The Eyes of the Dragon Common
What it’s about
In the medieval kingdom of Delain, an aging king is poisoned, and his elder son Peter — the rightful heir — is framed for the murder and locked away in a high tower prison. Behind the scheme stands Flagg, a malevolent court magician who has whispered ruin into the kingdom for centuries and now maneuvers Peter's weaker younger brother onto the throne as his puppet. Told in the cadence of a storyteller spinning a tale for his children, it follows Peter's patient, impossible plan to escape and reclaim what was stolen.
Significance A rare straight-fantasy fairy tale in King's canon, written for his daughter; its villain Flagg is the same Randall Flagg who haunts The Stand and the Dark Tower series, threading it directly into King's larger multiverse.
How to spot a true first 30-second check
⚠ 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
- Decisive: $18.95 must be present and UNCLIPPED on the upper front flap of the green scale jacket.
- Book-club trap: BCE is identical to the first but has NO flap price and ADDS a rear-panel barcode — check the back.
- Copyright reads 'First published in 1987 by Viking Penguin, Inc.' with NO number line and no later-printing wording.
- Two first-state jackets — author name in RED or GOLD; both first-issue, no priority. Note which one.
- Not the true first: the 1984 Philtrum Press limited (1,250 numbered + 26 lettered, slipcased) precedes Viking by 3 years.
- Watch married/price-clipped jackets and ex-library/remainder copies; the 3-printer CP detail is all-first, not a state break.
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.
Genuine unclipped Viking 1987 first/first; NF book in a VG+ jacket — at $39.99 there's real margin even after the jacket faults.
- Jacket price — Decisive tell pictured: front flap intact and UNCLIPPED, 'ISBN 0-670-81458-X FPT >$18.95' — the first-issue Viking price, beats the no-flap-price club copy.
- Copyright — CP states 'First published in 1987 by Viking Penguin Inc.', NO number line / no later-printing line (photos 13 & 14, fully legible).
- Dust jacket — Green embossed dragon-scale jacket, author name in RED (a documented simultaneous first state); crease code 02182587 at flap foot.
- Binding — Viking trade quarter-binding: green pictorial boards, cream spine cloth, gold dragon spine stamp; rear flap = full Viking imprint, not a club body.
- Jacket condition — Ask for close shots of the spine-head chip/crease and the front/rear panel creasing the notes flag — jacket grades only VG+.
Verified unclipped 1987 first/first; head chipping holds it to VG+, but the $39.99 ask still sits under fair value.
- Jacket price — Decisive tell pictured: front flap UNCLIPPED, 'ISBN 0-670-81458-X FPT >$18.95' — first-state $18.95 present, rules out the no-flap-price club copy.
- Copyright — CP states 'First published in 1987 by Viking Penguin Inc. / Published simultaneously in Canada' — NO number line, no later-printing wording.
- Dust jacket — First-issue green dragon-scale jacket, author name in RED; correct rear barcode 9780670814589 (normal on the trade jacket).
- Binding — Only 5 photos — request a clear shot of the cream spine cloth + gold dragon stamp on the green boards to confirm the trade binding.
- Jacket condition — Ask for close-ups of the spine-head chip/short tears and the possible rear-panel soiling noted through the glare.
Cleanest of the four — verified unclipped first/first in NF/NF-ish dress; at $50 it's below fair for a first-issue-jacket copy.
- Jacket price — Decisive tell pictured: front flap INTACT and UNCLIPPED, 'ISBN 0-670-81458-X FPT>$18.95' (image 12) — first-state price, rules out the club copy.
- Copyright — CP legibly photographed (images 13 & 14): 'First published in 1987 by Viking Penguin Inc. / Published simultaneously in Canada', NO number line / no later wording.
- Dust jacket — First-issue green dragon-scale jacket, author name in RED; Viking ship colophon over 'VIKING' on spine base (images 5 & 6).
- Trade ISBN 0-670-81458-X — Trade prefix 0-670 on CP + matching rear barcode 9780670814589 — a trade-edition number, not a club number.
- Binding — Physical binding not clearly shown — ask for the cream spine cloth + gold dragon stamp on the green boards to round out the trade binding.
- Jacket condition — Request a close shot of the spine-head chip-rub where the green board shows through (images 1, 5, 6); copy ships unprotected (no mylar).
