11 Scribes · Stephen King & Bachman · Doubleday Era (1974-1983)

The Shining Crown jewel

1977 · Doubleday & Company, Inc. (Garden City, NY)
First-edition cover of The Shining
First-edition jacket (first (Wikipedia infobox)) · source

What it’s about

Recovering alcoholic and aspiring writer Jack Torrance takes a job as winter caretaker of the isolated Overlook Hotel high in the Colorado Rockies, moving in with his wife Wendy and their five-year-old son Danny once the last guests leave and the snows seal them off. Danny possesses "the shining," a psychic gift that lets him sense things others cannot — and the empty hotel, it turns out, has a memory and appetites of its own. As cabin fever and the Overlook's malign influence tighten around the family, the line between haunting and madness begins to blur.

Significance King's third published novel (1977) and his first hardcover bestseller, it inspired Stanley Kubrick's iconic 1980 film and King's own 1997 TV miniseries; King later wrote a direct sequel, Doctor Sleep (2013).

Value$1,200–2,500 (genuine first/first, fine/fine, unclipped $8.95 jacket, unsigned); signed/inscribed $2,500–4,500+ confirmed salesnear-fine / fine

How to spot a true first 30-second check

★ BookThe Doubleday printer's data code "R49" struck in the gutter (inner margin) at the foot of page 447 — the last text page — is the lone proof of a true first printing. Read it correctly: in Doubleday's system the LETTER is the year printed and the NUMBER is the week, with R = 1976 (P=1974, Q=1975, R=1976, S=1977, T=1978). So R49 means printed in week 49 of 1976 (December 1976), released January 28, 1977. It beats the common Book Club Edition (reported as R52, i.e. week 52 of 1976) and the second printing (S3 = week 3 of 1977, about six weeks later), neither of which the "FIRST EDITION" copyright slug alone can rule out. Any S-code (S3, S10, S14, S19) is a later trade printing; an R52 or a later letter-pair code is a club/later copy.
★ JacketThe first-state, unclipped $8.95 price at the head of the inside front flap (just below the "T.S." abbreviation) on Dave Christensen's pictorial jacket. The trade first's art wraps slightly around onto the BACK panel rather than stopping at the spine; a later trade printing reprices the same flap to $18.95, and the Doubleday Book Club jacket carries NO price on the flap and a slightly larger trim. Because $8.95 also appears on later $8.95-era trade printings, the priced wrap-around jacket only confirms a first when married to an R49 book block — a priced jacket on an S-code or R52 body is a married copy, not a first.

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.

Copyright"FIRST EDITION" is the last line on the copyright page — necessary but NOT sufficient alone; must be paired with R49.
Number lineNone — Doubleday used no number line this era; any "1 2 3 4 5..." line claimed online is fabricated and false.
Gutter code ★ book tell"R49" in the inner margin at the foot of page 447 (R=1976, week 49 — printed December 1976, released January 28, 1977). The 2nd printing is S3 (week 3 of 1977); the Book Club is R52 (week 52 of 1976). Any S-code = a later printing. THE decisive book tell.
Jacket price$8.95 on inside front flap, just below the "T.S." abbreviation (later printings reprice to $18.95; clipped flap hides it).
BindingHalf/quarter-bound: black cloth spine gilt-stamped over tan/dark-yellow boards; sewn. BCEs often all-black/green boards, no cloth spine.
Dust jacket ★ jacket tellDave Christensen pictorial art; the first-state art wraps slightly onto the BACK panel (later trade printings drop the wrap-around; the BCE jacket is unpriced and on a slightly larger trim). A "green lions" reading of the back is a soft, low-confidence collector note — not a decisive tell.
Endpapers / edges—n/a
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 Gutter / data code book — "R49" struck in the gutter at the foot of page 447 (the last text page). Decode: R = 1976, week 49 (Dec 1976) — released Jan 28, 1977. This is the single decisive book tell. Confirmed verbatim by Bauman Rare Books, stephenkingcollector.com, veryfinebooks, and bookpoi.
  • Asserted Copyright statement book — "FIRST EDITION" stated as the last line of the copyright page. Necessary but NOT sufficient: later trade printings retain the statement, so it must be paired with R49.
  • Asserted Number line book — None. Doubleday of this era used no number line; the gutter code IS the dating mechanism. Any "1 2 3 4 5..." line claimed online is fabricated.
  • Asserted Binding / boards book — Half/quarter cloth: black cloth backstrip gilt-stamped, over tan / dark-yellow paper-covered boards; sewn; [viii], 447, [1] pp, octavo. ISBN 0-385-12167-9.
  • Verified Jacket price jacket — $8.95, unclipped, at the head of the inside front flap just below the "T.S." abbreviation. (Later trade printings reprice to $18.95; the BCE flap is unpriced.)
  • Asserted Jacket art / artist jacket — Dave Christensen's pictorial wrap-around art (typography Al Nagy); the cover image wraps slightly onto the back panel rather than stopping at the spine. Rear flap: young-King photo + ISBN.

