Dolores Claiborne Common
What it’s about
On a small island off the coast of Maine, a hard-bitten housekeeper named Dolores Claiborne is hauled in for questioning after the death of her wealthy, elderly employer. Refusing a lawyer and a stenographer, she sits down with the local police and delivers a single unbroken confession — not about the death they suspect her of, but about a darker reckoning buried decades in her past, including her abusive marriage and the long-ago day of a total solar eclipse. What begins as an interrogation becomes the raw, unflinching testimony of a poor working woman laying out the whole truth of her life on her own terms.
Significance A 1993 King novel written as a single continuous first-person monologue with no chapter breaks; loosely linked to "Gerald's Game" via the shared eclipse, and adapted into the acclaimed 1995 film starring Kathy Bates and Jennifer Jason Leigh.
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.
⚠ High married-copy risk. The book block can’t independently confirm a first here — the jacket is effectively the only separator, so be doubly sure the priced first-state jacket is genuine AND original to this book.
What to look for
- Confirm BOTH: the "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin" line AND the full "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" number line.
- Don't be alarmed by 1993 — the book hit stores late 1992, but 1993 + the full number line IS the true first.
- Decisive BCE tell: a Book Club jacket has NO price inside the front cover and usually no rear barcode.
- BCE is also smaller/lighter trim, thinner paper, glued not sewn — a rear-board blind-stamp is supportive, not definitive.
- No gutter code — that's Doubleday-only (1974-1983); irrelevant on this Viking title.
- Beware price-clipped or married jackets: verify the number line in the book independently of the jacket.
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 Viking 1993 first printing with both of this title's decisive tells in one frame — the quarter-bound black boards with their red "SK" and the unclipped $23.50 front flap — on a copy bearing a prior owner's ink inscription; only the sewn-versus-glued text block goes unshown.
- Binding — The decisive BOOK tell: with the jacket laid open the book's own quarter-binding is shown — black cloth spine over charcoal-black paper boards, red "Stephen King", gilt eclipse device and red "Dolores Claiborne" on the spine, and the red metallic "SK" on the board at the top of frame, clipped by the frame edge but unmistakable (photo 4).
- Jacket price — The decisive JACKET tell: the front flap's upper corner is whole and printed "U.S. $23.50 / Canada $28.99", with "£14.99 (export only)" at the same flap's foot — the first-state price a Book Club jacket carries nowhere at all (photo 4).
- Number line — The copyright page photographs sharply as "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the leading 1 intact — the first-printing zigzag, which a second printing drops; our rubric notes it fixes the printing but does not by itself separate a first from a club book block (photo 6).
- Copyright — "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." reads verbatim directly above the number line, with ISBN 0-670-84452-7, LCCN 92-15467 and "Printed in the United States of America by R. R. Donnelley & Sons Company" beneath it (photo 6).
- Dust jacket — The eclipse-and-well art in reds and oranges on black with the red brush title is the correct first-issue jacket, Viking longship colophon at the spine foot (photos 1 and 3).
- Rear jacket barcode — The rear panel carries the printed retail barcode — ISBN 0-670-84452-7 / 9 780670 844524 with the 90000> box — which our rubric treats as supportive of a trade jacket rather than decisive, since a club jacket only usually lacks it (photo 2).
- Sewn text block — The boards, spine and red "SK" are shown, but no frame reads the block as sewn rather than glued — photo 7 catches the fore-edge too obliquely — so ask the seller for a square-on shot of the fore-edge or the head of the text block showing the signature gatherings.
A Viking 1993 first printing photographed end to end, with every applicable marker in frame — including the jacket lifted clean off to show the black boards and their red-foil "SK", and the unclipped $23.50 flap shown twice — and nothing left outstanding.
- Binding — The decisive BOOK tell, jacket off: black cloth spine over charcoal-black paper boards with the red-foil "SK" at the lower outer corner of the FRONT board (close-up in photo 10), and red "Stephen King", gilt eclipse and red "Dolores Claiborne" on the book's own spine (photos 9, 10 and 12).
- Jacket price — The decisive JACKET tell: the front flap corner is intact and reads "U.S. $23.50 / Canada $28.99", with the "0193" jacket date code and "£14.99 (export only)" at the flap foot — shown twice, on the book and with the jacket laid flat (photos 4 and 13).
- Number line — "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" sits below the publication statement with the leading 1 present — the first-printing zigzag; as our rubric has it, this fixes the printing but is not on its own the tell that beats a club book block (photo 7).
- Copyright — "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." reads verbatim, with ISBN 0-670-84452-7 and "Printed in the United States of America by Arcata Graphics, Martinsburg" (photo 7).
- Endpapers / edges — The mustard-orange endpaper is fully visible beside the open front flap and again where the front board opens onto the half-title with its Viking longship device (photos 4 and 5).
