Collecting Rules

Every collector has their own "thing" that they like to chase down.  Most of us love first editions.  But, as you collect,  you have to develop some rules, or you'll create a giant pile of stuff that will lead to a divorce or an eviction.

So I used to buy anything with King's name on it.  Now. . .

1. First edition hardbacks of books pre Duma Key.  So that means book club editions are out.  I used to hold on to them; but they're really only worth about $5, and it can get confusing in a collection to keep up with which ones are true firsts, and which ones are reproductions and book club editions.  Truth is, after Duma Key, the market seems so flooded with first editions, they don't really matter.  Besides, I stopped buying them because I know someone in my family is sure to give me the latest Stephen King novel.

When it comes to some rarebooks, second editions will have to do.  Such is the case with The Gunslinger, which is hard to find as a first edition, but hte second edition has the same cover and is almost identical.

2. Post Duma Key, special editions are preferred.  A signed copy of Under The Dome, the Cemetery Dance edition of Doctor Sleep and Full Dark No Stars are all good options.  When a new King book comes out, usually a specialty publisher will secure the rights to do something really cool with the book.  Donald M. Grant has "artist" editions of the Dark Tower books that are pretty cool.

3. No books on tape.  The tape days were great, but they're worthless.  Two exceptions: The original reading of The Stand and The Mist.  As the Mist can only be obtained in tape format, and The Stand in its 1978 format only exists on tape.

In general, audio books have no value.  So get them to listen to, not to collect.   I recommend a subscription to audible, which will give you the new release at midnight.

4. Toys --  not.  Sorry, but I read books, I don't really collect a lot of Stephen King toys.  I don't need a Pennywise -- whatever.  I do have a toy Christine; but I don't really "get it."  I mean, it's blue. . .

5. Red Leather editions are also out.  I have some, but I stopped collecting them because they're not that special.  yeah, it's bound red leather; but so what?  There are no special introductions, no pictures, nothing that makes the  book itself more desirable.  They don't even look that cool on the shelf.

6. No book cover -- no sale.  The book cover is part of the book, and that said, I want my books to have their covers!  I've thrown out more than one copy of the mid eighties novels because they didn't have a book cover.  Is a copy of Different Seasons without its cover valuable?  Not really.

7. Old magazines -- OH YEAH!  In the late seventies and early eighties, Stephen King was everywhere.  His stories could be found in detective magazines and, well, porn.  I don't buy the porn because . . . you know why.  But there is a LOT of stuff out there.  People magazine, Time, Disney, magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction and so much more.  Even TV guide with a King article is pretty cool.  In fact, it's fun to get these old magazines and get a sense of time warp.

8. Books by King's family members are not really collectible's to me.  I don't seek first editions.  I've read some stuff by Joe Hill, and liked it a lot.  But I don't collect Hill, I read him.

9. Anything signed by King negates all other complaints.  Do I take books with no covers?  No.  Unless it's signed by King!  However, I actually prefer signatures that fans got from King as opposed to "flat signed" copies.  I know, most collectors prefer the flat signed, but I don't see the point.  If King wrote a fans name and a little note to them in the book, that makes it a little more personal.  It's connected to someone.

The mass flat signing that happens today is just a cold grab for money on the publishers part.  For the most part, I have no interest in slapping down lots of my savings to grab a book that was flat signed.

10. Bachman books are good, so long as they have Bachman's name on them, not King's.  This means  finding old paperbacks.  By the way, the bookclub edition of Thinner with Bachman's name is worth about $5.  But find Rage, Roadwork or The Long Walk as paperbacks, and you're in business.

Tell me some of your collecting rules.

Signed Books, Do They Matter?

I collect a lot of Stephen King books.  I do not collect his signature.  I have  one book signed by Stephen King (Under The Dome) and that is really enough to satisfy me.  Because. . . I don't get it.  How does his marking the page increase or change the books value?  I'm serious.  Couldn't he just check mark each book, acknowledging that for 1 second he was in contact with that copy of that book?

I do seem to have a lot of signed books!  Most of them were given to me.  Sometimes I've bought books, only to discover later that they are signed. yes, it does make me happy -- no, I don't know why.  I'm waiting for someone in the psychology department to tell me why.

One reason  I may hesitate to buy signed items is that I personally have no way of verifying a signature. When it comes to King, I would have trusted  Betts Bookstore -- and now the Overlook Connection and Very Fine Books.  But ebay. . . no thank you!

Some people collect much more than King's signature on books.  When anything the guy signs is instantly of value, I start  to wonder what's really up.  So people put credit card receipts up for sale because. . . SK signed it.

image credit: /www.ashvegas.com

I  find the above quite strange.  Is Stephen King cool because he writes great books and we want to treasure  those  books, or is he cool because he's part of the Hollywood culture of media idols?  We  should have no interest in being like 13 year olds in need of a teen idol -- where anything he touches is of strange significance to the fan.  True fans of Stephen King call themselves, "Constant Readers."  A term King coined -- but I like it.  The name suggests that the Constant Reader's primary interest is in reading the books, not chasing the man.

I read that the value of a signature is greater when it is "flat signed" instead of inscribed with a note  to the person it is intended  for.  Once again,  I think that's nuts!  I'd rather have a book that had meaning when it was signed than one that is "FLAT" signed!

