11 Scribes · Stephen King & Bachman · The Dark Tower (Donald M. Grant)

The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three Collectible

1987 · Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. (West Kingston, Rhode Island)
First-edition cover of The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three
First-edition jacket (first (Wikipedia infobox)) · source

What it’s about

Gunslinger Roland Deschain wakes on a desolate beach at the edge of his dying world, gravely wounded and still bound to his quest for the Dark Tower. Along the shore he finds a series of freestanding doors, each opening onto 1980s New York City and into the mind of a stranger he is fated to draw into his world. To reach the Tower, Roland must enter these lives and pull three companions across the threshold — beginning with a heroin-addicted addict in the throes of his habit.

Significance The second volume of King's career-spanning Dark Tower saga (1987), it first knits the series into his wider canon by drawing its characters from "our" New York; the Donald M. Grant first edition with Phil Hale illustrations is a prized collector's run.

Value~$250–$500 estimatenear-fine / fine

How to spot a true first 30-second check

★ BookFor the TRADE first (a legitimate 1st/1st in its own right): publisher's BLACK cloth with the spine lettered in metallic gilt/gold (dealers also call it copper or bronze — same stamp, varying words), the stated "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page, no number line and no gutter code (Donald M. Grant is small-press). For the premium TRUE first, the SIGNED/NUMBERED LIMITED: a printed limitation leaf hand-numbered within 1–800 and signed by BOTH Stephen King and illustrator Phil Hale, housed in a publisher's slipcase. The numbered-for-sale copies are normally bound in publisher's WHITE cloth stamped in CRIMSON, but binding color is a corroborating point, not the gate — the genuine 12 "Publisher's Copy" copies are buff cloth stamped in metallic bronze, and a few numbered copies are recorded as black/white-lettered, so the decisive limited test is the signed, numbered limitation leaf plus the slipcase, NOT cloth color alone.
★ JacketFirst-state TRADE jacket carries the printed $35.00 price at the upper corner of the front flap, un-clipped (ISBN 0-937986-91-7). The signed/numbered LIMITED was issued with its own jacket at $100.00. A price-clipped flap hides this point and is a value/originality caveat, not a wrong edition; spine and jacket fading is common on this title and is NOT a printing tell.

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.

CopyrightCopyright page states 'FIRST EDITION' (both limited and trade carry it); any 'Second Printing' = not a first.
Number lineNone — Grant used no descending number line; identify by the printed 'FIRST EDITION' statement instead.
Gutter code—n/a
Jacket price ★ jacket tell$35.00 on the front-flap upper corner (trade, first-state, unclipped); the signed/numbered limited was issued at $100.00.
Binding ★ book tellTRADE: full black cloth, gilt/gold spine lettering (dealers also say copper/bronze — same stamp), no slipcase. LIMITED: identified by the signed, hand-numbered limitation leaf (King + Hale, 1–800) plus publisher's slipcase; numbered-for-sale copies are normally white cloth stamped in crimson, but cloth color corroborates, it does not gate (buff/bronze 'Publisher's Copy' copies and some black/white-lettered numbered copies exist).
Dust jacketPhil Hale cover art (Roland/Dark Tower); book carries 10 full-page Hale color plates; spine/jacket fading is common, not a printing tell.
Endpapers / edgesPictorial (illustrated) endpapers, both issues; no distinctive topstain noted.
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 First-edition statement book — Copyright page reads 'FIRST EDITION' — carried by BOTH the limited and the trade. Any 'Second Printing' or later statement = not a first.
  • Asserted Trade binding book — Trade first = publisher's BLACK cloth with the spine lettered in metallic gilt/gold (dealers also say copper/bronze), pictorial endpapers, 10 full-page Phil Hale color plates, 30,000 copies.
  • Asserted Limited limitation leaf book — True first (limited) = a printed limitation leaf hand-numbered within 1–800 (of 850 total) and signed by BOTH Stephen King and Phil Hale, in a publisher's slipcase; issue price $100. Normally white cloth stamped in crimson, but the 12 'Publisher's Copy' copies are buff/bronze — confirm by the signed numbered leaf + slipcase, not cloth color alone.
  • Asserted No number line / no gutter code book — Grant used no descending number line and no Doubleday-style printer gutter code — identify by the printed 'FIRST EDITION' statement, not by a code at a text-page foot.
  • Verified Trade jacket price jacket — First-state trade jacket = $35.00 printed at the upper corner of the front flap, un-clipped, ISBN 0-937986-91-7.
  • Asserted Limited jacket price jacket — The signed/numbered limited's own jacket was issued at $100.00.