- Dust jacket — The whole jacket is photographed off the book, and the rear flap credits read "Jacket design by Neil Stuart" and "Jacket illustration by Rob Wood; Stansbury, Ronsaville, Wood Inc.", with Viking Penguin at 375 Hudson Street at the foot (photos 13 and 14).
- Sewn text block — The fore-edge shot shows the leaves grouped in distinct signature gatherings, consistent with the sewn trade block rather than the glued club binding (photo 8).
- Rear jacket barcode — The printed retail barcode 9 780670 844524 / 90000> reads in full: the shop's yellow $2.00 sticker sits to its LEFT, clear of the block, not over it (photo 3).
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
Genuine first by copyright, number line and sewn block, but the priced flap is unseen and the spine base is bumped — fair at $19.99, confirm the flap.
- Copyright — "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin..." matches verbatim (photos 4 & 6); ISBN 0-670-84452-7, Donnelley printer.
- Number line — Zigzag "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the 1 present, legible in photo 6 — first printing.
- Binding — Sewn signatures with red headband (photos 3 & 5) plus rear-panel printed UPC/price box — trade first, not the glued BCE.
- Jacket price — Front flap not shown, so the decisive $23.50 price and clip status are unverified — ask the seller for the priced flap.
- Binding — Condition: bumping/fraying at the spine base (photo 1) — request a close shot to gauge how far it runs.
Confirmed first — copyright, number line, sewn block and rear barcode shown; only the printed flap price wants a closer shot. A bargain at ~$25.66 delivered.
- Copyright — "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin..." shown across three clear angles (photos 5/6/7); trade ISBN 0-670-84452-7.
- Number line — Full zigzag "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the numeral 1 intact — the first-printing tell.
- Binding — Sewn signatures visible at the textblock spine; rear jacket carries the full retail UPC barcode (BCE jacket has none).
- Jacket price — Flap '0193' date code present and corner unclipped, but the printed $23.50 figure was not legibly shown — ask for a close flap shot to lock the first-state price.
Fully confirmed — the unclipped $23.50 priced flap, copyright and number line are all pictured. A clean NF/NF first, well under fair at $20.
- Jacket price — Decisive front flap shows US $23.50 / Canada $28.99, first-state and unclipped, with the '0193' Jan-1993 date code.
- Copyright — "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin..." verbatim; Viking title page with eclipse device, ISBN 0-670-84452-7.
- Number line — Zigzag "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the 1 present — first printing; rear jacket carries the full barcode (not a BCE).
The copyright page and zigzag number line are photographed and correct for the 1993 first printing, but on this title neither is the decisive tell — the jacket never comes off and its priced flap corner never appears in any of the twelve frames, so both tells that separate a trade first from a club copy go unphotographed.
- Number line — "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" is legible with the leading 1 present — the first-printing zigzag; our rubric is explicit that this fixes the printing but does not by itself separate a first from a club book block (photo 6).
- Copyright — "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." reads verbatim, with ISBN 0-670-84452-7 and "Printed in the United States of America by Arcata Graphics, Fairfield" below (photo 6).
- Endpapers / edges — The mustard-orange endpaper is clearly shown facing the half-title and again where the rear flap folds in against the pastedown (photos 3 and 8).
- Dust jacket — The eclipse-and-well art is the correct first-issue jacket, with the Viking longship colophon at the spine foot (photos 1 and 9), and the rear flap credits the illustration to Rob Wood and the design to Neil Stuart (photo 8).
- Rear jacket flap — The rear flap is intact and correct for the 1993 trade issue — bio ending at Gerald's Game, Needful Things and Four Past Midnight, jacket design by Neil Stuart, illustration by Rob Wood, title lettering by Brian Thomas Merrill, Viking Penguin at 375 Hudson Street (photo 8).
- Rear jacket barcode — The rear panel carries the printed retail barcode ISBN 0-670-84452-7 / 9 780670 844524 with the 90000> box — supportive of a trade jacket, but our rubric holds it as corroboration only, never a substitute for the priced flap (photo 2).
- Trade text block — The Bill Russell wood-engraving frontispiece faces the Viking title page, and the "Also by Stephen King" leaf terminates at Gerald's Game with no post-1993 title present — consistent with a 1993 gathering (photos 4 and 5).
- Jacket price — The decisive JACKET tell is in none of the twelve frames — photo 6 catches the front flap's text column but the frame is cropped below the price block, and photo 8 is the rear flap — so ask the seller for a straight-on shot of the front flap's upper corner with the jacket on the book, showing whether "U.S. $23.50 / Canada $28.99" is printed there and whether that corner has been clipped.