A Viking 1987 trade first with both decisive tells legibly photographed on the one copy — the first-printing copyright statement on the book block and the intact, unclipped $18.95 front flap on the jacket — with only the endpapers left unshot.
- Copyright — Photo 8 shows the whole copyright page in focus: "First published in 1987 by Viking Penguin Inc. / Published simultaneously in Canada" with no later-printing wording, the printer imprint "Printed in the United States of America by Haddon Craftsmen, Scranton, Pennsylvania," ISBN 0-670-81458-X and LCCN 86-40263 — the book tell for this title.
- Number line — The same fully legible page (photo 8) carries no number line at all, which is the correct state — Viking firsts of this title are identified by the copyright statement alone.
- Jacket price (decisive) — Photo 5 is a straight-on shot of the front flap reading "ISBN 0-670-81458-X FPT>$18.95" at the head with the flap's outer edge intact and unclipped, and the code "02182587" printed at the foot of the same flap.
- Binding — Photo 6 shows the front board with the jacket off: cream cloth spine quarter-bound over a green textured paper board with the gilt dragon-in-diamond blocked at the lower fore-edge corner.
- Dust jacket — Photos 1, 2 and 3 show the green dragon-scale jacket with the author's name in RED (one of the two simultaneous first-issue states) and the Viking longship colophon at the spine foot; the rear panel carries barcode 9780670814589 / ISBN 0-670-81458-X matching the copyright page — note that our own club-trap wording says a trade jacket has NO rear barcode, yet this priced, unclipped copy plainly does, so the flap price and not the barcode is what does the work here.
- Endpapers / edges — The green endpapers appear in none of the eight frames (photo 4 shows only the fore-edge) — a corroborator, not a decisive tell, but worth asking for the front cover opened flat showing the pastedown and free endpaper plus one straight down the top edge.
This is the UK Macdonald 1987 issue rather than the US Viking edition our rubric is written against; its Macdonald first-published statement and an intact, unclipped £10.95 flap are both legibly photographed, but the boards are never shown out of the jacket.
- Copyright — Photo 14 shows the copyright page clearly: "A Macdonald Book / Copyright © Stephen King, 1987 / Illustrations copyright © David Palladini, 1987 / First published in Great Britain in 1987 by Macdonald & Co (Publishers) Ltd, London & Sydney," with no later-printing wording, British Library CIP, ISBN 0-356-14224-8, and "Printed and bound in Great Britain by Hazell Watson & Viney Limited, Aylesbury."
- Number line — That same page (photo 14) carries no number line and no later-printing statement.
- Jacket price — Photo 11 shows the front flap intact and unclipped with "£10.95 net in UK only" printed at its foot — recorded as observed, not as a verified first-issue tell: our rubric's $18.95 belongs to the US Viking jacket and we hold no Macdonald price-state standard to check this against.
- Dust jacket — Photos 1, 2, 3 and 6 show the Macdonald jacket — dark-red marbled front with gold Celtic interlace and the hooded-Flagg roundel, black spine with "Stephen King" in gold and the title in orange, "Macdonald" at the foot — and the rear panel (photos 6 and 9) carries ISBN 0-356-14224-8 / 9780356142241 with the 01095 price add-on, agreeing with both the flap price and the copyright page, so the jacket belongs to this book block.
- Title page — Photo 13 shows the title page with the Macdonald imprint and the David Palladini illustration credit — the UK issue itself, not a Viking book block in a Macdonald jacket.
- Binding — The jacket is never removed in any of the fourteen frames — only a sliver of dark-red board edge shows at photos 7 and 10 — so ask for the bare book photographed front board and spine with the jacket off.
A Viking 1987 book block with the first-printing copyright statement and the correct quarter-bound binding both photographed jacket-off, but the front flap appears in none of the eleven frames, so the decisive $18.95 price state is unverified.
- Copyright — Photo 8 shows the copyright page legibly: "First published in 1987 by Viking Penguin Inc. / Published simultaneously in Canada" with no later-printing wording, ISBN 0-670-81458-X and LCCN 86-40263 — though this page runs straight from the ISBN to "Composition by NK Graphics," with the printer-imprint line our rubric records on first printings affirmatively absent rather than merely out of frame.
- Number line — The fully readable copyright page in photo 8 carries no number line, the correct state for a Viking first of this title.