Disqualifies it — book-club or later

  • Asserted Wrong gutter code (S-codes) — S3 = second printing (week 3 of 1977); S10/S14/S19 = later trade printings. Any S-code is NOT a first — sellers list these as "first edition / Nth printing."
  • Asserted Book Club Edition — Reported gutter code R52 (and BCEs can carry other later codes); flap is UNPRICED; trim slightly larger (~6.25" x 9.5"); uses the same Christensen jacket art so the artwork alone won't save you. "Book Club Edition" or no price on the flap = not a first.
  • Asserted $18.95 jacket — A later-printing jacket repriced to $18.95 — the body is a later printing even though the copyright page may still read "FIRST EDITION."
  • Asserted Price-clipped flap — A clipped flap hides the $8.95 vs $18.95 vs unpriced distinction. It is a CONDITION/verification caveat (and value cut), not by itself a wrong edition — fall back on the R49 book block.
  • Asserted Married copy — An $8.95 first-state jacket on an S-code/R52 body (or an R49 body under a later/facsimile jacket) is a married copy, not a first. The R49 book block and the priced wrap-around jacket must agree.

Proves nothing — shared traps

  • Shared "FIRST EDITION" copyright slug — SHARED with later trade printings — Doubleday left "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page of subsequent printings (e.g. the $18.95 later printing). Proves nothing without R49.
  • Shared $8.95 jacket price — SHARED with later $8.95-era trade printings (S3-S10/S14/S19 all carried an $8.95 jacket). The price confirms the jacket is first-STATE, not that the book is a first printing.
  • Shared Dave Christensen jacket art — SHARED with the Book Club Edition, which reuses the same Christensen design (just unpriced and on a slightly larger jacket). Artwork alone never separates trade-first from BCE.
  • Shared Tan boards + black cloth spine — Largely SHARED with full-size BCEs that mimic the trade case (tan over quarter black cloth). Construction is corroborating, not decisive; the unpriced flap and the gutter code are the separators.

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.

Seller’s photo of this copy
✓ 1st/1st confirmed$1200crm ↗
bench-verified Pass VG book / VG- jacket (in a mylar sleeve) — graded down from the seller's "Very Good" on the jacket

Bench-verified true first, plate-by-plate — but a tired VG copy; $1,200 is Fine money, so hold for ~$550 or pass.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Gutter code R49 — DECISIVE: R49 sits plainly in the gutter at the foot of page 447 — the lone proof of a true 1977 first, pictured.
  • Copyright — "FIRST EDITION" closes the copyright page; ISBN 0-385-12167-9 — correct first-printing plate.
  • Jacket price — $8.95 first-state price unclipped at head of front flap; rear flap carries the trade ISBN, not a no-price BCE flap.
  • Dust jacket — First-state green-lions wrap art on the rear panel, not the book-club's plain green.
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Jacket condition (soiling/dampstain/chipping) — Edition is proven; ask for close shots of rear-panel soiling/dampstain, spine-end chipping, bumped corners — this is VG-, not Fine.
Seller’s photo of this copy
✓ 1st/1st confirmed$1200osomanycollectibles ↗
bench-verified Pass Good book (ex-library) / VG- jacket