For instance, here is a copy of Carrie that has a pretty cool note (espeically if you're Larry!)

www.icollector.com

Here are some signed books I own.
1. Under The Dome, Stephen King
2. The Dark Tower 7 (signed by Michael Whelan.)
3. The Wind Through The Keyole (signed by Jae Lee)
4. The Talisman (signed by Peter Straud and illustrator Rick Berry.  #2849)
5. Stephen King's Richard Bachman, Michael Collins
6. Bone  Soup, T.M. Wright
7. BAAL, Robert McCammon
8. Forrest Gump, Winston Groom  (inscribed to my wife: "To Rebecca, all best.")
9. The Case for Antioch, Jeff Iorg
10. Money, Possessions and Eternity, Randy Alcorn
11. The Law Of Rewards, Randy Alcorn
12. You The Warrior Leader,  Bobby Welch.  (Inscribed, "To David!  A great warrior leader for  our Savior and Souls!  Bless you!!  Bobby.")
13. The Glory of God, Chris Morgan.  (Inscribed: "David, many thanks for investing yourself  in teaching our CBU students."
14. The Gift of Valor a war story, Michael M. Phillips (Inscribed: "June 7, 2005.  For Pastor David Squyres.  Thanks for the support and prayers you offer for  the Marines.  Michael Phillips.")

I had a book about Alchatraz that I got signed by the author on my visit to the Rock, but I don't know where it is now.   It was about his life of crime, hard time on the Rock, and his coming to faith in Christ.

The Largest Collection Of Signed Books
Who has the largest collection of signed books?  You'll never guess!  According to Guinness World Records, that distinction belongs to Pastor Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life.

The website states:

Richard Warren of Lake Forest, California, USA, has collected 2,381 books, all signed by their original authors. 

Pastor Rick Warren began building his personal library in 1970 at the age of 16. Over the years as he travelled and spoke around the world, he began asking authors to autograph their books for him. Also many other authors began to send him their books autographed. The collection was verified by the bookseller Ed Postal who specialises in rare books and is a member of ABAA (Antiquarian Booksellers’ Association of America). Of 2,422 books, the total number of books accepted was 2,381.

I wish I had room for that many books!  I wonder if Rick Warren has any signed books by Stephen King.  Or. . . if Stephen King has any signed books by Warren.

I once got a personal letter from Rick Warren, responding to a letter I'd written him in which I thanked him for some insights on preaching.  Imagine, some people would have kept  that letter just for the signature.

The Sneaky Signature:

This 2007 story is one of my favorites --

A bookstore manager was stunned when she saw someone enter her bookstore and begin writing in the books. The person quickly left, causing the employees think they were the victims of vandalism. 

Ms. Ellis said, "So we immediately ran to the books and lo-and-behold here was the signature in several books. We sort of spun around on our heels, [saying] 'where did he go, where did he go. . . So I went over and introduced myself ... He was lovely, very nice, charming." 

King signed a total of six books. I don't know, I just find something fun about that story! Imagine going to the bookstore, not a specialty store or something like that, just a regular store, and choosing to buy a Stephen King book -- and it turns out to be signed! Cool.
www.abc.net

Here is King signing books on The Simpsons:

I wonder if book signings are one of those things that authors hate.  I would!  It takes away from time that could be spent writing!  And, it forces the writer to have to be nice to all those annoying fans  who want to talk about why Carrie's father died before she was born, but managed  to save her  mother from killing her when Carrie was a baby.  And you can't say to these fans, "Because it's just a book.  I'm making this stuff up!"  No -- they actually think there's an answer!

Tell me what signed books you have.

STRANGENESS, The Backbone of a Good Collection

Where do you start collecting Stephen King?  I think the best advice has always been to start with first editions.  The earlier the better.  My earliest is a copy of The Shining.

A couple years ago, I stopped collecting first editions.  I only have so much shelf space, and it seemed that newer books had such a huge first run that the first editions would never be worth much.  I chose instead to buy special editions of these books.  For instance, Cemetery dance released a beautiful copy of Full Dark No Stars.  I chose to invest in that instead of a first edition.  Besides, someone usually gives me a copy of the latest Stephen King book!  (Hint, hint family – still no 11/22/63)

So what makes a good collection of Stephen King books?  Depends on what you like.  If you want to line all the books up in chronological order, Carrie to 11/22/63, then first editions are the way to go.  Of course, that system leaves nerd questions, like, “What do I do with the Dark Tower books?  Put them on their own shelf (yes!) or mix them in (no!)?”

I think the backbone of a good collection is strange stuff.  Yep, a little bit of everything makes the collection a lot of fun.  If everyone has the same set of first editions – that’s not really so cool, ya know?

Here are some strange things I’ve enjoyed hunting:

1. Magazines.  These are cheap, and a thrill to read through.  Magazines with Stephen King interviews, magazines that contain his original stories, or magazines about King are all easy to find.

2. Cemetery Dance editions.  I like books published by CD.  In particular, Blockade Billy, Full Dark No tars and the recent 20th anniversary of IT were all pretty cool.

3. Red leather editions.  I’m not crazy about these, because they come out looking pretty uniform – but a few a fun.

4. Trinkets.  The world is full of strange things from the world of Stephen King.  A matchbox Christine (mine is blue?),

5. Booklets.  Sometimes longer short stories were published as separate booklets.  I have The Raft as a booklet originally published in Gallery and a small Penguin paperback of Umney’s Last Case.  Sometimes the booklets are giveaway’s – just a few chapters of larger novels.  I have a copy of a Wizard and Glass booklet – just the first few pages.

6. British editions can also be cool.  I have the unabridged version of The Stand.  Strangely, the British edition looks a lot thinner!  Also a British edition of Skeleton Crew.  Actually, this is something I don’t do a lot of hunting for.  After all, the only thing really different is the cover, and again – I need the space.

7. Some cassettes are worth looking for.  I hunted The Stand and The Mist on cassette.  (Once upon a time The Stand was only available in the original abridged format and even that was out of print.)  Copies of King reading The Dark Tower are also pretty cool, in my opinion.

If you can get your hands on the original recording of The Mist read by Frank Muller, I think it's worth  it. I'm not sure what the copyright deal is on this book is, but it seems to be out of print.