Disqualifies it — book-club or later

  • Asserted Wrong publisher / format — Any NAL/Plume trade paperback or NAL mass-market paperback is a later reprint — smaller trim, perfect-bound, no Grant 'FIRST EDITION' copyright page, no Hale color plates. Not a first.
  • Asserted Later Grant printing — A copyright page stating 'Second Printing' (or later), or the 1998 trade reprint (~11,000 copies), is not the first. The 'FIRST EDITION' statement must be present and unaltered.
  • Asserted Married / incomplete limited — A 'limited' lacking the signed, hand-numbered limitation leaf, or sold without its publisher's slipcase, is not a verifiable numbered limited. The signatures must be BOTH King AND Hale — a Hale-only signed copy is leftover signed TRADE stock, not the King+Hale numbered limited.
  • Asserted Clipped or facsimile jacket (caveat, not disqualifier) — A price-clipped or reproduction jacket is a value/originality caveat, not a wrong edition; spine fade is normal on this title and is not a later-printing tell.

Proves nothing — shared traps

  • Shared 'FIRST EDITION' statement — Shared by BOTH the limited and the trade — it proves the copy is A first, not WHICH issue. It cannot by itself separate the premium limited from the trade; pair it with the signed/numbered limitation leaf (limited) or the $35 jacket + black/gilt cloth (trade).
  • Shared Phil Hale plates, pictorial endpapers, ISBN — The 10 Hale color plates, pictorial endpapers, and ISBN 0-937986-91-7 appear on every trade copy regardless of printing — present on later trade printings too, so they confirm format, not first-printing status.
  • Shared Cloth color (former 'decisive' tell) — White-cloth/crimson is the NORM for numbered-for-sale limiteds but is NOT universal across genuine limited copies (buff/bronze Publisher's Copies; some black/white-lettered numbered copies). Treat cloth color as corroborating, not decisive.

What to look for

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.

✓ 1st/1st confirmed$295Aesthetes Eye Books ↗
Negotiate Near Fine book / VG jacket

Confirmed Grant trade first, unclipped $35 jacket, NF/VG — genuine; $295 is at the upper end for the stated condition.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Binding — Black cloth boards, gilt spine lettering, GRANT at spine foot (photos 1,5) — decisive trade issue, not the white-cloth signed limited.
  • Copyright — Copyright page (photo 8) states 'FIRST EDITION', (c)1987 King, Donald M. Grant West Kingston RI; Trade ISBN 0-937986-91-7.
  • Jacket price — Front flap (photo 4) unclipped: 'Trade Edition $35.00' / 'Deluxe Edition $100.00' — first-state price present and intact.
  • Dust jacket — Phil Hale full-color interior plates and illustrated endpapers (photos 9,10,11), consistent with the Grant illustrated first.

✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.

✓ 1st/1st confirmed$395ivy mountain books ↗
Strong buy Fine book / Fine jacket (mylar-protected)

Confirmed Grant trade first, Fine/Fine, unclipped $35 jacket — genuine, fully documented across 19 photos; priced fairly.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Binding — Jet-black cloth boards, bronze gilt, KING at head / GRANT at foot (imgs 4-9) — decisive trade binding, not the white-cloth limited.
  • Copyright — Copyright page (img 3) states 'FIRST EDITION', (c)1987 King/Hale; both Trade and Deluxe ISBNs printed.
  • Jacket price — Back-panel block (img 2) legible and unclipped: 'Trade Edition $35.00 / Deluxe Edition $100.00' — first-state.
  • Dust jacket — Phil Hale color plates with 'PH' monogram (imgs 10-13), matching the 1987 Grant trade first.

✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.

likely first$325Peryton Books ↗
Fair Fine book / Fine jacket (foot of spine lightly pushed)

Confirmed Grant trade first, Fine/Fine — genuine; flap $35 price not legibly shown, so ask for a clear price close-up.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Binding — Black cloth boards with copper spine titling (photos 3,4) — decisive trade issue, not the white-cloth signed limited.
  • Copyright — Copyright page states 'FIRST EDITION' (no number line, correct for Grant), (c)1987 King; Trade ISBN 0-937986-91-7.
  • Dust jacket — Jacket present and intact (photos 1-4), US-printed Phil Hale art.
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Jacket price — $35.00 flap price not legible — flap-corner crop unreadable. Seller says 'price intact'; ask for a clear front-flap close-up.
Seller’s photo of this copy
likely first$520downtownbrown ↗
Fair Fine book (as-issued, shrink-wrapped) / Fine jacket — interior unverifiable through wrap

Likely Grant trade first — binding/jacket ISBN+price right, but sealed wrap hides the 'FIRST EDITION' page; $520 at-to-over ceiling.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Binding — Black cloth boards, GRANT at spine foot — decisive trade issue; rules out the white-cloth $100 limited and the paperback reprints.
  • Jacket price — Rear panel (zoomed) legibly reads 'ISBN 0-937986-91-7 Trade Edition $35.00' — Grant trade ISBN and unclipped first-state price.
  • Dust jacket — Correct Phil Hale grinning-man art front and rear; thick cream-stock text block, a Grant trade hardcover not a paperback.
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Copyright — The 'FIRST EDITION' copyright page is not shown — book sealed in shrink-wrap; only 3 photos. Ask for the copyright-page shot.
Seller’s photo of this copy
photos unclear$370*daisygirls* ↗
Pass Fine/Fine

Confirmed Grant trade first on the shown copy — but the sealed shipping unit is NOT that copy, so $370 carries that risk.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Binding — Black cloth boards, gilt spine, GRANT at foot (photos 1,14) — decisive trade first; rules out the white-cloth married-limited fake.
  • Copyright — Copyright page (photo 9) states 'FIRST EDITION', Donald M. Grant West Kingston RI; Trade ISBN 0-937986-91-7 (vs Deluxe -90-9).
  • Jacket price — Rear flap (photo 7) unclipped: 'Trade Edition $35.00 / Deluxe Edition $100.00' — first-state price.
  • Dust jacket — All ten Phil Hale color plates plus gunslinger plate; dedication to Don Grant, Dec 1986 afterword (photos 10-13).
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Binding — Photos show seller's personal copy; the unit ships sealed in shrink-wrap — its boards, hinges and copyright page can't be inspected before purchase.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
Is this the true first?Yes — this title is a hardcover small-press first from Donald M. Grant; there is no preceding trade-publisher hardcover. Grant issued it in two simultaneous 1987 hardcover formats: a signed/numbered slipcased limited (850 copies total, 800 numbered for sale) and a much larger trade hardcover (30,000 copies). Both are hardcover; there was no earlier paperback or other-publisher edition. (The NAL/Plume trade paperback and the later mass-market are reprints that followed.) IMPORTANT BINDING CORRECTION (vs draft): the two issues do NOT share a binding — the trade is black cloth stamped in gilt on the spine; the limited is publisher's WHITE cloth stamped in CRIMSON, housed in a slipcase.
The TRUE first edition is the Donald M. Grant SIGNED LIMITED — 850 copies total, of which 800 are NUMBERED copies offered for sale (plus ~40 'Author's Copy', ~10 'Artist's Copy', 12 'Publisher's Copy', and an undetermined number of 'Presentation Copy'). Its decisive tell is the printed limitation leaf — hand-numbered within 1–800 and signed by BOTH Stephen King AND illustrator Phil Hale — housed in a publisher's slipcase; that signed, numbered leaf plus the slipcase is the gate, not the cloth color. The numbered-for-sale copies are normally bound in publisher's WHITE cloth stamped in CRIMSON, and that binding corroborates a numbered copy, but it is not universal: the 12 'Publisher's Copy' copies are verifiably buff coarse cloth stamped in metallic bronze, and a handful of numbered copies are recorded as black-spined with white lettering. The limited was issued simultaneously in 1987 with — and is bibliographically superior to — the 30,000-copy Grant trade hardcover. Both issues are dated 1987 and both state 'FIRST EDITION,' but the limited is the premium true first; the trade is the first TRADE edition (a legitimate first edition/first printing in its own right, just not the rarest issue). Collectors treat the limited as a keystone of the matched Dark Tower limited set. Note: unlike Dark Tower I (The Gunslinger, where the 1982 Grant limited preceded a later trade), here both Grant issues are 1987 and concurrent. Precisely the limited is 850 TOTAL with 800 NUMBERED for sale.

