Book Collection: Wizardsrainbow

[wizardsrainbow]

Wait, why do you have to take them home?

Are you leaving your job?

And if y'all think the pics are impressive, you should see it in person!! I had to wear a drool bib!!

Karen-

My office is moving to consolidate with the main US headquarters here in the city. The space we are moving to is much smaller than where we are and all the individual offices are being eliminated. Hence, I am forced to bring the collection home.

[wizardsrainbow]

Now, I will post some pictures of my favorite or special books.

I will dedicate the first few to our dear Matt, who has a soft spot in his heart for The Stand. So in honor of you Matt, I will share my Stand story.

Way back when (at least 15 years ago I would guess), I read a paperback copy of The Stand and was so taken with the story and character development that to this day The Stand ranks among the top 5 favorite stories of mine. The Stand was also the book that spurred me to read most of the other Stephen King books out at the time. I was so in love with this story that I decided I wanted to purchase a hardcover edition of the book. A little investigation led me to the discovery of Bett's Bookstore in Bangor Maine. I contacted Stu and he indeed did have a beautiful 1st edition 1978 copy of The Stand (book and DJ in Fine condition). He was asking $200 and I nearly fell out of my chair. I talked it over with my wife and we both agreed that $200 for a book was completely insane, but she encouraged mt to go ahead and buy it if it would truely make me happy. So I did, and that was the start of my King collection....a first edition 1978 copy of The Stand.

And here it is:

[wizardsrainbow]

So Matt, as I know you LOVE The Stand as much as I do and that you are now the proud owner of a wonderful UK 1st edition, here are some other Stands that I own:

This is a signed 1978 first edition in pristine condition:

[wizardsrainbow]

Here is a letter from Stephen King's office in 1997 to a guy in Georgia telling him that Stephen King is accepting autograph requests.

[wizardsrainbow]

And he sent King a 1st edition UK Stand to sign, and here it is:

[wizardsrainbow]

I will have to post another 2 pics later cause I do not have them available:

my S/L Stand
a signed copy of the 1990 re-issue of The Stand

So in all, I have a nice little Stand "portfolio"

[wizardsrainbow]

Now, on to the cornerstore of my collection....The Dark Tower.

I have never counted, but The Dark Tower books and artwork that I own must comprise 30%-40% of my collection in terms of number of items but I would guess is 75% of the total value of my collection.

I apologize as some of the pictures are old and some may be a little blurry (a photog I am NOT), but I do not like to handle my books any more than I have to, just to monimize any incidental marks/scratches/fingerprints etc.

To start things off, here is a Lettered Gunslinger.

***There is published descriptions out there that say only 35 Lettered Gunslingers were done, but this is FALSE. There were 52 Lettered Gunslingers done (according to Robert Weiner at Grant books), A-Z and AA-AZ. My copy is AY.

[wizardsrainbow]

As I have noted before, I have 5 complete same-number Dark Tower sets, but here is an exaple of the S/L version (which is identical to the Lettered version)

[wizardsrainbow]

We may as well continue on with Gunslingers:

I have in my collection pristine copies of every signed version done (not counting ARCs) with the lone exception being the first edition UK Sphere paperback (I have that, just not signed). Stu had listed one for sale in the Chris Cavalier collection which he reserved for me but then never could find it, so alas, there is a single hole in my Gunslinger collection.

Here is an inscribed 1st Grant edition

[wizardsrainbow]

A Grant 2nd edition inscribed

[wizardsrainbow]

A Grant 3rd edition inscribed to KelLee Larson, our dear Karen's predecessor at Grant. I will tell you a little story about KelLee that is not well known when I get to Wizard & Glass!

[wizardsrainbow]

This one I waited and waited and waited to get. Finally, I scored one of two copies that were in Chris Cavalier's collection.

A signed Viking 1st edition Gunslinger

[wizardsrainbow]

And a Plume first edition, inscribed. I also have another one inscribed.

[wizardsrainbow]

almost forgot...I have another inscribed Grant 2nd edition. This one I got from Hutch

[wizardsrainbow]

And finally, to round out the Gunslinger collection....

here is a well-known Plume 1st edition 1988 but also side-by-side with a variant cover (on the right) that was pulled because King did not like the layout and changed his mind at the last minute. It is not known how many variant covers survived, but they are pretty rare.




So, what I am missing is a signed UK Sphere 1st edition but also the Plume Arc with the Orange Cover.

[carlosdetweiller]

Impressive! I'm looking forward to the KelLee Larson story......

[Matt]

That story on The Stand was amazing Wiz--Its funny how much something like a book can influence our lives.

I really appreciate the shout out--the book and all these amazing pictures. That first edition of the US Stand is my next grail.

[NeedfulKings]

Awesome story. I've got a somewhat tattered First Edition of The Stand and it's something I admire daily!

Your DT collection is awesome!!!

[William50]

Nice collection!

[funky dredd]

Awesome collection! The Stand story reminds me of how I bought my Gunslinger!

[wizardsrainbow]

Thanks for the kudos everyone! It is great to be able to share with people who "understand." to you all.

And now, I will continue with more of the DT part of my collection. Obviously, I am not going to post everything I have....that would be a monumental task.

As for DT II, The Drawing of the Three, I will start with my S/L Author's edition (crappy pic sorry)

[wizardsrainbow]

I have also signed versions of both Grant editions (1st and 2nd)

I have 2 signed 1st editions and just realized I have no pictures to post!

So here is a signed 2nd edition (actually, the only one I have ever seen). This too is inscribed to KelLee Larson:

[wizardsrainbow]

Here is a 1st edition labelled Artists Proof 1 of 3 by Phil Hale and signed by him. Most unusual. Have never seen another like it.

[wizardsrainbow]

Here is another rare version of DoTT....a signed UK Sphere 1st edition paperback

[wizardsrainbow]

And here is something you never see (this is the only one I have ever seen):

S/L Drawing of the Three Tapes (S/L Gunslinger tapes you see now and then, but NEVER these). How many of you knew these existed in S/L form?