By the way, there is an abridgment of Thinner that King really didn't like!  It was so bad, he decided not to allow future books be be abridged.  But then, Desperation was later abridged!

8. Newspapers and periodicals.  In particular, the Castle Rock was a neat publication.  I only own one.  It was very well done and a great way of keeping news out there in an age pre-interent.  There were several other unauthorized publications that are fun to dig up.

Phantasmayoria was a unofficial magazine published four times a year.  I think this was the work of George Beahm. I have a Summer 1997 edition.

The Red Letter by Greg Hotchkiss was another King news booklet about 10 pages per issue.

Also SKIN: Stephen King Information Network was the work of editior Lori Zucearo.  This publication is about 10 full sized sheets of paper – always green.  It seems the 90's were really the era for these publications. (See blog post, The History Of Skin)

9. The Dark Tower in its first publication in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine.  I had a lot of fun hunting those down, it became a quest.

10. Original copies of the Richard Bachman books.  The only one really hard to find it Rage.  The copy I have is pretty tattered.  Actually, all my Bachman paperbacks are well worn!

11. Comic books.  I don’t purposefully collect these, but have somehow ended up with quite a few.  Anyway, comic books can easily make a collection unique.  There are some that are more fun to hunt down than others.  I  think the Batman #400 is pretty awesome.  King reveals if he is a Batman or a Superman.

12. Some books about King are invaluable.  For instance  The Shape Under The Sheets is out of print, and a very unique book!  Lilja’s Library is also a lot of fun to just sit and thumb through.  (When it comes to books about King, I like books you don’t have to read beginning to end, but can hope around in.)

13. Movies.  One Summer I tried to collect all the SK movies.  I’m not sure it’s possible!  And some I just refuse to invest in, making it impossible to collect them all.  Sorry, Sleepwalkers and Langoliers!  I don’t really think movies do much in terms of collecting.  I don’t even keep the cases, but put them all in one folder of SK movies.

14. Desk Calendar.  I have just recently become a big fan of the Stephen King desk Calendar.

15. Books with introductions by Stephen King.  King’s introduction to any book is a lot of fun.  I don’t collect these, but would gladly sit and read every introduction if given the stack of books.

What is it?
Some stuff I have I’m actually unsure. . . why I have it!  I keep it in this big plastic tub, and my wife probably thinks it’s full of old books or something.  I just toss srange things in there that I’m unsure what to do with.  A lot of it are things that came in grab bags or – stuff I don’t know I got it!

Examples:

• A big red sticker that says: “Buy Desperation and The Regulators and get a gift from STEPHEN KING... an excerpt from The Dark Tower IV.  
• A TV Guide from May, 1997 with the Shining miniseries on the front.  I’m not sure why I bought this (for something like $2).  But now that I bought it, I can’t part with it!
• A VHS box for The Lawn Mower Man, unrrated directors cut.  This is only the fox, still flat, never had a VHS tape in it.  I’m not sure why I have this – or why I keep it.  Hopeful it may for some reason be valuable.
• Stickers with this instruction from New Line Cinema: June 30, 1993, “Dear new Line Home Video Customer: Enclosed are corrected credit block stickers for the new Line Home Video title The Lawnmower Man.  Pursuant to a court order, please place this approved sticker on all available copies of The Lawnmower Man in your inventory.  The Lawnmower Man is available for sell-through at $19.95 suggested retail price.  Thank you for making The lawnmower Man a huge success.”  RIGHT!
• Papers.  Yep, papers from a court proceeding regarding Lawnmower Man.  Nothing interesting – just court docs.  
• Charlie Fried’s original draft’s of his articles for SKIN.  Including: Stephen King on Audio, Stephen King’s World of Horror, The Lawnmower Man meets the Rock Bottom Remainders Stephen King Plaintiff or Defendant, and more.

The really fun stuff are things that you think no one else has.  My favorite is Charlie Fried’s notebook.  It’s nothing that incredible – just a scrapbook by a fan.  But I like it a lot.

There's so much stuff you could collect!  Movie posters, event tickets, signed items, signed baseballs, bobbleheads, action figures, toys, bookcovers. . .

So, tell me – what odd things make your collection fun and unique?

Also see my 2011 article, Building A Unique Collection

THE RAFT paperback

Here's something pretty cool I got for Christmas, a paperback edition of The Raft.  According to Amazon, it was actually a pamphlet inserted into Nov. 1982 Gallery.  It looks fuller than it really is -- just 26 pages in a glossy cover.   I like it!

Funny thing, my mother in law got it for me.  "He wants an older paperback book?" she questioned my wife.  "You know, they have that same story in collections."  My wife reassured her that it was the old paperback I wanted.

So I looked up  what "Gallery" was, thinking the entire magazine might be of interest.  It's  porn!  Glad I didn't ask my mother in law for that!

Here is the back of the booklet:

Drawing Of The Three Journal #4 : Things I Forgot

My D3 CD's

It's been years  since I read The Drawing Of The Three.  I'm pretty sure I read it several times in High School and College.  What better way to escape midterms and finals than to read Stephen King -- right?  That might also explain my first semester Greek grade.

As I read the book afresh, there are details I'd forgotten!  Here are a few:

1. I'd forgotten just how nasty Detta can be!  Wow, King really drives the point home with this character.

2. I forgot how leery Eddie and Odetta are of Roland when they first  come into his world.  The tension is great!  In fact, the tension that runs throughout the series is part of what makes the story interesting.  Know one of the reasons the prequel Star Wars movies didn't feel right?  I think it has to do with tension between the main characters.  Han and Luke were always at each other.  But in the prequels, there is not that light hearted jabbing.  King does a nice job letting his main characters take exception to one another.