A genuine 1977 Doubleday first printing in its first-state unclipped $8.95 jacket, with both decisive tells — the R49 gutter code and the priced front flap — legibly photographed on this one copy, so nothing is outstanding on the edition question; what remains is condition, an ex-library book (Columbus, Ohio discard stamp, a pasted-in bookplate, a private owner's embossed seal) in an edge-worn jacket.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Gutter code — "R49" reads plainly in the inner gutter margin at the foot of the last text page (photo 11), the page whose text closes the novel — R = 1976, week 49, the decisive book tell, and neither the S3 second printing nor the R52 book club.
  • Jacket price — The first-state "T.S. $8.95" is printed at the head of the front flap, unclipped and complete, shown on the jacket while it is still on the book (photo 2) and again with the jacket laid flat (photo 19) — the decisive jacket tell, and photographed on this copy rather than on a jacket shown apart from it.
  • Copyright — "FIRST EDITION" stands as the last line of the copyright page beneath ISBN 0-385-12167-9, LC card 76-24212 and the 1977 copyright, all legible in photo 9 and enlarged (though cropped at the right edge) in photo 10 — necessary for a first but shared with later printings, so it corroborates the R49 code rather than standing in for it.
  • Number line — No number line appears on the copyright page — photo 9 shows the copyright block entire with nothing following "FIRST EDITION" — which is correct for Doubleday in this era, where a "1 2 3 4 5" line would be the fabrication rather than the tell.
  • Binding — Correct half-binding as issued: black cloth spine over tan paper boards (photos 15 and 17), the spine gilt-stamped "Stephen King / THE SHINING / DOUBLEDAY" (photo 16).
  • Dust jacket — The jacket laid flat (photo 19) shows the first-state pictorial art carrying over onto the back panel, with the trade rear flap and the King author portrait — a priced trade wrapper, not the book club's unpriced one.

✓ Decisive marker pictured — nothing outstanding to request.

cover only — verify$799Great and rare books ↗
Pass VG book / poor-to-G restored jacket (8 internal tape repairs, 2" spine tear, corner tears, rubbed gilt)

Cover-only at $799 — first-state jacket art is right, but R49 and the plate are unphotographed; demand the page-447 code first.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Dust jacket — Correct first-state Shining art (Overlook + Torrance faces + topiary dog); back flap carries the King bio and jacket credits.
  • Binding — Spine reads "Stephen King / THE SHINING / DOUBLEDAY" in gilt on dark cloth — correct first-state binding.
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Gutter code R49 — DECISIVE tell claimed in text but NOT photographed — no shot of the foot of page 447. Ask for a clear R49 photo (not S3 or any S-code).
  • Copyright — "First Edition" statement claimed in text but the copyright/title page is not imaged — ask for a legible close-up.
  • Jacket price — $8.95 not legible in any frame (flap folded under); ask for an open-flap shot to confirm the first-state price.
  • Jacket condition (restoration) — Seller notes ~8 internal tape repairs, a 2" spine tear, and corner tears — ask for clear shots of every restored area.
cover only — verify$1050The Lost Bookstore ↗
Pass VG book / VG price-clipped jacket (ex-libris sticker, ink inscription dated May 28 1977)

Likely first but unproven — first-state clipped jacket, yet R49 was never photographed; get the page-447 code before paying $1,050.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Dust jacket — First-state front art: "A new novel by the author of CARRIE and SALEM'S LOT" — correct jacket, no BCE blind-stamp on the rear board.
  • Jacket price (clipped) — Front-flap corner clipped — a priced trade jacket that was clipped, NOT a price-less BCE wrapper; a condition caveat, not a disqualifier.
  • Inscription — Owner inscription dated May 28, 1977 — correct publication year, corroborating but not decisive.
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Gutter code R49 — DECISIVE tell never shown — no shot of the foot of page 447. Ask for a sharp close-up; it must read R49, not S3 or any S-code.
  • Copyright — Copyright page is in-frame but served at only 300x225, so the "First Edition" line isn't legible — ask for a readable close-up.
cover only — verify$2250B & B Rare Books ↗
Pass VG book / VG unclipped jacket (per seller text; unverified from the lone image)

A $2,250 grail carried on one cover photo and the seller's word — reputable ABAA, but unproven; get R49 and the plate before buying.