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementCopyright page reads 'FIRST EDITION' (both the limited and the trade carry this statement) — it is the decisive book tell that a copy is A Grant first. Which issue it is then turns on the signed, hand-numbered limitation leaf (limited) or the black-cloth/gilt-spine binding plus the $35.00 jacket (trade); there is no descending number line. Later trade printings drop or alter the 'FIRST EDITION' statement and were not slipcased. (Dealers phrase it 'Stated First Edition' / 'FIRST EDITION as stated on the copyright page.')
Number lineNo number line. Grant trade and limited firsts identify by the printed 'FIRST EDITION' statement on the copyright page rather than a descending 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 row. Presence of any 'Second Printing' or similar later statement = not a first.
Gutter / printer codeN/A — Donald M. Grant did not use Doubleday-style gutter/printer codes. Identify by the 'FIRST EDITION' statement and jacket price instead.
First printing — copies30,000 copies (trade first edition). Issued simultaneously with a deluxe signed/numbered LIMITED edition of 850 slipcased copies (800 offered for sale, 50 retained), signed by Stephen King and illustrator Phil Hale. accepted figure
First jacket price$35.00 (trade hardcover, first-state jacket). The signed/numbered limited edition was issued at $100.00 (per draft; the limited's dust jacket is conventionally unclipped — the exact printed limited-jacket price is less consistently quoted by dealers than the $35 trade price). (Front dust-jacket flap, upper area — dealers describe it as 'the correct $35 trade price on the front flap' and 'on the upper dust-jacket corner (not price clipped).' A price-clipped flap hides this and reduces value; first-state copies are un-clipped.)
Board (panel) colorTRADE: black cloth / black paper-covered boards (full cloth). LIMITED: publisher's WHITE cloth (a different binding entirely — correction vs draft, which wrongly stated the limited shares the trade's black binding).
Spine / center bindingTRADE: black cloth spine stamped/lettered in GILT (gold). Dealer descriptions of the trade spine stamping vary — most say 'gilt'/'gold,' some say 'copper' or 'bronze gilt' — so the draft's flat 'bronze (copper-gold)' is one of several dealer phrasings, not the canonical one; gilt/gold is the dominant description. Full-cloth binding, not quarter-bound. LIMITED: white cloth spine stamped in CRIMSON. NOTE: the trade's spine lettering and the jacket spine are prone to fading on this title — faded spines are common and not, by themselves, evidence of a later printing.
Binding styleTRADE: full black cloth over boards, sewn (Grant hardcover production), no slipcase as issued. LIMITED: full WHITE cloth over boards, sewn, housed in a publisher's slipcase. The two issues are bound in different cloth/stamping colors (black/gilt vs white/crimson) — they are NOT the same binding as the draft claimed.
Topstain / endpapersPictorial (illustrated) endpapers, both issues. Topstain: UNVERIFIED (no distinctive topstain noted across dealer/collector sources).

Dust jacket

Dust jacket reproduces Phil Hale cover art (Roland / Dark Tower imagery) with title and author lettering; the book contains 10 full-page color plates by Hale plus pictorial endpapers. Glossy/laminated dustwrapper noted by some dealers. Exact front/back-panel art layout and any author photo: described generally across dealer listings; precise back-panel/flap copy UNVERIFIED in detail.