- Binding — The decisive BOOK tell is unphotographed: the jacket is never taken off, staying on the book in its protective sleeve through all twelve frames, so the black paper boards, the red "SK" at the front board's lower outer corner and the gilt eclipse on the book's own spine are never seen — ask for one frame with the jacket removed and the front board face-up, and one of the bare spine.
Genuine first by copyright and number line, but the decisive priced flap is unseen — ask for it; even so, well under fair at $17.97.
- Copyright — Copyright page reads "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." verbatim.
- Number line — Zigzag "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" fully legible with the leading 1 intact — first printing (a 2nd drops the 1).
- Dust jacket — Correct Viking trade-first art (red figure, STEPHEN KING red caps, red script title) with Viking ship colophon at spine base.
- Jacket price — Decisive $23.50 front flap not photographed — flap unshown, clip status unverifiable. Ask for the priced flap.
- Binding — Boards and endpapers not pictured — ask for a shot to rule out a remainder mark or hidden defect.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
The Viking trade hardcover is the true first edition, first printing. No US small-press limited precedes it. CAUTION on the year: although the novel reached stores in late 1992 (the UK Hodder edition is dated 1992), the US Viking first-edition copyright page reads "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin." Collectors should not be alarmed that the stated year is 1993 — that, combined with the full number line, IS the true first. Dealers correctly catalogue it as "1993" for this reason. Confirmed by the official StephenKing.com first-edition identification guide (compiled by Bev Vincent), which lists Dolores Claiborne as Viking, 1993.
First-printing points at a glance
Dust jacket
Front: a dramatic dark illustration of Dolores Claiborne peering down into a well, with a solar eclipse in the sky above — strong reds/oranges against black. Title and author lettering in red. The interior carries a map of the 1963 solar eclipse path. A striking painterly cover typical of Viking's early-90s King jackets.
Art / design: Jacket illustration by Rob Wood. 1963 eclipse map by Virginia Norey. Book/interior design by Amy Hill. (Credits drawn from dealer cataloguing; cross-cited but not independently appearing in the StephenKing.com guide, which does not list jacket-artist credits.)
Also watch for: Watch for: price-clipped jackets passed as untouched firsts (first-printing jacket must show $23.50 unclipped); married jackets (a later/club jacket on a first-printing book, or vice versa) — verify the number line in the book independently of the jacket; book-club editions mis-listed as firsts (the decisive check is the MISSING jacket price, plus smaller/lighter trim; a rear-board blind-stamp is supportive but not definitive); facsimile/reproduction jackets; ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) which are heavily devalued; and "signed" copies bearing only the UK facsimile bookplate rather than a genuine signature. Confirm BOTH the "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin" statement AND the full "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" number line, AND the priced ($23.50) unclipped jacket, before paying a first-edition price.
Print run & scarcity
stephenkingcollector.com (the standard King first-edition reference site) lists a first-printing run of 1,500,000 copies for the 1993 Viking hardcover, consistent with King's blockbuster status at that point in his career and a reported ~$750,000 marketing/promotion budget at release. This very large trade printing is why the unsigned first edition holds little collectible scarcity value. No publisher-confirmed (Viking/Penguin internal) figure is published; the 1.5M figure is the widely-cited collector-reference number, not a primary-source publisher statement, so treat it as a strong documented estimate rather than an audited count.
First-state points & errata
No textual errata or first-state/second-state typo points are documented for this title (unlike, e.g., 'Salem's Lot's Father Cody error or Pet Sematary's Caretakers date). The only quirk that surprises collectors is the "First published in 1993" copyright wording on a book that reached stores in late 1992 — this is correct, not a flaw. Note also the unusually NARROW trim: the StephenKing.com guide records 5¾ x 9½ x 1¼ inches, narrower (5¾" wide) than Viking's other early-90s King titles (typically 6¼" wide); this is a normal first-edition trait, not a state point. No micro-state variations are noted in standard collector references.
Limited & signed editions
No US signed/numbered or traycased limited edition was issued for Dolores Claiborne. (No Donald M. Grant, Cemetery Dance, or Charnel House limited for this title.) Note: Suntup Editions has since produced fine-press collectible editions of this title decades later — these are modern presses, NOT the publisher's first-edition limited and irrelevant to first-edition identification. The UK Hodder & Stoughton 1992 first edition exists separately; some UK copies carry a facsimile-signed bookplate, which is NOT a true autograph. Genuine author-signed copies of the Viking first exist but were signed individually after publication, not as a publisher's signed limited.
Market value confirmed sales
$40–$75 unsigned (true first, fine/fine, unclipped $23.50 jacket); $300–$650 signed/inscribed first; $20–$40 typical near-fine unsigned
Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.
