Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower VI) Common
What it’s about
The penultimate volume of Stephen King's Dark Tower saga splits Roland's ka-tet across worlds and time as Susannah Dean, possessed by the demon-mother Mia, slips through a magic door to 1999 New York to give birth to a child both sides of the war for the Tower desperately want. While Roland and Eddie chase her trail back to a 1977 Maine threatened by the agents of the Crimson King, Jake, Father Callahan, and the bumbler Oy race to find her before the labor begins. The hunt to protect Susannah and her "chap" pulls the quest deeper into the machinery of reality itself, where authors, beams, and breakers all bend toward the Dark Tower.
Significance Book six of King's seven-volume magnum opus, famous for its metafictional turn in which Stephen King writes himself into the story as a character — a divisive, much-discussed gambit that bridges directly into the final volume, The Dark Tower.
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
- Demand BOTH the "First Trade Edition" statement AND the full "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" line — the 2004 date alone proves nothing.
- Confirm the $30.00 flap price is intact; a corner-clipped flap is a fine-copy trap and a value hit.
- Later-printing trap: low numbers stripped from the line — lowest remaining digit gives the printing.
- Club/remainder tells: no flap price (or "Book Club Edition"), missing statement/incomplete line, thinner paper, smaller trim, rear-board blind-stamp.
- Don't conflate the signeds with the trade: King+Anderson = the 1,400 numbered limited, Anderson-only = the 3,500 Artist Edition.
- Watch for married jackets, ex-library stamps/pockets, and bottom-edge remainder marks on overstock trade copies.
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 first trade, $30 unclipped; edge foxing + a stuck-on rear sticker trim it — $24.99 sits inside fair value.
- Stated First Trade Edition line — Copyright page states "FIRST TRADE EDITION" — the decisive tell, legibly shown across 20 photos.
- Number line — Full line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" complete, "1" present, ending in "2" — first printing.
- Jacket price — $30.00 front-flap price shown and unclipped (a removable retailer sticker sits on the rear flap).
- Binding — Black cloth boards with gold spine stamping — correct quarto trade binding, not quarter-bound.
✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.
Genuine first trade, decisive plate pictured; clean interior but a jacket-worn copy — $15.95 is fair, not a steal.
- Stated First Trade Edition line — Copyright page (photo 4) explicitly states "FIRST TRADE EDITION" — the decisive trade-first tell, legibly pictured.
- Number line — Full descending line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2", "1" present and ending in "2" — true first printing.
- Dust jacket — Spine reads GRANT; Anderson art + interior plates match the trade first; rear panel is Grant/Scribner, not Book Club.
- Copyright — © 2004 King; ISBN 1-880418-59-2 with matching rear-board barcode; Grant/Scribner/S&S imprint stack — correct chain.
- Jacket price — Front flap not photographed, so the $30.00 price and unclipped status are unverified — ask for the flap shot.
- Dust jacket — Spine-head chip/crease and edge wear noted; get a close-up of the spine crown to gauge the loss.
Trade jacket and Grant '04 imprint look right, but no copyright page or number line shown — needs the plate to confirm.
- Dust jacket — Single photo shows correct title/author and the standard TRADE storm-scene art — not the signed/numbered or Artist edition.
- Copyright — GRANT colophon + '04 mark at bottom front cover — right imprint and year for the 2004 trade hardcover.
- Stated First Trade Edition line — Copyright page not shown — the decisive "First Trade Edition" statement is unverified; first printing cannot be confirmed.
- Number line — Full "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" line never pictured — cannot rule out a later printing.
- Binding — Matte-black full-cloth boards not shown — only the jacket front/spine are pictured.
- Jacket price — $30.00 is the AbeBooks listing price, not a photographed flap; the priced flap is unverified.
Description names every right trade-first marker, but the only image is stock art — zero photographic proof; needs the plate.
- Stated First Trade Edition line — No seller photo at all — the lone image is generic ISBN stock art; the "First Trade Edition" statement is unverified.
- Number line — Seller's text asserts the full "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" line but no photo corroborates it — testimony, not proof.
- Binding — Black-cloth/gold-spine binding claimed in text only; no image of the actual book.
- Jacket price — $30.00 flap price neither photographed nor stated — listing is US$31.00; price-on-jacket unverifiable.
