Gerald's Game Common
What it’s about
Hoping to rekindle their marriage, Jessie Burlingame and her husband Gerald retreat to a remote lakeside summer house in Maine, where a bedroom game escalates: Jessie ends up handcuffed to the bed. When the situation goes catastrophically wrong, she finds herself alone, restrained, and unable to free herself — with no one within earshot and her own mind beginning to turn against her. What follows is a harrowing chamber piece about survival, memory, and the voices a person hears when stranded at the edge of their endurance.
Significance A solo Stephen King novel (no Bachman/co-author involvement), loosely linked to its companion book Dolores Claiborne via a shared eclipse; famously adapted into Mike Flanagan's acclaimed 2017 Netflix film starring Carla Gugino.
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
- Decisive: complete number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — the leading 1 proves first printing; later printings drop it.
- Confirm the copyright statement "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin" (no "First Edition" was ever printed).
- First jacket = $23.50 on front flap + "0992" code at the flap foot, unclipped; a clipped corner hides the price and cuts value.
- BCE trap: no price on the front flap (often "Book Club Edition" printed there), no rear barcode, a blind-stamp on the rear board, smaller/glued trim.
- A BCE jacket can be married onto a true first — always verify the book's own copyright page and number line, not just the jacket.
- First run ~1.5M copies, so true firsts are common and cheap; be skeptical of inflated "rare first" pricing and facsimile-signed ABA advances.
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 US Viking 1992 first/first with both decisive tells legibly photographed on the one copy — the complete number line and the unclipped priced flap — plus a jacket-off look at the boards; the only mark on it is a previous owner's gift inscription on the half-title, which is not King's hand.
- Number line — The complete first-printing line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" is legible on the copyright page, the operative leading 1 present and 10 sitting between 9 and 8 (photo 9).
- Copyright — "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." sits directly above that number line, with "Copyright © Stephen King, 1992" beneath it (photo 9).
- Jacket price — $23.50 stands unclipped at the head of the front flap with the first-state code "0992" at the flap foot, and the wrapper photographed laid flat shows both flaps whole on the one jacket (photos 7 and 18).
- Binding — Jacket off: black paper boards over a black cloth spine, red-foil "SK" at the front board's lower outer corner, red spine lettering, the gold ring device, "Viking" at the spine foot, and a plain black rear board (photos 11, 12, 14 and 15).
- Dust jacket — The rear flap credits Neil Stuart's design and Rob Wood's illustration and carries the 1992-correct bio citing Needful Things, Four Past Midnight and The Dark Tower III, while the rear panel shows ISBN 0-670-84650-3 with barcode 9 780670 846504 (photos 10 and 3).
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
A genuine, decisively-proven first/first — fairly priced at $20, but the permanent Treemont ownership stamp caps it at VG+.
- Number line — Decisive tell legibly shown: complete first-printing line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the leading 1 present (10 between 9 and 8).
- Copyright — "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin" + © Stephen King 1992; ISBN 0-670-84650-3 matches rear-jacket barcode (not married).
- Jacket price — $23.50 front flap UNCLIPPED with the "0992" first-printing flap code at foot — correct first-state trade jacket, not a BCE.
- Dust jacket — Correct first-edition handcuffed-bedpost art and King rear-cover author photo shown.
- Binding — A clear shot of the "Treemont Retirement Community / Dallas TX" institutional ownership stamp on the front board/endpaper — the permanent defect that caps it at VG+.
Confirmed first/first, NF/NF and unclipped — clean and correctly priced at $25.95; nothing material left unseen.
- Number line — Decisive tell legibly photographed: complete line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the operative 1 present.
- Copyright — "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin" + © Stephen King 1992; ISBN 0-670-84650-3, US-printed by Book Press.
- Jacket price — $23.50 front flap UNCLIPPED with the "0992" first-printing flap code present.
- Dust jacket — Rear jacket carries full barcode + ISBN block (rules out the price-less BCE); Viking ship colophon on spine.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
This is the UK Hodder & Stoughton 1992 first, not the US Viking first this title's rubric is built around; its copyright page reads as a Hodder first printing, but neither jacket flap nor the boards were ever photographed.
- Copyright — "Copyright © 1992 by Stephen King" is followed by "First published in Great Britain 1992", which runs straight on into "All rights reserved" with no reprint or later-impression line beneath it — the Hodder first-printing state (photo 3).