✓ Confirmed in the seller’s photos
  • Dust jacket — Single photo shows the correct first-state wraparound art (Torrance family, Overlook, topiary, "author of CARRIE and SALEM'S LOT") — rules out a wrong/UK/reprint cover.
⚠ Not pictured — ask before buying
  • Gutter code R49 — DECISIVE tell NOT photographed — only one exterior image exists. Ask for the gutter code at the foot of page 447; must read R49, not S3 or any S-code.
  • Copyright — "First Edition" statement is a text claim only, not pictured — ask for a legible copyright-page close-up.
  • Jacket price — $8.95 "unclipped" is unverified — flaps not shown. Ask for an open-flap shot showing the first-state price.
  • Binding — No rear-board view, so a BCE blind-stamp can't be excluded by photo — ask for a rear-board/binding shot.
Full identification detail & sourcescopyright · jacket · binding · book-club traps · print run · value · references
Is this the true first?Yes. The Doubleday trade hardcover (published January 28, 1977) is the true first edition. No small-press limited or paperback original precedes it; this was King's third Doubleday novel (after Carrie and 'Salem's Lot) and there is no earlier issue. First printing was ~25,000 copies. Formal bibliographic references: Currey 227, Brooks A4, Collings A19 (per Bauman Rare Books).
The Doubleday trade hardcover IS the true first. Unlike later King titles (e.g. The Eyes of the Dragon / Philtrum Press, Cycle of the Werewolf / Land of Enchantment, early Dark Tower / Donald M. Grant), The Shining had no preceding small-press or limited edition and no contemporaneous signed/limited issue. The 1977 Doubleday first printing (gutter code R49 at p.447) is the apex collectible.

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statement"FIRST EDITION" stated as the last line on the copyright page (confirmed Red Fox Rare Books, Bookpoi, Bauman Rare Books). CRITICAL: the statement alone is NOT sufficient — Doubleday of this era was inconsistent and the "First Edition" slug behavior cannot be relied on alone, so it must be paired with the R49 gutter (data) code at the inner margin of page 447 to confirm a true first. (Conversely, copies lacking any "First Edition" statement are later printings or BCEs.)
Number lineNo number line. Doubleday of this era did not use a descending or ascending number line (confirmed by absence in Bauman Rare Books' bibliographically-cited description; a number line "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" claimed by one AI-SEO source is FALSE and rejected). First-printing identification rests on (1) "First Edition" on the copyright page AND (2) the alphanumeric gutter/data code R49 at the inner margin of p.447. The SECOND printing is S3; later trade printings run S3–S10, S14, S19. The stated book-club issue is reported with code R52 (and/or lacks the "First Edition" statement), but jacket/board construction is the more reliable BCE discriminator.
Gutter / printer codeR49 — located in the gutter/inner margin at the foot of the last text page (page 447) (confirmed Bauman Rare Books: "Data code 'R49' appears at inner margin of page 447"; Red Fox; Bookpoi). "R" = year printed: R=1976 (P=1974, Q=1975, R=1976, S=1977, T=1978), "49" = week 49 (December 1976; released January 28, 1977; 2nd printing S3 = 1977, BCE R52 = 1976). This is the single most important point; a true first MUST show R49. The SECOND printing is gutter code S3 (printed ~six weeks later, still 1977 — confirmed Edwards Rare Books: "First printing has R49 code, with this printing run occurring six weeks later"); later trade printings run S3–S10, S14, S19. The Doubleday book-club edition is reported with gutter code R52 (corroborated by an eBay BCE listing titled "1st Book Club Edition R52 Gutter Code" + stephenkingcollector forum), but BCEs can carry other codes too, so the gutter code alone does not always separate trade later-printings from BCEs — jacket/board construction is the corroborating tell.
First printing — copies~25,000 copies (widely and consistently reported first-printing figure; not from an official Doubleday production record) accepted figure
First jacket price$8.95 (Inside front jacket flap, at the head of the flap printed just below the "T.S." (The Shining) abbreviation (confirmed Red Fox: "$8.95 positioned below 'T.S.'"). A price-clipped flap hides this and lowers value. NOTE: $8.95 is NOT by itself a first-printing proof — later trade printings S3–S10/S14/S19 also carry the $8.95 jacket; the R49 gutter code (plus the green-lions back wrap-around) is what confirms a first. A later (1980s) printing jacket reads $18.95 (Bookshop Apocalypse later-printing listing).)
Board (panel) colorTan / dark-yellow ("yellow") paper-covered boards (Red Fox: "Tan paper boards"; Bookpoi/search snippet: "yellow boards"; sources variously describe tan / dark-yellow / pale-yellow — a pale tan-yellow paper over boards). NOTE: some early Doubleday book-club copies instead have all-black or all-green boards with no cloth spine; full-size BCEs that mimic the trade (black cloth spine + tan boards) are betrayed by the solid-green jacket back rather than the board color.
Spine / center bindingBlack cloth backstrip (spine), with title/author stamped in gilt (gold) (Red Fox: "black cloth binding and gold lettering on spine"; Bauman: "Original half black cloth"). Binding is half/quarter cloth (two-tone).
Binding styleHalf / quarter-bound (two-tone): black cloth spine over tan/dark-yellow paper-covered boards (Bauman: "Original half black cloth"). Trade firsts are sewn. Pagination [viii], 447, [1] pp; octavo (8vo).
Topstain / endpapersUNVERIFIED — no authoritative source consulted (Red Fox, Bauman, Edwards, Bookpoi, forum) documents a topstain color or distinctive endpaper for this title; treat as plain/unstained unless a copy in hand shows otherwise.