No photos and the record is actually Book VII, not Song of Susannah — wrong title and unproven; needs the copyright page.
- Book identity — Raw HTML record is actually The Dark Tower VII, not Song of Susannah (VI) — the VI slug is non-authoritative; wrong title.
- Stated First Trade Edition line — Zero photos (Image Not Available) — the "first trade edition, first printing" claim is seller text only, unverified.
- Number line — No image of the copyright page or number line — first printing cannot be visually confirmed.
- Jacket price — No jacket photo; price-on-flap and unclipped status unverifiable.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
Three near-simultaneous 2004 Grant issues exist. (1) Signed Limited Edition — 1,400 numbered copies signed by BOTH Stephen King and artist Darrel Anderson, in slipcase (the premier 'true first'). (2) Artist Edition — 3,500 copies signed by Darrel Anderson only. (3) First Trade Edition — large unsigned trade hardcover, distributed via Scribner/Simon & Schuster (reported first printing of ~650,000). For this TIER ('standard') the collectible target is the unsigned First Trade Edition. No mass-market hardcover precedes it; the limiteds are the only earlier-in-prestige states, not earlier in date.
First-printing points at a glance
Dust jacket
Pictorial dust jacket featuring Darrel Anderson's digital/illustrative Dark Tower artwork; title and author lettering on front and spine. Interior carries ten full-color Anderson plates. Back panel and rear-flap carry series/publisher matter. Exact back-panel layout UNVERIFIED beyond Anderson authorship.
Art / design: Darrel Anderson (cover art + 10 full-color interior illustrations and jacket/endpaper design)
Also watch for: Most common deceptions: (a) price-clipped jackets passed as fine — verify the $30.00 is intact; (b) later-printing trade copies (low number removed from the line) sold as firsts; (c) 'married' jackets — a fine jacket swapped onto a worn book or vice versa; (d) the signed Limited (1,400) vs Artist Edition (3,500) being conflated — confirm WHO signed (King+Anderson = the 1,400 numbered; Anderson only = the 3,500); (e) ex-library copies with stamps/pockets; (f) remainder marks on the bottom text-block edge on overstock trade copies. Confirm both the copyright statement and the full number line, not just the 2004 date.
Print run & scarcity
Edition structure for this title differs from a standard publisher split. Donald M. Grant was the FIRST-edition publisher for the later Dark Tower volumes and issued THREE editions of Song of Susannah simultaneously in 2004: (1) Limited signed/numbered = 1,400 copies; (2) Artist Edition = 3,500 copies; (3) Trade Hardcover = 650,000-copy first printing, distributed through Simon & Schuster / Scribner. So the "Grant vs Scribner" question is really one Grant publication with Scribner/S&S handling mass trade distribution — the trade hardcover copyright page reads "FIRST TRADE EDITION." The 650,000 figure is stated directly on Donald M. Grant's own product page and is corroborated by antiquarian-dealer descriptions. The book was a #1 bestseller (high-demand King title), consistent with a six-figure first printing. RECOMMENDATION: set the guide's first-printing field to ~650,000 (trade hardcover, Grant/Scribner-S&S, 2004), and keep the 1,400 signed/numbered (and 3,500 artist) figures only as a separate collector/limited-edition note. The current ~3,500 or ~1,400 value in the guide reflects a limited issue, not the major release.
First-state points & errata
No notorious errata/state change is recorded separating first-state from later-state first-trade copies of this title. Identification rests on the "First Trade Edition" statement + complete "1...2" number line. UNVERIFIED whether any minor text-state variants exist.
Limited & signed editions
Two Grant limiteds, both 2004, both slipcased and higher-grade than the trade: (1) Signed Limited Edition of 1,400 numbered copies, signed by Stephen King AND Darrel Anderson, in slipcase (the premier issue). (2) Artist Edition of 3,500 copies, signed by Darrel Anderson only. Both published by Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.
Market value confirmed sales
$10–$40 (unsigned trade first, fine/fine)
Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.