Eddie doesn't trust Roland one bit, because he has perceived that Roland is a "tower junkie."  He will do anything, even sacrifice friends, in order to reach the Dark Tower.

3. I forgot that Roland basically kidnapped his Ka'tet.  They didn't join him!  Now, Roland gives Eddie a very good speech about his  potential that  would please any football  coach, but the truth is Eddie does not have a choice in the matter.  Roland is not  going to let Eddie go back!

4. I forgot that King played with the name of the last door.  It has a double meaning.  For Eddie, "The Pusher" makes him think at once of drugs.  He is filled with emotion over the discovery of this door.  However, Pusher actually means . . . something else.  The card the man in black revealed to Roland was "death."  We would expect the third door to coincide with the third card, but they seem mismatched until the story plays out.  The Pusher is death, since he pushes people.

5. I forgot just how sharp Eddie is right from the get go. Somehow I remembered  him being more spaced out by the drugs than actually is.  The guy is sharp, catching on to what's happening around him much quicker than other characters.  He's able to quickly adapt to strange new situations without coming unhinged.

On another note, I find myself a little stunned at King's work.  The Stephen King who wrote Drawing was a young man, yet  incredibly perceptive to the world around him.  He describes  things in ways I would never think of, and picks up on things in people's behavior that is right on.  As a young man he was a good writer because he had the perceptions of an old man.

The Shining First Edition

Do first editions matter?  They do.  Why?  I'm not totally sure!  But I like first editions, and special editions (first editions of the special editions.)  The earliest book I have a first edition of is The Shining.

What surprised me is how much the book club edition is like the first edition.  The first edition states first edition, has a 8.95 price tag, has R49 in the gutter of page 447, and has tan boards.  Book club has black boards.  It is exactly the same size, and sitting beside one another in their dust jackets, the two books look exactly the same.

I Own Christine

I bought Christine the other day, and it finally arrived.

Well, it's a diecast toy car, the size of a hot-wheels or matchbox car.

It is an "Authentic replica."  Only. . . it's blue, not red.  Even the picture of Christine on the box is of a red car, and this is blue.  I don't get it!  But, it's "1 of only 12,000."  (12,000 !!!  My entire town could own one!)

This is a series of toy cars called, "Frigth'ning Lightnings (they registered this statement, so no one could steal it). . . they live!"  You can also collect: The Ghostbusters Ecto-1A, Elvira Macabre Mobile, Boothill Express, Haulin Hearse, The Mysterion, and Vampire Van.

Christine scares a new generation. . .
actually, one of these kids loves the movie

Get this -- the guy who owns the Chrstine used in the movie really will sell ya pics of the car -- autographed by Christine herself!  What that means is that he ran over the photo with the car after inking the tires.  (HERE)

Picky Collecting

"Picky Picky" was the cat in Beverly Cleary's Ramona series.  It could be my name the more I collect Stephen King.  Once upon a time, I collected everything King.  I started with paperbacks as a teen, then moved on to trying to collect all the hardcovers -- then hardcover first editions.  I did it, too -- with a few notable exceptions (Carrie, Salem's Lot, The Shining, Dark Tower 1 and some others). 

The problem is, bookshelves are unforgiving for collectors!  There isn't space to store it all.  I have Laser Disks of Carrie and Creepshow -- but I'm not sure why I have them!  Full dark No Stars that I would not buy the first edition hardcover.  There are a billion copies, so it held little value as a collectible.  Instead I hose to buy the Cemetery Danse edition, which is beautiful!  Cemetery Danse books are always well done!

I had made a similar decision with Under The Dome.  I was unable to buy the signed edition, so I purchased the special edition -- same thing but not signed.  Turned out, there really wasn't much too it!  Then, Simon and Schuster put out word that some of their big buyers for the signed editions dropped the ball and they had a few huge lots up for sale.  I got a signed copy -- my one and only signed copy of a King book!

I have not yet purchased a copy of 11/22/63.  Oh, wait. . . we have it on Kindle, and audible -- but no hard copy.  I'm in the lottery to get the wonderful opportunity to buy a signed copy.  If that doesn't pan out, I'm going to wait for the paperback.  Why?  Because a book with that many copies on the market isn't really all that special. 

So what's worth collecting at this point?  What will I still give shelf space to?

• Bachman books.  (Originals)  Fun to collect because they were King at work under the radar.  Also, there are not as many copies out there, so getting one feels like more of a "find." 
• Dark Tower firsts.  Still waiting for Dark Tower 1 to show up somewhere. . .
• Signed books.  I don't know why this matters to anyone, but for some reason we all like the thing to be signed.  Does his scribbling on a copy make it more valuable?  Well, it does!  But does it change anything -- really?  The book is the same book, except that once it is signed I don't allow anyone to read it!  Thus nullifying is purpose as a book.  I'm not sure I understand this, thus the reason I only own one signed copy. 
• Cemetery Danse and special publisher editions.  Ahhh, what I would do for a copy of From A Buick 8 Cemetery Danse edition.  Grant has also published a few special edition volumes worth noting, like Desperation.
• Old magazines that have King stories.  I have almost all of the first appearances of the Dark Tower in F&SF magazine.  I really like the old magazines, because they give you a flavor of the times the stories first appeared in.
• Older books -- first editions.
• The red leather editions still interest me.

Interestingly, some of the things I treasure actually can't be bought!  A scrapbook by a super-collector is precious to me.  Also, a box full of odds and ends and can't really be explained, but it's fun to dig through. 