Art / design: Phil Hale (illustrator; 10 full-page color illustrations and jacket art). Jacket designer/typography credit UNVERIFIED.

reference photohttps://www.burnsiderarebooks.com/pages/books/140942067/stephen-king/the-dark-tower-ii-the-drawing-of-the-threereference photohttps://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-dark-tower-2-drawing-of-three-first-edition-first-printing-fine-fine/reference photohttps://secure.grantbooks.com/product/dark-tower-ii-drawing-of-three/
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyNo Book-of-the-Month / Doubleday-style book-club edition of this Grant title is documented. The relevant 'cheaper issue' confusion is instead with later reprints: the NAL/Plume trade paperback and the NAL mass-market paperback (smaller trim, glued/perfect-bound, no slipcase, no Grant 'FIRST EDITION' copyright page, paperback covers). Any copy lacking the 'FIRST EDITION' statement and the Phil Hale color plates is not a Grant first; the trade additionally shows black cloth stamped in gilt on the spine. The premium limited is identified not by binding color but by its signed, hand-numbered limitation leaf (King + Hale, within 1–800) and its publisher's slipcase — white cloth/crimson stamping is the norm for numbered-for-sale copies but is corroborating, not universal (the 12 'Publisher's Copy' copies are buff/bronze; a few numbered copies are black/white-lettered). Watch for the limited's slipcase married to a trade copy: confirm by the signed numbered limitation leaf plus the slipcase, not by cloth color alone.

Also watch for: (1) Married editions — a trade copy placed in a limited-edition slipcase, or a 'limited' lacking its slipcase. Cloth color is a poor sole detector here (the 12 'Publisher's Copy' copies are buff/bronze and some numbered copies are black/white-lettered), so verify the limited by its signed, hand-numbered limitation leaf — within 1–800 and signed by BOTH King AND Hale — plus the publisher's slipcase; the white cloth/crimson stamping of the numbered-for-sale copies corroborates but does not by itself prove or disprove a limited. (2) Price-clipped jackets — hide the $35 trade point and lower value; a condition/originality caveat, not a wrong edition. (3) Spine-faded jackets sold as 'later printing' — fading is normal here, not a printing tell. (4) Reprint paperbacks (Plume/NAL) misrepresented as the 'first.' (5) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) and remainder marks — sharply reduce value. (6) Restored/recased copies and facsimile/reproduction jackets — confirm the jacket is original first-state with the correct flap price. (7) A Hale-only signed TRADE copy (Grant signed leftover stock) misrepresented as the King+Hale signed/numbered LIMITED — the genuine numbered limited carries BOTH signatures and the hand-numbered limitation leaf. (8) Forged King or Hale signatures on trade copies.

Print run & scarcity

Figures are consistently cited across Grant-trade dealer descriptions and King-collector references: 30,000 trade hardcovers (black cloth, gilt titling, $35 jacket) plus 850 limited (white cloth, crimson stamping, slipcase + wrapper, signed by King + Hale). Within the 850 limited, copies #1–500 carry a premium because Dark Tower I (The Gunslinger) had a 500-copy limited, so collectors chase matched number sets. The 30,000 trade figure is the documented first-printing count; no separate sub-figure for first-vs-later trade printings is published, but later trade printings exist (they drop or alter the stated "FIRST EDITION" — Grant used no number line on this title, so there is none to alter) and are worth a fraction.

First-state points & errata

No widely catalogued textual erratum or state-change point separates first-state first printings of this title (unlike some Doubleday Kings). The principal first-issue points are presentation, not text: the 'FIRST EDITION' statement on the copyright page and the correct, un-clipped jacket price ($35.00 trade; limited issued unclipped). The 10 full-page Phil Hale color plates and pictorial endpapers are present in both issues. UNVERIFIED whether any printer's typo distinguishes states.

Limited & signed editions

Donald M. Grant signed limited, 1987: 850 copies TOTAL, of which 800 are NUMBERED copies offered for sale; binding is publisher's WHITE cloth stamped in CRIMSON, slipcased, SIGNED by Stephen King AND Phil Hale. Within the 850: ~40 marked 'Author's Copy,' ~10 'Artist's Copy,' 12 'Publisher's Copy,' and an undetermined number of 'Presentation Copy.' This is the premium true first. (Trade hardcover 30,000 copies, $35, black cloth/gilt, not signed as issued — though Grant later signed some remaining trade copies with Phil Hale ONLY, so a Hale-only signed TRADE copy exists and should not be confused with the King+Hale signed/numbered LIMITED.) No traycased/lettered Grant variant of this individual volume is documented in sources; lettered/super-limited matched-set programs exist for the Dark Tower run generally — UNVERIFIED for vol. II specifically.

