Stephen King has written scores of books now and decifering all the in's and out's of first edition/first printings can be a bit hard. I will give a quick summary of the things I have learned while collecting these prized books in this guide. I am only speaking of trade editions in this guide.

One quick definition before I get started, a number line, or print line as it is sometimes called, is a line of numbers on it's own row of the copyright page with a space between each number, example 2 3 4 6 7 8 9 5 1 10. Most publishing houses that use these for first printings use the numbers 1-10, in any combination, to denote a first printing. The lowest number on this line tells you the print run of the book. Random house is one that uses a 2 on the number line to denote the first printing.

Publishing Houses:
Mr. King has used many different publishing houses over his years of writing. I will try to list these publisher's and their ways of denoting editions and printings in reguard to his books.
    DoubleDay:     "First Edition" on copy right page; code printed on last page of text denoting the print run, these codes are                                     different for each book and can be located in numberous places on the internet.
    Viking:             "First Published in [year] by Viking Press" on copyright page; no number line on copyright page for the first                                 printing. Later printings will have a number line with the lowest number denoting print run.
    Signet:               "First Signet Printing, [month, year]." on copyright page; number line with a 1 in it denotes first printing. This is                             the paperback publisher that first printed the books for him under Richard Bachman.
    Everest:            Only printed one book for him "Danse Macabre"; RRD281 on copyright page denotes the first edition/first                                 printing of this book. I cannot comment on how they denote all their first editions and printings.
    D.M. Grant:       "First Edition" on copyright page, later printings are stated as such.
    Putnam:            Number line with a 1 in it denotes first edition first printing.
    Dutton:            "First Trade Printing, [month, year]." on copyright page; numberline with a 1 in it denotes first printing.
    Scribner:         Number line with a 1 in it denotes first edition first printing. In reguards to "The Green Mile" in hardcover, "First                             Scribner Edition 2000" on copyright page.
    Philtrum:         This is the pulbishing company Stephen King owns and as far as I can tell, he only does first edition/first                                         printings with this press, so if you find one of these, snatch it up.
    Pocket Books:   "First Pocket Books Trade Paperback Printing [month, year]." on copyright page; number line with a 1 in it                                 as first printing.
    New American Library:   "First Printing [month, year]." on copyright page; will sometimes have a number line to denote first                                                 printing, this is dependant on the book you are looking for.

Book Club Editions:
Many of the publishing houses that Mr. King has used also print book club editions of his books. The easiest way to know you are looking at a book club edition is to look for a price printed on the inside flap of the dust jacket. If there is no price present then you are looking at a book club edition. Some of them will state book club edition on the copyright page but not all.

When looking for a first edition/first printing of one of Mr. King's book you should always look at the copyright page for the above info and at the original price listed on the dust jacket. Knowing this price can be one more helpful tool in locating the exact book you want. You may find the price on the dust jacket does not coinside with the info being given you by the seller, walk away from this deal if this happens. Sometimes the wrong dust jacket will be on a first trade edition/first printing, buying a book such as this is a judgement call that only the buyer can make.

This is just a general guide to get you started. I highly recommend you look for a guide that lists the exact things you should look for when buying these books. There is a good one at www.stephenking.com, that has some good info in it on trade editions. Other sites are good for other tidbits you may want to know.

Let the hunt begin!!

Christine Buckingham, General Collector of Stephen King First's