Dust jacket

Front panel: Dave Christensen's stylized horror cover art with bold glowing title "The Shining" and the author name; the price $8.95 sits at the head of the inside front flap, just below the "T.S." abbreviation. The art wraps slightly around to the BACK panel as a green-lions image on the true first (dropped on later trade printings). Rear flap carries a photograph of a young Stephen King and the ISBN; flap copy notes King had published only two prior books (Carrie, 'Salem's Lot). The book-club jacket instead shows a SOLID/plain green back panel.

Art / design: Dave Christensen — pictorial dust-jacket cover art/design (the eerie wrap-around illustration with the green-lions back panel), with typography by Al Nagy (per Red Fox: "cover design by Dave Christensen, typography by Al Nagy"). Author-portrait photographer (young King photo on rear flap) not separately credited in sources consulted.

reference photohttps://www.redfoxrarebooks.com/firsteditionpoints/2024/3/13/how-to-identify-the-true-first-edition-of-stephen-kings-the-shiningreference photohttps://thefirstedition.com/product/the-shining/reference photohttps://www.baumanrarebooks.com/rare-books/king-stephen/shining/123333.aspx
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyThe Doubleday BCE is the trap on this title. Tells: (1) NO "First Edition" / no printing statement reliably present — gutter code is the main dating; the stated BCE is reported with gutter code R52 (corroborated by an eBay BCE listing explicitly titled "1st Book Club Edition R52 Gutter Code" + stephenkingcollector forum), though BCEs can carry other codes too, so combine with construction. (2) DUST JACKET: the BCE jacket has a SOLID/plain GREEN back panel — distinct from the true first, whose back carries the cover-art wrap-around wrap (a “green lions” detail is a low-confidence collector note, not a separator). Full-size BCEs that copy the trade construction (black cloth spine + tan boards) are given away by this solid-green jacket back and by "Book Club Edition" on the flap with NO price. (3) BOARDS: many early BCEs have all-black or all-green boards with NO cloth spine (cheaper case); construction unlike the trade's black-cloth-spine/tan-boards is an immediate BCE flag. (4) Blind-stamp: BCEs of this era typically carry a small blind-stamped indent on the lower-right rear board — but some Doubleday BCEs of THIS title lack BOTH the blind-stamp AND a "Printed at The Haddon Craftsmen" title-page line, so absence of a blind-stamp does NOT prove a first; rely on the gutter code + jacket. (5) Often smaller/cheaper paper, lighter weight, sometimes glued. Bottom line: confirm R49 in the gutter of p.447 + "First Edition" on the copyright page + green-lions (not solid-green) jacket back + $8.95 below "T.S." on the front flap. Anything else (R52, S-codes, solid-green jacket back, "Book Club Edition" on flap, no price) is not the true first.

Also watch for: Most common trap: the far-more-common Doubleday BOOK CLUB EDITION sold as a first — verify R49 (not R52/S-codes), a green-LIONS (not solid-green) jacket back, and the $8.95 flap price. ADVERSARIAL CAUTION: do NOT trust SEO/AI-generated identification pages that claim a "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" number line or a "sivun/syvin" page-447 misprint — both are FALSE for this title (Doubleday used NO number line; no reputable dealer cites any errata). Married jackets: a later-printing or facsimile jacket placed on a first-printing book — confirm the jacket carries $8.95 (not $18.95), has the green-lions back wrap-around, and is not a color photocopy/facsimile. Beware later-printing jackets pairing an $8.95 wrapper with a non-first book (and vice versa) — match the jacket points to the R49 book. Price-clipped jackets hide the price and lower value. Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) and remainder marks (sprayed/dotted bottom edge) reduce value. Restored/sophisticated copies and reproduction jackets exist — buy from reputable dealers who explicitly state R49 at p.447, unclipped $8.95 jacket with green-lions back, and "First Edition" on the copyright page.

