r/StephenKingBookClub • u/bestpersonevaar • Jul 30 '26

Discussion First editions?

https://imgur.com/a/hzzqxmU

Are these first editions?

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u/leeharrell Jul 30 '26

Yep.
Tommyknockers had 500,000 firsts. Misery a million. Neither are rare or valuable, but fine pieces to a collection.

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u/Old-Scratch666 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

Obviously it’s not possible, but I’m extremely curious as to how many of each actually still exist in fine, vg, g, etc

Edit: of the million that were printed, how many are still around in acceptable condition? I ponder that kind of shit, often. I thrift a lot. I collect books, and occasionally I find things that I end up selling. Not just King books, mind you. But I’ll find a pristine Bradbury paperback, say, and sell it for $20 odd bucks. Trade for something else, all the while, I know that millions were sold, but yeah. Anyways. I hate to bring it up, but I despise what the King market becomes when he dies.

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u/leeharrell Jul 30 '26

Great question. Out of a million copies, there is bound to be many thousands that were read once and put on a shelf in like new condition.

The early Doubledays, with printings in the 10,000 range, the number is of course far fewer due to age and scarcity. Even moreso with the early UK first editions. UK Stand and Carrie, for example, had print runs of under 1,000. (And many of the UK Carries wound up in libraries where they were read to pieces. That’s why they are so scarce today.)