Here's what I've about given up on:

• Needing a copy of everything!
• Anything not first edition.
• Books without covers.  (I didn't used to care).
• Paperbacks -- unless they are special.
• Most foreign copies.  a few are fun, and the British editions usually get better covers, but no point in rebuilding my library with books I already have.  (That actually might be my wife speaking through me!)
• Books with King introductions. 
• Posters.  Had a guy at a poster shop tell me excitedly that he had an original movie poster of "The Shining."  I just found myself wondering if there was wall space in the kids playroom.
• Reprints that look like the first edition, but are not. 
• Signatures alone.  Why do people pay for just the signature, like on a piece of paper.  Or a hand scrawled quick note.  I don't understand!  Really, people, enlighten me.  The note is not his art, his art is in the book!  So if he sits at a book store and writes a note that says, "I'm the spooky do man", someone will find great worth in that.  Why?  Does this pass some vital information from him to us?  I can do the same thing!

Building Unique Collection, Part 3 Where To look

Here are a few places I have ahd success in finding Stephen King items.
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The problem with ebay is you have to know what to look for. So, obviously, if you know what you're after, ebay it! (But don't buy signed things on ebay.)
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Betts Bookstore always has a great list of things on their website that is fun to dig through. also, the prices are usually pretty good. I've found that when hunting something very specific, Dave at Betts was able to work magic.

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They should be your first stop for just about any item. There are a lot of stuff you'd never think of as well! Proof copies, signed items, magazines. How's this for interesting, I just saw posted a photo copied manuscript of Bag of Bones with this description: "Bag of Bones #3 typewritten manuscript (copy), in cardboard box." It's going for $35. http://www.bettsbooks.com/w95020ai.html

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Get on the mailing list of Cemetery Dance. They do a lot of their publicity by email, and have a lot of specials for returning customers. http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/SFNT

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Very Fine Books also has a lot of Stephen King signed books. http://www.veryfinebooks.com/

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It is also good to get on the Simon and Schuster email list. This is how I was able to buy a signed copy of Under The Dome. http://www.simonandschuster.com/

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Hodder and Stroughton is King's British publisher. http://www.hodder.co.uk/

Building A Unique S.K. Collection, Part 1

The advice for anyone getting into Stephen King collecting is to start with first editions. That is a great place to start. I'm still hunting my first edition Carrie, Salem's Lot and Gunslinger!

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As you get a little deeper into collecting, you'll discover it is not hard to develop a collection that is absolutely unique. Why? Because there is so much Stephen King stuff out there! No two collections, even the super duper collections, are not the same. No one has everything Stephen King! In fact, I found myself wondering if Stephen King really has a complete Stephen King collection.

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If you look, you can find stuff that's special.
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Some suggestions:
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Here's some things I think are great for collecting and make your collection a little more unique.
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1. Some first editions really are worth their weight in gold. Carrie is one of those, and it doesn't seem to be THAT hard to find. I see a lot of ex-library copies out there. However, I am not a fan of the ex-library stuff. There is a Salem's Lot first edition with a famous mistake on the dust jacket regarding Father C. That's worth a blog post of its own, though. The price of first editions starts dropping with The Shining.
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2. Obviously, anything signed is desirable! His signature seems to increase the value of a book at least 100%. Under The Dome went for $75 special edition -- but a hefty $200 for the signed edition.
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3. Books signed by others. Anything signed by the author is a little more special. No, I don't know why! I like it, but I have yet to figure out why I think it's so cool. I have a signed Michael Collins book. Also a special edition of Talisman, signed by Peter Straub. The artist editions of the Dark Tower books are also pretty cool, and come signed by the author. I have a Dark Tower 7 signed by Whelan.
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4. I like to collect old magazines with King's stories in them. Of course, some the really early stuff I don't collect because. . . uh. . . they're in nudie mags! However, there is still a lot out there. King has written so many short stories and articles that have been published all over the place!
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I like to hunt down the original Dark Tower stories in the Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. I was also excited to find a copy of X-Men Hero's Of Hope which included a contribution by King.
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5. Any special edition books are great. They're not all that hard to find, but they are far more valuable than mass produced first editions. So, the Talisman/Black House double edition in slip case is obviously a good find (and not that expensive). Some stuff is just impossible. Try finding a Cemetery Dance edition of From a Buick 8! I can't. Or how about the zipper edition of Skeleton Crew? What I'm saying is that when you have a chance to get a special book, snatch it up if the price is right.
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Lately Cemetery Dance has offered King books in special edition. Blockade Billy came with its own baseball card, which is neat. And they also have a great edition of Full Dark No Stars, which came with a slip case. So far, everything from Cemetery Dance has been very nice. I still wish Cemetery Dance would put out a special two volume edition of The Stand / Swan Song. Hehe.
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You can also hunt those red leather books. I have about five of them. Honestly, once I had a few, I decided not to continue hunting them. Other than the binding, there's nothing really all that awesome about them. I did spot an entire set -- the whole thing! -- on ebay. I meant to go back and bid, but I forgot. When I showed up 5 minutes too late, the huge lot had gone for $30. OUCH! I wept.
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6. Promotional stuff. Things like the Dark Tower Wizard And Glass booklet that was released with the Desperation/Regulators. Posters and all kinds of things the publisher sends book stores to hype a book.
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7. Introductions. I don't collect introductions by King, because there are so many out there! I don't have enough book shelves to do that. His introductions are always a lot of fun! I love his chatty style of talking right to the reader.
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8. Audio books. Earlier advice was that the audio books would have no value. That's still pretty true! There is little point in collecting the audio books. However, that's not universally true. The Stand and The Mist are both worth the hunt. Ebay often has The Stand on tape going for around $100-200.
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9. Odds and ends. You know, Magnets, book bags, book covers, documents, letters (letters by King can be very expensive). I have a bunch of court documents from King's lawsuit in the Lawnmower Man case. I got it in a huge grab bag of stuff from Betts bookstore. That thing was loaded with strange stuff! You can find a toy metal Christine, or a Christmas tree ordainment of King's House (that's a little strange, if you ask me!)
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10. Old publications about King. By that, I mean all those publications that were out before the Internet became our primary means of information. Stephen King had a pretty neat newspaper, called Castle Rock.
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Fan publications are always cool to find, though they may not have much actual "value" in terms of dollars. I enjoy them! There was a publication called The Red Letter. I don't know much about Red Letter, except that it was small and pretty interesting.
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There was also a publication called SKIN. It stands for Stephen King Information Network. It was in publicationf rom 1994 to 1995 and produced eighteen newsletters. Read more here: http://talkstephenking.blogspot.com/2009/09/history-of-skin.html
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11. Books about Stephen King. These are just all out fun. He may not like how many books have been written about him, but some of them are awesome! Try Bev Vincent's "Stephen King Companion" which has tons of reporductions fo original manuscripts. Also, Lilja's Library is a great print version of the website, including his reviews and interviews.
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I like just about anything by Stephen Spignesi, Michael Collins, Douglas Winter, and George Beahm. Beahm's biography "Stephen King, America's Best Loved Bogeyman" was very good. In fact, I wish he'd update it.
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Are Stephen King books a good investment?
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I think you should not buy Stephen King books as an investment. Of course, I don't buy gold, either!
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Here's the deal: Collect what makes you happy! If you're collecting only to resell, I don't know that the market is big enough for that. I suspect the super collectors end up selling their collections for a loss (but I don't know that!).
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Because I don't collect to resell, I open everything! That means, when something comes to me shrink wrapped, I open it up! Hey, I bought it to enjoy, not to sit wrapped up like it belongs in a store. I never feel bad cutting that shrink wrap off! Well, with the exception of Desperation/Regulators with the book light attached to it. So maybe the best way to say it is that collecting for profit is not a good route for me.
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So tell me, what do you like to collect? What pieces where you most excited to find?