- Binding — Photos 9, 10 and 11 show the book with the jacket off — cream cloth spine over dark-green textured paper boards, gilt dragon-in-diamond blocked on the front board, spine title in green with the author's name in gilt and VIKING at the foot.
- Dust jacket — Photos 1, 2 and 3 show the green dragon-scale jacket with the author's name in RED (one of the two documented simultaneous first-issue states) and the Viking longship at the spine foot.
- Jacket price (decisive) — The upper front flap is in none of the eleven photographs, so the $18.95 is unseen and cannot be treated as present — ask for a straight-on shot of the upper front flap showing "ISBN 0-670-81458-X FPT>$18.95" with the flap's outer edge in frame so a clip would be visible; the rear-panel barcode in photo 3 is no substitute, since our rubric calls a rear barcode a club feature while the priced, unclipped copies we have confirmed carry the same barcode, so it discriminates nothing.
- Endpapers / edges — The green endpapers are not shown in any frame — the top edge is visible and plain in photos 4 to 6, consistent with the no-topstain rubric, but ask for the front board opened flat showing the pastedown and free endpaper.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
The trade hardcover (Viking 1987) is NOT the true first. The Philtrum Press 1984 slipcased limited (1,250 numbered copies + 26 lettered A-Z) precedes it by ~3 years and is the true first edition. The Viking is the first TRADE hardcover, with text Wikipedia describes as "slightly revised for publication" and a NEW illustrator (Kenneth R. Linkhauser in the 1984 Philtrum → David Palladini in the 1987 Viking). VERIFIED 2nd pass: Wikipedia confirms the Linkhauser→Palladini illustrator change AND that the Viking trade text was "slightly revised." stephenking.com limited page + Bonhams (a verified Philtrum auction record) confirm the 1984 limited's priority, binding and limitation.
First-printing points at a glance
Dust jacket
VIKING 1987: green 'dragon-scale' dust jacket — embossed/patterned overlapping green scales with raised (embossed) title lettering; front-flap price $18.95; author's name appears in RED on one first-state jacket and GOLD on the other simultaneous state (both first-issue, no priority). A "02182587" crease/printing code appears on the rear of first-state scale jackets (supporting point, independently corroborated). Interior David Palladini pencil-and-ink illustrations (on Bienfang velour paper). Jacket designed by Neil Stuart. PHILTRUM 1984: separate slipcased limited with Kenneth R. Linkhauser illustrations, title page in red and black, gilt decoration; designed by Michael Alpert, printed at The Stinehour Press.
Art / design: VIKING 1987: dust jacket designed by Neil Stuart; interior illustrations by David Palladini. PHILTRUM 1984: illustrations by Kenneth R. Linkhauser; designed/produced by Michael Alpert, printed at The Stinehour Press.
Also watch for: (1) PRICE-CLIPPED Viking jackets — common; removes the $18.95 point, lowers value, and is easily confused with a club jacket (which is also priceless on the flap but ADDS a rear barcode). (2) MARRIED jackets — later-printing or club jacket on a first book (or vice versa); confirm CP statement AND the $18.95 flap price agree, check rear panel for a barcode, and note which simultaneous jacket state (red vs gold author name). (3) BCE bodies in trade jackets / trade bodies in club jackets — verify trim (~6¼ x 9½, ~0.9 in thick), heft, and binding quality. (4) PHILTRUM 'signed' OVERCLAIMS — numbered ≠ signed; red-numbered copies are often INSCRIBED presentation copies but beware forged inscriptions; pay the premium only for a verified signature/inscription. (5) Ex-library copies (stamps, spine labels, pockets) and remainder marks (sprayed/marker bottom edge) — both materially reduce value. (6) Facsimile/restored Philtrum slipcases — confirm originality. (7) Re-jacketed/restored or color-touched copies presented as fine. (8) Aftermarket slipcase/clamshell on a Viking trade copy presented as 'as-issued slipcased' — the Viking was issued WITHOUT a slipcase.
Print run & scarcity
Collector/dealer consensus figure (publisher never disclosed an audited count). Recurring dealer/collector phrasing across multiple independent listings: "The first edition of 400,000 copies was issued with a dustjacket and price of $18.95.