Confirmed sales: Signed/inscribed first ("For David... Stephen King 2/19/96") SOLD $418 (auction record, per dealer/auction citation); Signed first, inscribed half-title in blue ink — Nate D. Sanders, opened $300 min bid, Oct 2017 (near-fine/near-fine, $23.50 jacket intact); Inscribed fine first ("For C—I— ... Stephen King 6/17/94") SOLD via Bauman Rare Books (Brooks A48, fine copy, price realized undisclosed but dealer-level $400–$600 range); Unsigned true firsts in fine/fine routinely close in the low tens to ~$40 on eBay SOLD / AbeBooks dealer fine copies.
Book-club edition (the trap): $5–$15. Book-club edition (BOMC) is the trap: smaller/lighter board, NO number line, "Book Club Edition" on lower jacket flap and/or a blind-stamp dot/square on the rear board, and a jacket with no $23.50 price. Worth a few dollars; constantly mislisted as "first edition." — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.
Value is condition- and signature-driven. With a 1,500,000-copy first printing the UNSIGNED trade first is common and cheap — fine/fine unclipped tops out around $40–$75 from a reputable dealer, and worn/clipped copies are sub-$20. The real money is the autograph: a signed or inscribed true first runs roughly $300–$650 (inscriptions to named strangers sit lower; clean flat-signatures higher). Price-clipping the $23.50 jacket roughly halves an already-low value. THE #1 DISCRIMINATOR FOR THIS TITLE: it is a VIKING book, so the "Doubleday gutter code" does NOT apply — ignore it. A genuine first requires the full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" on the copyright page, "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin," the unclipped $23.50 jacket, AND no book-club blind-stamp on the rear board. Mislisted copies are almost always (a) book-club editions lacking the number line, or (b) later Viking printings (number line not ending in 2) wearing a first-state jacket.
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/doloresclaiborne.html
- https://natedsanders.com/stephen_king_signed_first_edition_of___dolores_cla-lot47645.aspx
- https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/king-stephen/dolores-claiborne/107917.aspx
- https://www.raptisrarebooks.com/product/dolores-claiborne-stephen-king-first-edition-signed/
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
Sources
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
- https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/186127/stephen-king/dolores-claiborne
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/234004083895
- https://bookshopapocalypse.com/products/dolores-claiborne-by-stephen-king-first-edition-first-printing-1993-see-condition
- https://johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk/book/stephen-king-dolores-claiborne-first-us-edition-1993/
- https://www.abebooks.co.uk/first-edition/Dolores-Claiborne-STEPHEN-KING-Viking-New/22768931613/bd
- https://www.biblio.com/book/dolores-claiborne-stephen-king/d/1340006593
- https://www.firstandfine.com/product/king-stephen-1992-dolores-claiborne-us-signed-and-inscribed-first-edition-2/
- https://www.yesterdaysmuse.com/pages/books/2349922/stephen-king/dolores-claiborne
- https://www.eveningstarbooks.net/pages/books/000011213/stephen-king/dolores-claiborne
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/forums/other-edition-questions-f4/dolores-claiborne-first-edition-book-dimensions-t2600.html
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/doloresclaiborne.html
Verification notes: VERIFIED against an authoritative INDEPENDENT source not previously in sources[]: the official StephenKing.com "Identifying first editions" guide (compiled by Bev Vincent), https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf. Findings vs draft: (1) Copyright wording "First published in 1993 by Viking Penguin" — CONFIRMED exactly. (2) Number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — CONFIRMED exactly (draft correct); the canonical first-vs-later rule is "the 1 is removed for the second printing," refining the draft's looser "drops low numbers from the left" phrasing. (3) Jacket price $23.50 — CONFIRMED. (4) ADDED trim size 5¾ x 9½ x 1¼ in. from the guide — note this is NARROWER (5¾" wide) than Viking's other King titles; draft did not state trim. (5) BCE tell CORRECTED/REPRIORITIZED: the guide's authoritative primary tell is "Book Club jackets have NO price marked inside the front cover" (and smaller trim) — the draft's rear-board blind-stamp claim is demoted to a secondary/era-typical signal, not the definitive identifier, since the guide does not cite it and some club books can still carry the number line. (6) Binding/boards (black quarter cloth over black paper boards, red metallic SK, gilt eclipse) cross-confirmed across dealers. (7) ENDPAPER DISCREPANCY: dealers describe peach vs orange vs mustard/yellow-orange — no single canonical color; recorded as variance, lowered certainty from draft's flat "mustard/yellow-orange." (8) No US limited edition for this title confirmed; flagged that modern Suntup fine-press editions exist but are NOT first-edition-relevant. (9) Year quirk (stores late 1992, copyright page states 1993) reconfirmed. (10) Gutter-code N/A reconfirmed by the guide (gutter codes are a Doubleday-only phenomenon for 1974-1983 King). Three dealer pages (parigibooks, brennersbooks, gargoylebooks) returned HTTP 406/redirect blocks and could not be fetched directly, but their corroborating snippets appeared in search results.