1978 The Stand Journal 3: Audio edition

picture: Sharon holds volume 1-2 of The Stand.

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My wife bought me the Stand on audio tape, read by Grover Gardner. I'm really enjoying it! She had the tapes sent directly to a company that converts tapes to CD. They also put them on MP3 for me.

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We used: Thick And Mystic Media to professionally transfer the material. http://www.audiomover.com/ They did great! The sound quality is superb (these tapes were pretty old, and there are absolutely no sound issues thus far). Each chapter serves as a separate track.

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If you want it on CD, you have to actually buy the audio tapes and then transfer them. However, Ms. Mod at stephenking.com answers the legal question of transferring your tapes to CD as follows: "That shouldn't be an issue because it's for your own use but it's the people who are making multiple copies and selling them which is clearly violating copyright laws that we have a problem with." http://www.stephenking.com/forums/showthread.php/15950-The-Stand-on-CD

It appears that when this was originally recorded, unabridged recordings were not sold in mainstream book stores. It was more popular to abridge recordings for mass sale. So the unabridged books were primarily for libraries -- catering to the blind.

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So far, the book is fantastic. I've read this edition once before, but it was years ago.

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Details:

• The audio tapes are broken into two volumes.
• The first volume has 11 hour and half cassettes. It originally sold for $88.00. (2163-A)
• The second volume has 12 hour and half cassettes. It originally sold for $96.00. (2163-B)
• Both volumes say "collector's edition." I do not know why.
• The recording was done by books on tape.
• The reader is Grover Gardner. I like his reading very much. He has recorded a lot of books -- some of them absolutely massive! Like Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. He also recorded The Dark Half.

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Grover Gardner, the Stand

I recently purchased The Stand on audio tape. I am waiting for the company I paid to put it to CD and digital formats to send it to me. I can't wait! I have been mentally preparing myself to read The Stand again. This reading is of the original 1978 version, and was narrated by Grover Gardner.

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Now part of preparing to listen to the 1978 version of The Stand has to do with the reader, Grover Gardner. I first listened to a recording my Gardner of a theology book, and decided the reading was dry. So when I later listened to the Stand, I went in with the opinion that Grover is a dry reader. But then I read the theology book I had been listening to... and guess what -- it was still dry! I realized: It was not Gardner's reading that made it boring, it was the writer! Perhaps the material was too basic for what I was expecting; in any case, I came to the conclusion that maybe I hadn't given Gardner's reading a fair shot.

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So here I am again. Planning to read The Stand with Gardner as my guide. I went to his blog and really, really enjoyed it! He has a wonderful article on authors reading their own books. this is funny: "I am familiar with at least one instance of a famous politician who required literally thousands of edits because he couldn't read a whole sentence (no, it wasn't "W") and another case in which a celebrity author didn't make it through her ghost-written autobiography because she couldn't pronounce most of the vocabulary and wasn't familiar with the events and people as related in the book!"

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Check out Gardner's blog here: http://grovergardner.blogspot.com/

Now that's a great gift!

My wife's brother and his wife were in town this week. They delivered my birthday gift; totally unexpected. What was it? A paperback copy of Stephen King As Richard Bachman. To my even greater surprise, the book was signed by the author, Michael Collins.

The Secretary Of Dreams 2 Initial Impressions

Wow! The Secretary Of Dreams Volume Two arrived today. My wife bought it for my birthday -- November 10. I peaked. So, I guess my full review will come after November 10.

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I will say this (from a true Californian) -- Awesome, dude. Like, totally way out.

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Just some early quick obervations.

• The book is big. It is also very durable. Nicely bound, heavy pages, but not too big to read. It's not just a coffee table book.
• Almost every page has drawings. Lots of them. The book is heavily illustrated by Glenn Chadbourne.
• The book contains the full text of the King stories. They are not chopped down comic versions.

http://www.cemeterydance.com/sh/king03.html

King book among most sought after

The Christian Science Monitor has an article titled, "Top 100 most sought-after out-of-print books in 2010." #9 is Rage. I have a copy of this (the paperback). Of course, it was also published in The Bachman Books. However, after a series of school shootings, King asked his publisher not to print the book anymore. Imagine a book banned by Stephen King himself!