First-state points & errata
PRIMARY (re-confirmed 2nd pass from official guide + dealers): TWO SIMULTANEOUS DUST JACKET STATES — author name in RED vs author name in GOLD. The stephenking.com guide lists "Two simultaneous dust jacket states: 1) author name in red 2) author name in gold"; both are first-issue, a documented collectable jacket-state distinction with no priority between them. No textual errata / sequential book-state break separates Viking first printings (unlike The Stand or 'Salem's Lot). A secondary axis collectors discuss is the THREE-PRINTER imprint on the CP (Haddon Craftsmen + two Arcata Graphics) — all first-printing, not a state break. The other "state" axis is editorial: 1984 Philtrum text/Linkhauser art vs. slightly REVISED 1987 Viking text/Palladini art. First-state Viking identification rests on the CP statement + intact $18.95 unclipped front-flap price + green 'dragon-scale' embossed jacket. The "02182587" jacket crease code on first-state scale jackets is CORROBORATED by independent listings — supporting evidence, not a primary point.
Limited & signed editions
TRUE FIRST is itself the limited: Philtrum Press 1984 — 1,000 copies numbered 1-1000 in BLACK ink (for sale), 250 numbered 1001-1250 in RED ink (originally private/presentation distribution, often INSCRIBED by King), plus 26 lettered A-Z in black ink. Quarter black cloth + red hand-painted paste-paper boards, matching slipcase; Linkhauser illustrations; Michael Alpert design / Stinehour Press. 2nd-pass auction anchor (Bonhams): a red-numbered copy #241/250, inscribed by King to "Jim French" 12/6/84, realized US$1,402.50. NOTE: the edition is NUMBERED, not author-signed as-issued — pay a signature premium only for an actual King signature/inscription. No separate traycased/lettered TRADE deluxe for the Viking; no Donald M. Grant or Cemetery Dance edition for this title.
Market value confirmed sales
$50–175 (genuine Viking 1987 trade first, fine/fine, unclipped, 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: Note: the 1987 Viking TRADE first is a common, high-print-run book — it rarely reaches formal auction (Heritage/PBA), so confirmed comps are eBay SOLD / dealer-trade data, not auction-house lots. (1) eBay SOLD, unsigned VG+/Fine-in-Fine unclipped trade firsts cluster ~$25–55, ~2024–2025. (2) eBay SOLD, true 1st/1st w/ scaled DJ, Fine/Fine, ~$60–90 for the cleanest copies, ~2025. (3) Dealer/AbeBooks-Biblio trade records for Fine/Fine unclipped unsigned: ~$75–150 realized (e.g., Laureate/Blue Sky/John Atkinson-grade copies). The four-figure 'Eyes of the Dragon' auction results (Bonhams ~$1,402 incl. premium; PBA est. $8,000–10,000) are the 1984 PHILTRUM PRESS limited — a DIFFERENT book, not this trade first.
Book-club edition (the trap): $10–25. The BOMC/book-club copy is the trap: it is nearly identical to the trade first but has a smaller trim size, a blind-stamp dot/depression on the rear board, no price and a printed barcode on the rear DJ panel. Constantly mislisted as a "first edition." — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.
Condition-driven: a price-clipped jacket or faded/chipped spine knocks a Fine copy down to the $20–40 range; the scaled, green-textured raised-title DJ is fragile and rubs/sunfades easily, so true Fine/Fine jackets carry most of the value. Signed/inscribed is the real premium: a clean King signature on a trade first typically realizes ~$300–700+, inscribed/association higher. THE SINGLE BIGGEST DISCRIMINATOR for THIS title: the prompt's "Doubleday gutter code" point does NOT apply — this is a VIKING book. A genuine trade first reads "First Published in 1987 by Viking Penguin, Inc." on the copyright page (no later-printing statement / no number line) AND retains the $18.95 price on the front jacket flap with full trim size and NO book-club blind-stamp on the rear board. The far more valuable "Eyes of the Dragon first edition" is the 1984 Philtrum Press limited (1,000 numbered + 250 red-numbered) — do not conflate it with this $50–175 Viking trade copy.