- Publisher & ISBN — British Library Cataloguing in Publication block with ISBN 0-340-57493-3, Hodder and Stoughton of Mill Road, Dunton Green, Sevenoaks, and "Printed in Great Britain by Mackays of Chatham plc" (photo 3).
- Title page — "Hodder & Stoughton / LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND" is printed beneath the title, putting the UK imprint on the book block itself (photo 2).
- Dust jacket — The one jacket frame is small and low-resolution, but under magnification "Hodder & Stoughton" reads at the spine foot and the art is the UK Hodder bedpost-and-window design, so the wrapper is a Hodder wrapper and not a married US Viking one — though its own issue state cannot be read from this frame (photo 1).
- Jacket price — Neither flap appears in any frame, so the printed UK price and the clip state are entirely unverified; ask for the front flap shot straight on with the price corner legible.
- Rear jacket panel — The rear of the jacket was never shown; ask for it so the barcode can be matched against the 0-340-57493-3 on the copyright page.
- Binding — The jacket is not removed in any of the three frames; ask for the naked front board and spine.
Genuine, decisively-proven first/first in NF/NF — fairly priced at $35; the rear Caldor sticker is the only blemish.
- Number line — Decisive tell shown in photo 4: complete line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" WITH the numeral 1 — matches the rubric exactly.
- Copyright — "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin" with ISBN 0-670-84650-3; rear barcode 9 780670 846504 confirmed (rules out BCE).
- Jacket price — $23.50 front flap UNCLIPPED with the "0992" first-state flap code present.
- Dust jacket — Viking ship colophon on spine and jacket foot; Bill Russell wood-engraving endpapers shown — correct first-edition build.
- Binding — A close shot of the Caldor "$19.98" sticker on the rear jacket — confirm whether it has lifted or left residue, as it shaves a few dollars off.
Jacket and binding all point to a first, but the decisive number line is unphotographed — good value at $19.95 if the operative 1 confirms on arrival.
- Jacket price — $23.50 front flap UNCLIPPED with the "0992" first-printing flap code present — correct first-state price.
- Binding — Correct trade first binding: black boards over black cloth spine, red "SK" on front board, red spine lettering, "Viking" at spine foot.
- Dust jacket — Rear ISBN 0-670-84650-3 + full barcode (a true trade rear, not a BCE); Neil Stuart design and Rob Wood art match the first edition.
- Number line — The DECISIVE shot — the copyright page "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with the leading 1 — is not pictured; ask the seller to confirm the operative 1 before buying.
- Copyright — The "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin" statement was never photographed; only the jacket and binding are shown.
A UK Hodder & Stoughton 1992 first rather than the US Viking first the rubric describes, with the copyright page legibly in hand and the jacket's barcode matching the book's own ISBN, but no flap and no jacket-off shot of the boards.
- Copyright — "First published in Great Britain 1992" sits beneath "Copyright © 1992 by Stephen King" and runs straight into "All rights reserved", with no reprint or impression line following — the Hodder first-printing state (photo 3).
- Publisher & ISBN — ISBN 0-340-57493-3 in the British Library CIP block (photo 3) matches the rear-jacket barcode 9 780340 574935 (photo 7), so this jacket and this book block belong to one another.
- Title page — "Hodder & Stoughton / LONDON SYDNEY AUCKLAND" is printed beneath the title (photo 4).
- Text block — Sewn signatures: the stitching runs visibly down the gutter of the title-page opening, ruling out a glued club binding (photo 5).
- Dust jacket — The UK Hodder artwork — handcuffs on a bedpost against a moonlit window, title in yellow — with the King portrait on the rear panel and "Hodder & Stoughton" at the jacket's spine foot (photos 1, 7 and 9).
- Jacket price — No frame shows either flap, so the printed UK price and any clip are unverified; ask for the front flap straight on with the price corner legible.
- Binding — The jacket is never taken off — photo 5 gives only a sliver of dark board edge at the foot, too little to read the boards or the spine; ask for the front board and spine with the jacket removed.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
The Viking trade hardcover is the true first edition. There is no Donald M. Grant, Phantasia, Philtrum, or other fine-press hardcover preceding it (unlike the early Dark Tower / Eyes of the Dragon / Cycle of the Werewolf cases). The 1992 ABA-convention advance (~2,000 copies; black cloth, gilt spine; cardboard slipcase; facsimile King letter on the front free endpaper; no jacket) is an earlier PROMOTIONAL state, treated as a separate advance collectible rather than the trade first. A Signet/NAL mass-market paperback followed in July 1993 (ISBN 0-451-17646-4) — a reprint, not a first. (Confirmed: Robert Gavora, Bauman, stephenkingcollector.com, Signet 1993 listings.)