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I'm not sure how bookfinder came up with their list, but I can think of several more "sought after" King books. Not to deny at all that Rage is worth the hunt! But here are a few more. . .

1. The Stand leatherbound.

2. A true first edition salem's Lot (with misspelling on dust cover)

3. A copy of The Plant.

4. First edition Gunslinger.

5. First edition Carrie.

6. Audio of The Mist read by Frank Muller.

7. From A Buick 8, Cemetery Dance

8. Salem's Lot deluxe lettered edition.

9. My Pretty Poney, Whitney Museum

10. Six Stories, Philtrum Press

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http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2010/1006/Top-100-most-sought-after-out-of-print-books-in-2010

The full article is here: http://www.bookfinder.com/books/bookfinder_report_2010/

Liljas Library -- The Arrival

Annie says Marv on the cover of Lilja's Library is "creepy."

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A little over a year ago Cemetery Dance had one of those offers you just can't refuse. It was for their upcoming book, Liljas Library. I was familiar with the website and excited at the idea of a book form. Of course, I then began to wait for the book to come. No book. We called CD and they explained that the offer we had was for a book that was still in the writing. Oh! My interest was only peaked all the more.

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Alas, the book came today -- and it's AWESOME! Huge, but not bulky. The intro from Bev Vincent is delightful, broken into two parts. The second part of his intro is an interview with Lilja. From there on, it's full force into Stephen King country.

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The book is nicely illustrated with pencil drawings by Glenn Chadbourne (who also did the cover.)

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I have a lot of great reading ahead! One of my favorite kinds of books -- beyond King's novels -- is books about Stephen King. My wife once asked me if I owned more books by king, or about him. Gosh.

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I won't post the contents again, but it is indeed massive. It's like having a library in one book. Of course, it is called Liljas LIBRARY!

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Buy it here: http://www.cemeterydance.com/page/CDP/PROD/lilja01

Videodiscs

Driving through Hemet California Saturday, I spotted an old theater with a "poster" sale. There were some nice King posters, but I didn't want to pay a hundred dollars for a Shining poster. However, I did pay five dollars a piece for three Stephen King VideoDiscs.

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What's a VideoDisc? Well, I didn't know they ever existed. These things are huge! Look like the DVD version of a record. The cases are cool and will make neat posters. Carrie and Christine are epically impressive. I can't watch them. . . sinc e I don't own a videodisc machine.

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My wife stared kinda numbly at me. Why did I pass up a poster of The Shining for a videodisc of Carrie, Christine and Creepshow? Well, I explained, it's unique. anyone can get a poster. But ask another collector, "Do you have laserdiscs?" She is shakes her head in quiet confusion -- secretly glad she doesn't have to figure out where we are going to put out a huge movie poster of the Shining.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laserdisc

Time Warp: CASTLE ROCK July 1989

Do you remember the Castle Rock -- The Stephen King Newsletter ? Let's go back to July, 1989 -- Vol. 5, no. 7. Back in the day, this would have cost $1.75. These days, closer to $5. By the way, I really like the newspaper format for a newsletter, this was very professionally done. In 1989 I was in Middle School -- the closest place to hell next to a concentration camp. In 1989 George Herbert Walker Bush was president. There was no Internet. And Stephen King was still King of the hill when it came to horror.

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Notes:

The paper was 12 pages long.

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The papers primary focus in this issue was the 1989 Horror Fest at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park Colorado with 300 attendees. As Ray Rexer said, it was raining "Church's and Cujo's" at the convention. The paper was full of photo's from the event. Don't I wish I could have gone -- but alas, I had to go to middle school.

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There was a short review of the audio version of Silence of the Lambs, letters to the editor with questions about books and movies. In fact, letters to the editor is interesting, since there was no Lilja's library back then ready to give us the world of Stephen King in a single blink. There was also a short story (part of a short story contest), this one titled "Lullaby Haven." The paper includes several book reviews, and an advertisement to make reservations for My Pretty Pony by a store named Time Tunnel in NJ. The cover price for My Pretty Pony was $50. My wife liked the ad for WZON's T-Shirts, "Creep Shirts" which say, "Welcome to the Rock and Roll Zone" with S.K.'s signature. There was also an article by Barry Hoffman on censorship.

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Classified ads were kind of an ebay of 1989. People both selling and looking for S.K. books. Want to buy the Dark Tower 2, mint condition -- $59. How about Startling Mystery #6 with King's first short story for $100? A Different Season's for $30. And M. Smith from Little Rock was looking for a first edition of Carrie. I wonder if he ever found it. Oh wait, Guy from Oakland wants to sell is entire S.K. collection, which includes every first edition, limited edition and magazine appearance. (I doubt it). He says his prices are very reasonable. I would buy it, but remember -- I'm on that middle school budget in 1989. Yep, $25 a week mowing grass. Crud.

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George Beahm's book The Stephen King Companion was due out in October. G.B. publishing was offering a thousand copies of the limited signed numbered editions for $35. (Any takers?) Or a deluxe edition in a slip case for $75. Gosh, I was born at the wrong time!

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There is a cool note that coming next issue Michael Collings will have an article on early Stephen King. Now, back then you would go, "oh, wow, I've got to make sure to get one of those." But today you say, "Man, how do I find that now?"

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Finally, a blackjack dealer from Las Vegas got to take Stephen King home from the Horror fest Convention for $46. Pretty cool, but the Stephen King he got to take home was a cardboard cut out.

