Stephen King Collecting Questions

[skyofcrack]

... one of the several letters I wrote to King I asked about... Sword in the Darkness.

What was the gist of the communication about Sword In The Darkness? Would love to see it published as a limited edition for hardcore SK readers.

A lot of the responses to books I asked about were 'no info' or something like that. He did fess up to being Bachman in my letter, of course, by that time, it was out everywhere.

I have a Word document from 2006 that has the first part of Sword in the Darkness that was supposed to finish the following week but never did. I also have a couple of .pdf files of The Cannibals in 2 parts.

[Ben Mears]

What is the "Napkins" book on top? I know King originally titled the book that way.

"The Napkins" was the original title of THE EYES OF THE DRAGON, wasn't it?

I've never seen the book in surly's picture though.

I find it intruiging that Bob (and likely the rest of us) has never seen the Napkins book in Surly's picture yet there haven't been any follow up comments as to what it is. Hmmm...

I know

Spill.

Not without permission.

Permission was granted. The response I received when I inquired:
"Hi Jerome- It's a fun piece, but not as exciting as you might be imagining.
I have three hand-written manuscript pages with a cover letter from King describing them as from something he is working on called THE NAPKINS. I bought them on a consignment from Betts a while back. They came loose, so what you saw was just a portfolio I keep them in until I come up with a better way to display/house them."

Thanks Jerome. Always fun to hear stories like this.

[herbertwest]

I've the following in a text written by King : "i was one of the judges of the Best First Novel category of the Mystery Writers of America Awards in 1990"
I tend to believe that he could have written something about the best first novel.

So, does anyone know if there might be a book, a booklet or anything about those Mystery Writers of America Awards (1990)?

[sublimicals]

Can you pros check the following auction?
Is it a Real signature or forgery?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Writing-Memo...item3cc032aa3a


Thanks in advance

[frik]

Looks fine to me.

sk

[Randall Flagg]

It looks good, and it's an older less cramped signature. First I have seen with green ink.

[tippy4]

It is real.

[AKC]

AKC late to the party.....

LEGIT

[stevohump]

I was wondering if anybody else had this problem. I just recently noticed some weird spots on my Desperation S/L traycase. You may not be able to see what Im talking about on the pictures. The spots are not deep like scratches and it really doesnt look like flaking all tho it may be. What it looks like to me is a slight discoloration in the material on the traycase. If anyone else has dealt with this, maybe yall can suggest something. I thought maybe this material (what is it a faux leather?) needed to be very lightly oiled. That is just a guess. Anyway, thanks for any advice.

[ur2ndbiggestfan]

Bought mine brand new from Grant and there's nothing like that at all, it still looks the same as when I received it. I've never oiled it (deity of your choice forbid!) but have kept it in a glass door bookcase free from sunlight all these years.

[biomieg]

I'm considering adding a couple of early paperbacks to my collection and my question is: how hard is it to find these in collectible condition? I'm referring to the US and UK 1st printing paperbacks of King's first five novels, for now (not the Bachman paperbacks).

And a related question: are any forum members (US and UK) willing to help me out? Ideally, someone would purchase the paperbacks on my behalf and hold on to them until the set is complete and then send them to me in a single package, which would save me a LOT of shipping costs. Or maybe someone here owns them and is willing to sell them to me?

Thoughts?

[skyofcrack]

I'm considering adding a couple of early paperbacks to my collection and my question is: how hard is it to find these in collectible condition? I'm referring to the US and UK 1st printing paperbacks of King's first five novels, for now (not the Bachman paperbacks).

And a related question: are any forum members (US and UK) willing to help me out? Ideally, someone would purchase the paperbacks on my behalf and hold on to them until the set is complete and then send them to me in a single package, which would save me a LOT of shipping costs. Or maybe someone here owns them and is willing to sell them to me?

Thoughts?

I don't have extra copies but I have most of the U.S. PB's and several UK PB's up through Misery. Part of the fun (for me) was the hunt of going through used book shops and picking up the books, flipping those first few pages to look for that magic '1' at the line of numbers. At least for most of the books. The key to the PB's condition is the spine. It needs to be flat (unread). No creases. It's really impossible to read a PB without making creases to the spine. You can read a HB w/o damaging it but not a PB. Maybe you could but what's the point?

I like the first covers because Carrie and 'Salem's Lot don't even have their titles on the covers. It's fairly hard to find decent copies of these. Night Shift has the problem with the eyes not lining up (if you care about that). The Shining silver 1st is usually scuffed up. The Stand might be a little easier because the print run was higher by then.

Getting the UK versions will depend on where you live. I have several and I live in the States. You can't be too particular with these when it comes to condition. You're lucky to find any copy of the earlier ones. I just have Night Shift and The Stand. Good luck!

[biomieg]

I live in The Netherlands so the good people of the UK are practically our neighbours. I actually found some nice copies of the UK Night Shift and The Stand on eBay (in my watchlist right now), which more or less prompted my questions. I'll have to check if they have a nice spine though, but they look promising.

Thanks anyway!

[TwistedNadine]

And a related question: are any forum members (US and UK) willing to help me out? Ideally, someone would purchase the paperbacks on my behalf and hold on to them until the set is complete and then send them to me in a single package, which would save me a LOT of shipping costs.

I'd be more than happy to do this for you Biomieg. E mail or PM me if and when you need the help.

[bdwyer19]

I found a reasonably good deal on a signed Lisey's Story in Alibris. I like the 'Happy Christmas' addition, and think the signature is real, but I need confirmation from the experts.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images...seysstory.jpg/

Thanks!
-Brian

[TwistedNadine]

Im no expert but it looks to me "Happy Christmas" was added afterward by someone else

[Randall Flagg]

I will have to research, but I've never seen King write (print) his A's like the ones pictured.

[Randall Flagg]

Found a picture where King printed an A:

[bdwyer19]

Thanks! I was also a little suspect about the printed 'a'. Also, writing Happy Christmas, which is more of a UK way of saying it, seemed a bit odd.

[Randall Flagg]

I didn't say it's a bogus signature, but the inscription is very odd. Hopefully others will render an opinion.

[TwistedNadine]

I didn't say it's a bogus signature, but the inscription is very odd. Hopefully others will render an opinion.

I agree with RF. Again, Im far from an expert but the sig looked ok to me - just "Happy Christmas" didnt

[divemaster]

The inscriptions I've seen, King has used writing not printing. The "Happy Christmas" just seems too neat and square to be penned by King.

I am not an expert on inscriptions by any means.

[idlewarnings]

I would not pay $1 for that book. They might be artifacts in the digital photo, but it looks like there are line breaks in the loop and in the K that make me think the signature was traced or touched up. That inscription looks nothing like any sample of King's writing I've ever seen.

[Rahfa]

At first I liked the signature okay, but with a closer look I'm no better than 60-40 that it's legit...it probably is, but I dunno...I notice the same weird line breaks noted above.

The inscription seems to have def. been added later, tho.

[skyofcrack]

I have zero interest in regular signed SK books unless he's signing them to me (and I've not had that chance yet) but those sigs don't look right to these eyes. Maybe King was tired that day but you takes your chances with signed books. These guys that fake sigs have one shot at signing the book and if they mess it up, what are they gonna do not try to sell it if the sig looks odd?