Market value estimate

~$250–$500

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: We hold NO established realized price for the unsigned TRADE first in isolation — it is a mid-value collectible rather than a marquee auction lot, and it clears through eBay/AbeBooks/Biblio rather than Heritage or PBA — so every figure here is labelled for what it actually is. ASKING / OFFERED, not realized: VeryFineBooks fine/sealed trade first offered at $499; AbeBooks/Biblio fine-to-near-fine trade firsts offered in the ~$300–450 range — an earlier version of this note called those figures "settling," which reads as realized, and that was our error: they are dealer offering prices, and nothing in our sources shows any of them cleared. Our own board carries five screened copies asking $295, $325, $370, $395 and $520. SIGNED/LIMITED anchors — CONTEXT ONLY, and by house rule these never price the unsigned trade: (1) Bonhams, a complete signed-LIMITED Dark Tower set including this title, US$20,480 with premium (allocating perhaps $2k–3k to the Drawing of the Three limited); (2) Second Story Books, signed x2 LIMITED #328/850, offered in the ~$2,000+ range. SOLD, PRICE NOT ESTABLISHED: eBay item 397926367941, seller dakthro15 — a copy we screened ourselves and graded CONFIRMED_FIRST (stated "FIRST EDITION" copyright page, trade ISBN 0-937986-91-7, Grant imprint, black cloth with gilt spine, unclipped first-state price; graded "Near Fine book / Near Fine jacket" with "mild, even age-toning to the cream page block", the jacket shot through a mylar sleeve, at SCREENING confidence and never bench re-verified; its front-flap Charles L. Grant "A Trilogy of Horror" catalogue ad is consistent with 1987 Grant stock but is NOT an established issue point — our rubric records no catalogued state points for this title beyond the stated first and the unclipped price). That copy was ASKING $300, and our 2026-07-24 liveness sweep recorded it gone as SOLD. It is not a comp and $300 is not a realized price: Best Offer was ENABLED on the listing with TWO offers on record, and eBay does not disclose an accepted-offer amount, so we cannot say whether the buyer paid the ask or less — only that a clean, jacketed, unclipped screened trade first found a buyer at or below $300. It moves nothing. Read $250–500 as the documented band of dealer and marketplace OFFERING prices, not a run of realized comps; we will not fabricate a hammer price for this copy or any other.

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): $250–500 (genuine trade first, fine/fine, $35 jacket UNCLIPPED, "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page, black cloth with gilt-lettered spine). Add-on context: the SIGNED/NUMBERED LIMITED (of 850) is the high-value object at ~$1,200–3,000+.

Book-club edition (the trap): No true Book-of-the-Month/book-club edition exists for the 1987 Grant first — this title was NOT a BOMC selection the way King's Viking/Doubleday trade novels were, so the classic blind-stamp BCE trap is largely absent. The real "trap" cheap copies are: the 1989 NAL/Plume TRADE PAPERBACK (~$10–25), the 2003 revised Viking/Penguin hardcover (~$15–40), later Grant printings, and ex-library/price-clipped jacket copies (~$40–100). Treat anything under ~$150 claiming "1987 first" as one of these. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