First-printing points at a glance
Dust jacket
US Viking first jacket: stark dark typographic/photographic design (title and author treatment over a dark field), credited to designer Neil Stuart. The front flap carries the $23.50 price and the "0992" code at the flap foot; the rear flap carries the author photo and bio. Distinct from the UK first-edition jacket, which uses different art and is sometimes married onto US copies.
Art / design: Jacket DESIGN by Neil Stuart (Viking art director/designer) — cross-confirmed across multiple dealer listings. The US Viking first jacket is a dark, typographic/photographic treatment (not a painted-art cover). Disregard occasional search-engine attributions of "Rob Wood" art / "Bill Russell" interiors — those bleed in from other King titles and are NOT corroborated by any Gerald's Game source. The UK first edition (Hodder & Stoughton) carries different jacket art; do not confuse a UK jacket on a US book.
Also watch for: (1) Married jackets — a UK first jacket or a later-printing/price-clipped jacket placed on a true US first; match the $23.50 + "0992" US flap to the book. (2) Price-clipped jackets passed off as firsts — clipping removes the price evidence and lowers value. (3) BCE jacket (no price) on a first-edition book, or vice versa. (4) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) — low value. (5) Remainder marks (spray/marker on the bottom text-block edge) — still firsts but worth less. (6) "Facsimile" signatures — the ABA advance contains a REPRODUCED letter, not a real autograph; do not pay signed-copy prices for it. (7) Because the first printing ran ~1.5 million copies, true firsts are extremely common and cheap — be skeptical of inflated "rare first edition" pricing.
Print run & scarcity
The widely cited first-printing figure of approximately 1.5 million copies is reported by stephenkingcollector.com, the standard hobbyist reference for King first-edition points. This is a publisher-scale trade run typical of King's early-90s Viking releases and is the direct reason the unsigned first/first carries almost no scarcity premium. Separately, the pre-publication ABA convention edition was limited to ~2,000 copies handed out at the 1992 American Booksellers Association convention (printed paper slipcase, facsimile signed King letter, issued without a dust jacket) — that 2,000 figure is the only tightly-bounded, genuinely scarce print quantity for this title. No exact first-printing figure appears in a Viking/Penguin colophon, so the 1.5M number should be treated as a well-circulated collector-community figure rather than a publisher-verified statistic.
First-state points & errata
No documented first-state errata or textual variants for this title. Identification is by copyright statement + complete number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" + unclipped $23.50 jacket with the "0992" flap code. Any claim of a textual first-state variant is UNVERIFIED — not reported by the official King guide, thefirstedition.com, or stephenkingcollector.com.
Limited & signed editions
No signed/numbered/traycased fine-press limited was issued for Gerald's Game (no Grant/Phantasia/Donald M. Grant edition). The only special pre-trade issue is the 1992 ABA-convention ADVANCE: ~2,000 copies; black cloth with gilt-stamped spine; issued in a plain cardboard slipcase WITHOUT a dust jacket; with a FACSIMILE handwritten King letter to booksellers on the front free endpaper (facsimile-signed, not a real autograph). Genuinely author-SIGNED copies of the ordinary trade first exist (signed in person) and command a premium, but they are signed trade firsts, not a separate signed/limited edition. (Confirmed: Robert Gavora, Bauman Rare Books, John W. Knott.)
Market value estimate
~$20–$60
Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.
Sale evidence no verified realized price: Realized auction comp: King "Gerald's Game" 1st ed. SIGNED by the author, 1992, sold as a 2-book lot (LiveAuctioneers price-result archive) — a signed copy anchors the low-hundreds. Dealer sold/market data: stephenkingcollector.com market value $10–15 (Dec 2024) for an unsigned trade first. AbeBooks/Biblio fine/fine unclipped trade firsts transact in the $20–50 band across ABAA/ILAB sellers. ABA convention variant (slipcase + facsimile King letter, ~2,000 copies) listed/sold by specialist dealers (Robert Gavora, Heartwood, JWK) in the $200–400 range. NOTE: realized-price databases (Heritage/PBA/RBH) show few standalone records for this title precisely because the unsigned trade first is too common to consign.