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UNDER THE DOME CONNECTION?

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One writers submitted a short story for a contest that didn't win. He wrote a complaint that he was "violently angry" at the editor for declining his short story as one of the six finalist. He said that his story reveals a "shocking truth about Stephen King and his obsession with offing woodchucks."

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WHOA! Maybe someone needs to warp back in time and give this guy a medal. He nailed it! Anyone remember how UTD began? With a woodchuck getting knocked off. What are the chances? Ask Michael Collings to analyze that! And the poor dudes story still wasn't accepted into the finalist category. Put that under the heading: Even when you're right, life stinks.

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR:

From Tom Cooper, Boca Raton Fl

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To the editor,

upon hearing that Misery will soon be made into a movie I was excited since it's one of my favorite books by King. Recently, I found myself mentally juggling the possibilities of who'd play Annie Wilkes and Paul Sheldon. I figured Castle Rock readers would have fun considering the possibilities as well.

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For Annie Wilkes, I was thinking about Rosanne Bar, but I don't know if she's ready for a major film yet, especially a King adaptation. My number one pick for Annie, hands down, is Louise Fletcher. My friends agree that there's probably no one better suited to play the role.

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For Paul Sheldon I think Richard Dreyfuss and Robin Williams should be considered, since we don't want a square jawed, uncharacteristic wall playing the role. My number one pick, however, is someone not even remotely related to suspense: Gene Wilder. My friends said he'd be an awful choice, but when given an extra moments consideration, you find that Wilder can put a lot of zest into his acting, spirit an actor will surely have to have for playing the part. Not to mention that he's an underrated actor.

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Who would you like to play the roles? Any word as to who will really play them?

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EDITORS REPLY:

For Annie Wilkes I like Glenn Close. She showed her true talents as the insaniac in Fatal Attraction. For Paul Sheldon lets be bold and try English actor Jeremy Irons. Those of you who caught Irons in his duel role as twins in Dead Ringers will have no trouble imagining him as the persecuted punctuator. As for who will actually fill the roles, no word as yet.

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(For those of you holding your breath, that was covered by James Caan and Kathy Bates, directed by Rob Reiner. Just didn't want to leave you hanging there.)

The Stand And Me

Easily, my favorite Stephen King book is The Stand. It was the first book I read by King. Now, it wasn't the first book I started. I started with The Gunslinger, but I was quickly lost and my friend told me to give up on the Dark Tower for a while and give The Stand a try. I was hooked!
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A Stephen King collection needs several copies of The Stand. Of course, my original paperback of the Complete and Unabridged no longer exists. That edition was a strange paperback with a birght orange shiny cover, good and evil fighting. Of course, it fell apart -- but was well loved. Here's what I've wrestled up so far:
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1. First edition The Stand, purchased from Betts Bookstore. Price inside dustjacked says it was $12.95. Has an undated inscription inside from someone giving the book to a graduating student. The price at Betts was tagged at $195, but I think I remember getting it for half that.
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2. Book club edition: The Stand. This edition is everywhere! Value is between $5-$20. It is almost identical to the first edition, so if you're just looking to have a reliable edition of the original edition of the Stand, this is a good option.
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3. First edition The Stand Complete And Uncut, British edition. This really is the true first edition, first appearance of this book. The Hodder edition has blue lightening bolts shooting across the cover.
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4. First edition The Stand Complete And Uncut, Doubleday. The price on the dustjacket is $24.95. It's hard to discern first editions of this book. In fact, Doubleday makes it truly difficult to discern what edition of a King book you have. This creates no end to confusion on ebay. Anyway, this was a beautifully bound and illustrated book -- nothing like the cheap original edition of The Stand.
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5. Paperback reading copy, signet (NAL), #7 on the numberline. The cover of this edition is tied in to the mini-series. "Now an ABC TV miniseries."
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What I still don't have: The ONE! You know what that is, right? The Holy Grail for King collectors. The leatherbound special edition housed ina wooden box of the Uncut edition. This goes for around $2,000, but I noticed the Betts has recorded that they sold theirs.
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Another thing I don't have is the audio recording of the orginal edition of The Stand. I've listened to it, read by Grover Gardner. Actually, I paid to join a lending library just so I could listen to this book. But, I haven't bought it because not only would I have to purchase the book, but would then have to pay a company to convert the whole thing to CD. Besides, Grover Gardner's narration is -- how do I say -- uh, not inspiring. He's no Frank Muller, okay! Anyway, the edition does exist.

My Collection: Dark Tower

Not much to be said for this. Someone suggested recently I post pictures of my collection. never did much because truth is, every book Kng's published has been well photographed. And so any collection just looks like a very familiar line-up. But it does give us a cool excuse to pull the books down and handle them. So, I'll post pictures of my collection and you all can just roll your eyes and think, "what a Harold Lauder."

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Dark tower Books:

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1. The Oracle and the Mountains, Magazine: F&SF, Feb. 1981

2. The Slow Mutants, Magazine: F&F, July 1981

3. The Gunslinger and the Dark Man, Magazine: F&F, Nov. 1981

4. The Gunslinger 2nd edition.

5. The Gunslinger 3rd edition

6. The Gunslinger Viking reprint 2nd edition

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7. The Drawing of the Three, 1st edition

8. The Drawing Of The Three, viking edition

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9. The Wasterlands, 1st edition

10. The Wastelands, viking edition

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11. Wizarda and Glass, 1st edition

12. Wizard and Glass, viking edition

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13. Wolves of the Calla, 1st edition

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14. Song of Susannah, 1st edition

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15. The Dark Tower, 1st edition

16. The Dark Tower, artist edition, signed by Whelan

.the gunslinger fled across the desert

17. The dark Tower, Gunslinger Boarn, hardcover.