Print run & scarcity

The 25,000-copy figure for the first Doubleday printing is repeated across rare-book dealer and Stephen King collector references (Red Fox Rare Books, stephenkingcollector). It should be treated as the long-standing collector-community consensus number rather than a documented Doubleday press figure — no primary publisher print-order document is published. Publication was Jan/late-1977; the R49 code denotes the 1977 print week. Doubleday's poor binding/jacket stock means survivorship in fine condition is low, which drives the price premium more than absolute rarity of the print run.

First-state points & errata

First-state JACKET point: the true-first dust jacket carries a slight wrap-around of the cover art onto the back panel (a “green lions” reading is a soft collector note, not decisive); later trade printings DROPPED this wrap-around and were also produced at a slightly larger trim (collector report, stephenkingcollector.com $8.95-jackets forum). There is NO documented internal text/errata typo point for this title — top-tier dealer descriptions with full bibliographic citations (Bauman Rare Books: Currey/Brooks/Collings) cite NO first-state errata. ADVERSARIAL NOTE: a low-quality AI-generated SEO page (stephenkingly.com) claims a page-447 "sivun"/"syvin" misprint — this is UNCORROBORATED by any reputable source and is REJECTED as fabricated ("sivun" is a Finnish word, a tell of machine-garbled content). First-state vs later-state identification rests on (1) "First Edition" on the copyright page, (2) R49 data code at p.447, and (3) the green-lions wrap-around on the unclipped $8.95 jacket.

Limited & signed editions

No contemporaneous (1977) signed/numbered or traycased limited edition exists for The Shining. (No Doubleday limited; no small-press limited preceded the trade.) Author-signed first-edition trade copies command large premiums (e.g. Bauman Rare Books signed-on-title-page copy in clamshell) but are not a separate "limited" issue. UNVERIFIED on any later fine-press facsimile/anniversary limited.

Market value confirmed sales

$1,200–2,500 (genuine first/first, fine/fine, unclipped $8.95 jacket, unsigned); signed/inscribed $2,500–4,500+

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 1st/1st (inscribed "Stephen King 1/23/92"), R49 present, near-fine $8.95 jacket — sold $2,000, Nate D. Sanders (Oct 2019); a SIGNED result, carried for context only and never folded into the unsigned trade band. True first ed. in dust jacket, FAIR condition (worn/tattered jacket, foxing) — sold ~$307 incl. premium, Bonhams/Skinner (lot 25, auction 30277) — a low-grade floor comp. Dealer market (stephenkingcollector reference): fine/fine unsigned cataloged at $600–900 baseline, with strong-jacket and signed copies trading materially higher. ASKING PRICE ONLY — NOT A COMP: the copy we hand-verified 2026-06-23 and then re-read plate-by-plate in the Crown-tier cohort audit (eBay item 327114371614, seller stateandmanor; all 9 photos read, the dual-tell gate met on the one copy, so not a married copy) is a genuine first — "FIRST EDITION" as the last line of a correct copyright plate (© 1977, LCCN 76-24212, ISBN 0-385-12167-9), the R49 printer's gutter code legible at the foot of page 447, and the first-state UNCLIPPED $8.95 over "T.S." at the head of the front flap on the wrap-around Christensen jacket — but it is not a fine copy: both of our full-photo reads record the jacket toned and soiled across front and rear panels with edge wear and surface creasing, the wrap-around back art faded though legible, the spine cloth frayed to white at head and tail, corners bumped, and the page edges toned with light foxing; we graded it "VG+ book / VG+ jacket (overall about VG+/VG+)", and the seller's "Beautiful" was optimistic. Our 2026-06-23 hand note also called that jacket dampstained and foxed and this page printed it as fact; it was an unphotographed single-read impression — our own listing record files jacket dampstain/foxing under "not pictured — ask for sharp shots", and neither full-photo read found a dampstain — so we no longer carry it as an established defect. The copy was ASKING $749 and it did sell (recorded sold in our liveness sweep of 2026-07-11). The listing ran with Best Offer and eBay's own record shows 8 offers made; eBay does not disclose an accepted-offer amount, so the price this copy actually realized is UNKNOWN and $749 must not be read as a sale figure. We previously published it here as "sold $749 … an arm's-length confirmed sale"; that was our error and it is withdrawn. What the sale honestly establishes is a ceiling, not a comp: a genuine R49 first, graded by us VG+ book / VG+ jacket, changed hands at $749 or less. A VG+/VG+ copy is not the fine/fine copy our $1,200–2,500 band describes, so that ceiling neither tests nor supports the band's low, and no figure from this copy enters the band.