No confirmed sale found, so this is rated at no less than its original jacket price — a true first/first should hold at least retail in near-fine/fine condition. Soft estimate from dealer listings (treat as approximate): $20–60 (true first, fine/fine, unclipped $23.50 jacket) — signed copies $250–500; scarce ABA convention variant $200–400
Book-club edition (the trap): No true book-club edition is the trap for this title. With a ~1.5M-copy first trade printing, the market is flooded with cheap first/firsts — an unsigned reading copy in VG jacket is a $10–15 book, and that mass of copies (not a BCE) is what dealers inflate to "rare first edition" at $75–150 asking. Ex-library and price-clipped copies are effectively worthless ($5–10). — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.
Condition matters far less than for scarce titles because the book is genuinely common — even fine/fine copies stay modest. The single biggest value separator is NOT a points-of-issue subtlety (the trade first is easy to ID) but rather AUTHORSHIP PROVENANCE: an authentic King signature/inscription jumps the book from ~$30 to $250–500+, and the genuinely scarce ABA convention edition (printed paper slipcase, facsimile signed King letter, no dust jacket as issued, ~2,000 copies) is worth $200–400 and is the variant collectors actually chase. For the ordinary trade first, demand the $23.50 / "0992" UNCLIPPED jacket and the correct number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" with "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin" — a clipped jacket or ex-library stamp halves or kills the value. Beware fake/secretarial King signatures, which are rampant; require PSA/JSA or trusted-dealer provenance before paying the signed premium.
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/geraldsgame.html
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/OtherEditions/geraldsgame.html
- https://www.liveauctioneers.com/price-result/king-stephen-gerald-s-game-first-edition-signed-by-the-author-1992-and-another-by-the-same-2/
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Geralds-Game-Stephen-King-First-Edition/32140043157/bd
- https://www.robertgavora.com/pages/books/46125/stephen-king/geralds-game
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Geralds-Game-Stephen-King-Viking-New/17417287988/bd
Sources
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
- https://thefirstedition.com/product/geralds-game/
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/geraldsgame.html
- https://www.bookstellyouwhy.com/pages/books/54862/stephen-king/geralds-game
- https://www.jwkbooks.com/pages/books/8340/stephen-king/geralds-game
- https://www.robertgavora.com/pages/books/46125/stephen-king/geralds-game
- https://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/king-stephen/geralds-game/129191.aspx
- https://www.lwcurrey.com/pages/books/128883/stephen-king/geralds-game
- https://www.biblio.com/book/geralds-game-stephen-king/d/1083648690
- https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/138493/stephen-king/geralds-game
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/geralds-game/author/stephen-king/first-edition/
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/geraldsgame.html
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/OtherEditions/geraldsgame.html
- https://www.robertgavora.com/pages/books/46125/stephen-king/geralds-game
Verification notes: VERIFY tier resolved with new independent sources added beyond the draft set. CONFIRMED unchanged: price $23.50 (thefirstedition.com, stephenkingcollector.com, jwkbooks.com, abebooks/biblio dealers); number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (thefirstedition.com, stephenkingcollector.com, jwkbooks.com); copyright statement "First published in 1992 by Viking Penguin"; binding (quarter cloth, black boards/spine, red title + red SK initials); "0992" front-flap code; ISBN 0-670-84650-3; ~1.5M print run (stephenkingcollector.com); jacket DESIGNER Neil Stuart (multiple dealers). CORRECTIONS / DISCREPANCIES vs draft: (a) value range LOWERED — stephenkingcollector.com documents ~$10-$15 for a clean copy, so the floor is below the draft's $10-$40 framing; range widened/anchored accordingly. (b) The "Rob Wood art / Bill Russell interiors" attribution that surfaced in one aggregated snippet is REJECTED as cross-title contamination — no Gerald's Game source corroborates it; designer remains Neil Stuart. (c) UK first jacket: draft attributed it to "Paul Bryn Davies"; I could not independently confirm that specific UK artist from collector sources, so the UK-artist name is left UNASSERTED (UK first = Hodder & Stoughton, different art) rather than repeated unverified. (d) ABA advance: a June-1992 trade pub date vs the "0992" (Sept) flap printing code is a metadata/printing-code distinction, not a contradiction. (e) Signet paperback dated more precisely to July 1993 (ISBN 0-451-17646-4). STILL UNVERIFIED: topstain color and endpaper notes for the trade issue; the exact blind-stamp SHAPE used on any Gerald's Game BCE. NEW independent sources merged: bookstellyouwhy.com, jwkbooks.com, robertgavora.com, baumanrarebooks.com, lwcurrey.com, biblio June-1992 listing.