Confirmed sales: eBay sold ~$950 — "Special Limited First Edition Signed" (King-signed #/1400), ~2023–24. Dealer (Donald M. Grant, signed limited #1344/1400, sealed in slipcase) firm-priced $750, VeryFineBooks, current/2024. eBay Best-Offer accepted (Artist Edition #/3500, Anderson-signed, shrink-wrapped) — final undisclosed, ~Jul 2024 (Anderson-only, the cheaper tier). AbeBooks dealer sale — unsigned First Trade Edition, fine/fine, unclipped $30 jacket, $100, Discovery Bay Old Books, current/2024.
Book-club edition (the trap): No true BOMC/book-club edition exists for the Grant first; the de-facto "trap copy" is the unsigned First Trade Edition (commonly mislisted as "the first edition") at ~$15–50 in worn/ex-library/clipped condition, plus the later Scribner mass-distribution copies and Artist Edition (#/3500, illustrator-only signature) ~$150–300 — a fraction of the King-signed #/1400. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.
[Audit-corrected from $75-950: value is for a genuine UNSIGNED trade first in fine/fine; signed/limited copies excluded.] Condition/signature sensitivity is everything here. The unsigned First Trade Edition is genuinely common — fine/fine with an unclipped $30.00 jacket tops out around $100–150; clipped, ex-library, or jacket-faded copies collapse to $15–50. The real money is the King-SIGNED Limited #/1400 (slipcased): sealed/as-new ~$750–950, opened fine ~$650–800. THE SINGLE BIGGEST TRAP FOR THIS TITLE: the Artist Edition (#/3500) is routinely mislisted as "signed first edition" — but it carries ONLY illustrator Darrel Anderson's signature, NOT Stephen King's, and is worth roughly a third of the King-signed #/1400. To verify a true King-signed first, confirm (a) Donald M. Grant imprint, (b) numbered limitation page "X of 1400" with BOTH King and Anderson autographs (ink, not facsimile/auto-pen), and (c) original slipcase present. For the unsigned trade, confirm the copyright page states "FIRST TRADE EDITION" with the full number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 and an unclipped $30.00 jacket. Note: the generic "Doubleday gutter code / correct jacket price" King points do NOT apply — this is a Grant-published volume, not a Scribner/Viking first.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_VI:_Song_of_Susannah
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-the-dark-tower-vi-song-of-susannah-donald-m-grant-signed-limited-edition-1344-of-1400-sealed/
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Song-Susannah-King-Stephen-Donald-Grant/31693968315/bd
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/song-of-susannah/author/stephen-king/first-edition/signed/
- https://secure.grantbooks.com/books/dark-tower-vi-song-of-susannah/
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/songofsusannah.html
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/song-of-susannah/author/stephen-king/first-edition/
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Song-Susannah-King-Stephen-Donald-Grant/31693968315/bd
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/396994599728
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/song-of-susannah/author/stephen-king/first-edition/signed/
Sources
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_VI:_Song_of_Susannah
- https://secure.grantbooks.com/books/dark-tower-vi-song-of-susannah/
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Song-Susannah-King-Stephen-Donald-Grant/31693968315/bd
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-the-dark-tower-vi-song-of-susannah-donald-m-grant-signed-limited-edition-1344-of-1400-sealed/
- https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/154005/stephen-king/song-of-susannah
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/song-of-susannah/author/stephen-king/first-edition/
- https://secure.grantbooks.com/books/dark-tower-vi-song-of-susannah/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_VI:_Song_of_Susannah
- https://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/154005/stephen-king/song-of-susannah
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-the-dark-tower-vi-song-of-susannah-donald-m-grant-signed-limited-edition-1344-of-1400-sealed/
- https://www.biblio.com/book/song-susannah-dark-tower-vi-artists/d/357591358
Verification notes: Price $30.00 cross-confirmed by two sources (Discovery Bay/Abebooks first-edition listing stating "Not price clipped with a price of $30.00" and the earlier Abebooks search synthesis). Copyright statement "First Trade Edition" + full "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" number line confirmed across Abebooks dealer listings and rarebookcellar. Binding (matte black cloth, gilt spine) and Darrel Anderson authorship + 10 color plates confirmed via Abebooks dealer descriptions. Limited sizes (1,400 King+Anderson numbered; 3,500 Anderson-only Artist) confirmed by publisher grantbooks.com and veryfinebooks listing #1,344 of 1,400. Note one early search returned a stray "$35" framing — that was the SEARCH QUERY echo, NOT a found price; all actual listings show $30.00.