King, Stephen (1975) ‘Salem’s Lot’, signed first edition

Stephen King (1975) ‘Salem’s Lot’, US first edition, first printing, in second state dust jacket, published by Doubleday. Signed on the title page by King with a date and little swirl. All first edition issue points are present: ‘First Edition’ on the copyright page and ‘Q37’ gutter code on the last page as called for. Second state dust jacket with ‘Father Cody’, and new price of $ 7.95 printed over clipped price.

Condition: very good +. Clean boards without bumping. Internally clean, previous owner’s name on the ffep neatly written in top right the corner. Title lettering on the spine are still vibrant. Some wear to the top of the thin black cloth at the spine’s top and slight rubbing to the ‘Stephen’ lettering. The Doubleday productions of the 1970s were of notorious cheap quality, but this example is still in very good shape compared to other copies. The dust jacket has minor edge wear only.

‘Salem’s Lot’, Stephen King’s second novel, had a print run of 20,000 copies only. The book was nominated for the ‘World Fantasy Award’ in 1976 and the Locus Award for all-time best fantasy novel. It remains King’s most representative novel of his horror prose.