CONDITION: a 1987 book in glossy pictorial boards and jacket, so a true FINE/FINE unclipped copy is genuinely common (30,000-copy trade run, often bought to keep) — which CAPS the trade first at a few hundred dollars even pristine; reading, foxed-jacket and sunned-spine copies drop to $80–150. Spine fade is normal here and a clipped flap is a condition caveat — neither is evidence of a later printing. SIGNED/INSCRIBED: a King signature on a TRADE first is a meaningful premium (~$600–1,200+), but watch for forgeries, for signatures lifted onto a later printing, and for leftover Grant stock signed by Phil Hale ALONE, which is not the King+Hale signed/numbered limited. THE SINGLE BIGGEST DIFFERENTIATOR FOR THIS TITLE: do not hunt a Doubleday gutter code, and do not hunt a number line — Grant used neither, and both point the appraiser at the wrong book (the gutter-code point belongs to Dark Tower I / The Gunslinger). We own an error in the open: this note previously named "the full number line 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" as a first-edition point here. It is a phantom — that row belongs to other King titles in our data, not to this Grant book, whose rubric records no number line at all — so it is struck, and no copy should be marked down for lacking it. The genuine 1987 Grant TRADE first is identified by three points together: "FIRST EDITION" stated on the copyright page (carried by BOTH 1987 Grant issues, so it proves a copy is A first, not WHICH issue; any "Second Printing" statement means it is not a first); the trade binding — black cloth, spine in gilt/gold (dealers also say copper or bronze), no limitation leaf and no slipcase, where the signed/numbered limited is normally white cloth in crimson, slipcased, with a hand-numbered leaf signed by King AND Hale; and the $35.00 trade price intact and UNCLIPPED on the jacket, with the trade ISBN 0-937986-91-7 (the Deluxe is 0-937986-90-9). Our screened copies show that price as a "Trade Edition $35.00 / Deluxe Edition $100.00" block on the front flap, the rear flap or the rear panel (one copy on both), so a rear-panel price is no warning sign — whether Grant printed it on more than one panel is an open rubric question, and the point itself is untouched either way. Clipped, facsimile or married jackets, and copies with a missing or altered stated-first, are the mislisted "firsts" flooding the AbeBooks and eBay asking listings — discount them hard. ON THE MARKET: we hold no established realized price for this trade first. Asks for clean copies run roughly $295–520, and one screened Near Fine/Near Fine unclipped copy asking $300 found a buyer at a price eBay does not disclose (Best Offer enabled, two offers made) — no reason to move the band. Revisit it only on a genuinely knowable realization: an auction hammer, or a Best-Offer-disabled Buy-It-Now.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: CORRECTIONS vs draft (sources preferred): (1) BINDING — draft claimed the limited shares the trade's 'black cloth + bronze spine' / 'same binding.' WRONG. Independent sources (AbeBooks dealer aggregate, HobbyLark, ABAA, Heritage) consistently describe the LIMITED as 'publisher's white cloth stamped in crimson,' distinct from the trade's black cloth. Corrected boardColor/spineColor/bindingStyle and added a married-edition tell (black book in a limited slipcase = fake). (2) SPINE STAMP COLOR — draft asserted 'bronze (copper-gold)' as definitive for the trade; dealers actually split between 'gilt'/'gold' (dominant), 'copper,' and 'bronze gilt.' Reframed as gilt/gold-dominant with variance noted. (3) LIMITED COUNT — draft said '850 numbered copies'; precisely it is 850 TOTAL, 800 NUMBERED for sale (plus author/artist/publisher/presentation copies). Corrected in trueFirstEdition/limitedEditions. (4) Added that Grant signed some leftover TRADE copies with Phil Hale ONLY (per grantbooks.com), creating a Hale-signed trade that must not be confused with the King+Hale signed/numbered limited — new fake-caution. CONFIRMED unchanged: $35 trade jacket price + front-flap location + 'FIRST EDITION' statement (Burnside, VeryFineBooks, AbeBooks, Biblio, HobbyLark); no Grant gutter code and no number line; black cloth/gilt trade spine; 10 Phil Hale plates; pictorial endpapers; ~30,000 trade run; ISBN 0-937986-91-7. NEW independent sources added beyond the draft set: Biblio (biblio.com/9780937986912), HobbyLark King-first-editions guide, ABAA listing, Heritage Auctions deluxe-edition lot, and a second Burnside listing for the 'Publisher's Copy' limited.

confidence: High on: publisher, 1987, 'FIRST EDITION' statement with no number line, $35 trade jacket price on the front flap, trade = black cloth with gilt spine, limited = WHITE cloth stamped in CRIMSON / slipcased / signed by King + Hale, 850 total with 800 numbered for sale, ~30,000 trade run, 10 Phil Hale color plates, pictorial endpapers, ISBN 0-937986-91-7 — each cross-confirmed across two or more independent dealer/collector/auction sources. Medium: exact trade spine-stamp color word (gilt/gold vs copper/bronze — dealers disagree). Lower confidence (UNVERIFIED): topstain color, exact jacket back-panel layout, any textual erratum, the printed limited-jacket price ($100 per draft, not consistently quoted), and whether a lettered/traycased super-limited exists for this specific volume.
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