/6058-37325.s
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
- https://stephenking.com/works/limited/cujo.html
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/limited/cujolimited.html
- https://www.bonhams.com/auction/31200/lot/176/signed-limited-first-edition-king-stephen-b-1947-cujo-new-york-they-mysterious-press-1981/
- https://oldalsbooks.com/products/cujo-1981-stephen-king-bce-book-club-edition-l35-gutter-code-hardcover-dj-good
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/276652571726
- https://shop.suntup.press/products/cujo-fine-art-print
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Cujo-Stephen-King-Viking-Press-E-238/31325817515/bd
- https://www.vialibri.net/years/books/655123996/1981-stephen-king-the-mysterious-press-1981-stephen-king
- https://www.captainahabsrarebooks.com/pages/books/7890/stephen-king/cujo
- https://eveninglandbooks.com/product/0001243/
- https://www.nocloo.com/cujo-stephen-king-1981-first-edition/
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-cujo-signed-limited-first-edition-mysterious-press-750-slipcased/
Verification notes: INDEPENDENT sources added (not in original draft sources[]): Evening Land Books (full first-printing description: brown boards, black cloth backstrip, silver+copper spine stamping, silver SK on front board, [xiv],[2],3-319,[3] pp); Bonhams auction (Mysterious Press limitation, maroon cloth + slipcase, "stamped in gilt with images of saint bernards"); Old Al's Books (BCE gutter code L35); eBay BCE listing (gutter code L44 — NEW, draft only had L35); Suntup Editions (confirms Steven Stroud as cover artist); First & Fine BCE listing (verbatim "bound in quarter black cloth" first vs "mimics this cloth with black card board" BCE); stephenkingcollector limited page (numbered ~$1,100-1,500, lettered ~$4,000-4,500, signed limitation sheet at rear); Last Exit Books / AbeBooks (first-printing trade); viaLibri / VeryFineBooks (Mysterious Press "preceded the trade edition"). DISCREPANCIES vs draft: (1) PRECEDENCE — draft said Mysterious Press "FOLLOWS" Viking trade; sources contradict (precede/simultaneous/disputed) — corrected to "contested, best treated as simultaneous deluxe-vs-trade." (2) NUMBER LINE — a web aggregator snippet claimed "4 5 6 7 8 9 = first"; this is FALSE per the official King guide (that row lacks the numeral 1 = later printing). Draft's underlying rule (1 present = first) is CORRECT and now sourced verbatim from the official guide ("1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" / "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" / "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" all denote firsts). (3) BCE GUTTER CODE — draft listed only L35; added documented L44. (4) JACKET CREDIT — added designer R. Adelson alongside illustrator Steven Stroud. (5) LETTERED VALUE — sharpened from draft's vague "materially higher" to ~$4,000-$4,500. (6) ADDRESS POINT — added 625 Madison Ave (1981) vs 40 West 23rd St (post-March-1983) as a printing discriminator. UNVERIFIED (flagged, not guessed): exact single canonical number-line row for Cujo; topstain color; endpaper specifics.