Book-club edition (the trap): $15–60. Book Club Edition (BOMC) is the dominant trap: smaller, lighter boards, NO R49 gutter code, blind-stamp (circle or maple-leaf) on the rear board, and a jacket with NO printed price (or a clean-clipped corner). Worth a tiny fraction; ex-library true firsts also collapse to ~$50–150. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition is the entire game — Doubleday used cheap boards and jacket stock, so true fine/fine copies are genuinely scarce and command a steep premium over the common VG-rumpled copies; the $8.95 first-state jacket MUST be present and unclipped (an $18.95 jacket = later printing; a clipped jacket guts value 30–50%). Signed/inscribed adds roughly $1,000–2,500 over an equivalent unsigned copy. THE single point that separates a real first from the mislisted copies: the "R49" printer's gutter code in the inner margin of page 447 PLUS "First Edition" stated as the last line of the copyright page AND a $8.95-priced jacket — and crucially NO book-club blind-stamp on the rear board. If R49 is absent or there's a blind-stamp dimple on the back cover, it's a BCE regardless of what the listing claims.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: SECOND ADVERSARIAL PASS — re-confirmed against NEW independent sources beyond the draft: Bauman Rare Books (ABAA, bibliographically cited), Bookpoi, nocloo, stephenking.com official PDF (binary, not parseable but cited as authority), an eBay BCE listing, and stephenkingly.com (rejected as unreliable). FINDINGS: (1) Page 447 location of R49 is now INDEPENDENTLY CONFIRMED by Bauman ("Data code 'R49' appears at inner margin of page 447"), resolving a forum poster's imprecise "page 449" remark — draft's p.447 is CORRECT. (2) NUMBER-LINE DISCREPANCY RESOLVED IN DRAFT'S FAVOR: one source (stephenkingly.com) and a search snippet claim a "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" number line. This is FALSE — Doubleday of this era used NO number line (the very reason the R49 gutter code is the dating mechanism), and Bauman's full bibliographic description cites no number line. Draft's "No number line" stands; the conflicting source is REJECTED. (3) ERRATA CLAIM REJECTED: stephenkingly.com alleges a page-447 "sivun/syvin" misprint as a first-state point — UNCORROBORATED by any reputable dealer (Red Fox, Bauman, Edwards, Bookpoi cite none); "sivun" is a Finnish word, a tell of AI-garbled content. Draft's "no internal errata" stands. (4) SECOND PRINTING = S3 re-confirmed (Edwards: "First printing has R49 code, with this printing run occurring six weeks later"). (5) BCE = R52 re-confirmed via a NEW source (eBay listing titled "1st Book Club Edition R52 Gutter Code"). (6) First-state green-lions back-panel wrap-around re-confirmed (stephenkingcollector forum: "The actual first edition dust jacket has a slight wrap around on the back show the wrap-around art ... later printings ... were also slightly bigger"). (7) Binding re-confirmed: Bauman "Original half black cloth"; Red Fox "tan paper boards with black cloth binding and gold lettering"; jacket designer Dave Christensen + typography Al Nagy (Red Fox). (8) Pub date Jan 28 1977 / ~25,000-copy run re-confirmed. Topstain/endpaper still UNVERIFIED. Value remains a dealer-listing estimate. NET: draft was accurate on all load-bearing points; this pass HARDENED it by (a) independently re-confirming p.447 via Bauman, and (b) actively rejecting two false claims (number line + errata) that an unwary checker could have inserted.

confidence: High on the load-bearing points — R49 gutter/data code at the inner margin of p.447 (now independently re-confirmed by Bauman Rare Books with formal bibliographic citations), "First Edition" copyright statement, NO number line (confirmed by Bauman's bibliographically-cited description omitting any number line — contradicting one AI-SEO source), $8.95 jacket price below "T.S." on the front flap, tan/yellow boards with black cloth spine + gilt, Dave Christensen jacket / Al Nagy typography, January 28 1977 / ~25,000 copies, second printing = S3 (Edwards), and BCE = R52 (eBay listing + forum) — each cross-confirmed across 6+ independent collector/dealer sources. Medium on BCE construction specifics (blind-stamp/Haddon Craftsmen variability). Low on topstain-endpapers (UNVERIFIED) and exact value (estimate, not a cited guide).
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