- https://www.laureatefinebooks.com/pages/books/166/stephen-king/the-eyes-of-the-dragon
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-eyes-of-the-dragon-first-edition-first-printing-viking-press-1987/
- https://www.biblio.com/9780670814589
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/145082947305
- https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25264/lot/238/king-stephen-b1947-eyes-of-the-dragon-bangor-me-philtrum-press-1984/
- https://www.pbagalleries.com/view-auctions/catalog/id/271/lot/83088/Eyes-of-the-Dragon-Original-Archive
Sources
- https://stephenking.com/other/identifying_first_editions.pdf
- https://stephenking.com/works/limited/eyes-of-the-dragon.html
- https://www.bonhams.com/auction/25264/lot/238/king-stephen-b1947-eyes-of-the-dragon-bangor-me-philtrum-press-1984/
- https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-eyes-of-the-dragon-first-edition-first-printing-viking-press-1987/
- https://blog.veryfinebooks.com/top-10-most-valuable-stephen-king-collected-works-2018/20-2/
- https://bookshopapocalypse.com/products/the-eyes-of-the-dragon-by-stephen-king-first-edition
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/forums/other-edition-questions-f4/different-1st-editions-eyes-the-dragon-t301.html
- https://www.yjsboxesofbooks.com/pages/books/biblio688/stephen-king/the-eyes-of-the-dragon
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Eyes_of_the_Dragon
- https://books.hyraxia.com/6087-stephen-king-eyes-dragon-philtrum-press-1984-limited-edition-signed
- https://www.biblio.com/9780670814589
- https://www.jamescumminsbookseller.com/pages/books/370948/stephen-king/the-eyes-of-the-dragon
- https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/the-eyes-of-the-dragon-177851.html
- https://www.laureatefinebooks.com/pages/books/166/stephen-king/the-eyes-of-the-dragon
- https://www.nocloo.com/eyes-of-the-dragon-stephen-king-1987-1st-edition/
- https://www.abebooks.com/first-edition/Eyes-Dragon-King-Stephen-Viking-1987/31974868781/bd
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/234635403375
- https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/eotd.html
- https://www.biblio.com/book/eyes-dragon-stephen-king/d/1030692951
- https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/eyes-dragon/author/king-stephen/first-edition/
- https://www.yjsboxesofbooks.com/pages/books/biblio688/stephen-king/the-eyes-of-the-dragon
Verification notes: 2nd adversarial pass. Cross-checked 12+ sources incl. NEW independent ones not in the draft: Bookshop Apocalypse (BCE tell verbatim), stephenkingcollector.com forum (3-printer CP + ~400,000 print run), veryfinebooks BLOG (signed Viking first sold $675). Several premium-dealer pages (Peter Harrington, Laureate, nocloo, biblio) returned 403/406/SSL blocks to automated fetch; relied on official guide + reachable dealers + auction record instead. RESULTS vs draft: (A) CONFIRMED with no change — CP statement, no-number-line (and that Misery-same-year DOES carry a number line, so the number-line discriminant does NOT transfer to this title), $18.95 front-flap price, red-vs-gold author-name DJ states, green boards + beige/cream quarter-cloth spine + gilt dragon, ~6¼ x 9½ / 326 pp, Palladini art, Philtrum quarter-black-cloth + red hand-painted paste-paper boards. (B) NEW/STRENGTHENED — added the 3-printer first-printing copyright imprint (Haddon Craftsmen + 2× Arcata Graphics) and ~400,000 first run as a documented first-printing/state axis; added that Palladini's interior art is pencil-and-ink on Bienfang velour paper. (C) DISCREPANCY CORRECTED — draft cited a Cummins Philtrum copy "#61/250, inscribed to Dave Hartwell, 12/5/84"; I could not reach/verify that Cummins page this pass. The auction record I DID verify (Bonhams) is a DIFFERENT red-numbered copy: #241/250, inscribed by King to "Jim French," dated 12/6/84, realized US$1,402.50 incl. premium. Both support the pattern that red-numbered Philtrum copies are frequently inscribed; I have re-anchored the value/inscription example to the verified Bonhams figure and flagged the Cummins example as unverified-this-pass. (D) CONFIRMED draft's caution — "signed limited" in some AbeBooks/Amazon titles = NUMBERED as-issued, not author-signed; pay a signature premium only for an actual King signature/inscription. (E) topstain: re-confirmed NO as-issued topstain; the "coffee/brown" top-edge some dealers note is foxing/condition, not an issued color. (F) BCE rule re-confirmed verbatim by 2 independent dealers (no front-flap price + rear-panel barcode); blind-stamp/glued-binding tells remain generic lore, not in the King guide. (G) Slipcase: Viking trade first issued WITHOUT a slipcase — slipcases on Viking copies are aftermarket/dealer-added (the veryfinebooks "Slipcased" copy uses a dealer case).