Stephen King Proofs

[Lot guy]

Very Nice, I love the case!!!!

[Patrick]

Wow!

[George at C-Springs]

Hi. I just came across this post and I wanted to let you know that Michael's copy is not unique. My set was printed by Hodder in 3 batches. The first batch, "One Past Midnight" contained "The Langoliers" and was printed on May 10, 1990. The second batch, "Two Past Midnight", contained "Secret Window, Secret Garden" and "The Library Policeman" and was printed on May 15, 1990. Batch three, "Four Past Midnight", contained "The Sun Dog" and was printed on May 16, 1990. The three batches were then combined by Gaby Naher (Press Officer for Hodder & Stoughton) and distributed to a few reviewers. My copy was sent to George Beahm on June 25, 1990 and after he received it on July 2, he in turn sold it to Barry Levin on July 5. The original fax from Gaby indicated the number of proofs that were being printed, but I have no further details as to whether or not they were. I have never been able to confirm the batch dates other collector's copies were printed on, to give a better picture of the printing schedule of this proof. Perhaps they could shed some light.
I just thought you would like to know. Take care. Gerald

Gerald, you must have seen my post from the other day (which I just updated with my info from four years ago that you just reposted which I couldn't find ... glad you did!). You should post all of your info and photos to the Four Past Midnight Proofs/ARCs page!

[jhanic]

I'm open to suggestions on if and how to add these to the listing at the beginning of this thread.

John

[zelig]

Thanks for posting this Gerald. You certainly have some unique items.

I'm open to suggestions on if and how to add these to the listing at the beginning of this thread.

John

John, I'd say to definitely include it in the list for completeness. Since it clearly exists, and it's an uncorrected proof.

[carlosdetweiller]

Received this wonderful post on SK Collector from Michael at Fine Edition Books in the UK (they also have two pristine copies of Twice the Power for sale, if you're looking to add a copy to your collection):

[I]The collectors of Stephen King proofs in general and TWICE THE POWER in particular may be interested to know that Hodder printed the sheets and (blue wrappers) for a solo proof of the UK hardcover edition of FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT, but abandoned the project in favour of the TWICE THE POWER omnibus. To the best of my knowledge, only one flat, mint set of the unbound sheets of the solo FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT proof survives, complete with an immaculate, flat blue wrapper.

TWICE THE POWER was not inexpensive to manufacture and is, therefore, in correspondingly short supply. A dozen battered copies were given to booksellers at the 1991 UK Fantasy Con in London - which is almost certainly the portal through which they escaped into the wicked world of the collector - but pristine copies are and always were in very short supply.
The FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT solo proof sheets are almost certainly unique.

Thanks for the great information Michael. Anyone know anything about the flat, unbound sheets set he talks about? And it would be great to be able to tie anyone's copies directly to the 1991 UK Fantasy Con; perhaps an insert from the event, or something along those lines. If anyone has more info on the items mentioned, please let us know.


George

Hi. I just came across this post and I wanted to let you know that Michael's copy is not unique. My set was printed by Hodder in 3 batches. The first batch, "One Past Midnight" contained "The Langoliers" and was printed on May 10, 1990. The second batch, "Two Past Midnight", contained "Secret Window, Secret Garden" and "The Library Policeman" and was printed on May 15, 1990. Batch three, "Four Past Midnight", contained "The Sun Dog" and was printed on May 16, 1990. The three batches were then combined by Gaby Naher (Press Officer for Hodder & Stoughton) and distributed to a few reviewers. My copy was sent to George Beahm on June 25, 1990 and after he received it on July 2, he in turn sold it to Barry Levin on July 5. The original fax from Gaby indicated the number of proofs that were being printed, but I have no further details as to whether or not they were. I have never been able to confirm the batch dates other collector's copies were printed on, to give a better picture of the printing schedule of this proof. Perhaps they could shed some light.
I just thought you would like to know. Take care. Gerald

Very interesting, Gerald. I have a copy of the unbound sheets that comprise the solo Four Past Midnight proof by Hodder & Stoughton that is different from yours. I wonder if mine is similar to Michael's and you have an earlier state of the proof? My copy is the entire book rather than three separate parts.

[carlosdetweiller]

Gerald,
With a similar appearance to the photos of the proof you posted here is a UK proof of Needful Things. Have you (or anyone else) ever seen one of these?

[jhanic]

US unbound proof set of Four Past Midnight added to listing. Also added the UK Needful Things in the comb binding.

John

[neo_trinity]

Very interesting, Gerald. I have a copy of the unbound sheets that comprise the solo Four Past Midnight proof by Hodder & Stoughton that is different from yours. I wonder if mine is similar to Michael's and you have an earlier state of the proof? My copy is the entire book rather than three separate parts.

Hi Bob, I have seen your copy before. Mine is different in that it has a heavy blue stock page (same as UK Needful Things) sans illustrated cover art page. Each batch section has an accompanying blue stock page to indicate that they were printed over the course of a week. Also, all the fonts are not finalized yet. They just appear as "Four Past Midnight a/w" and "Stephen King a/w". I recall a UK book dealer offering to sell one many years ago, but his asking price was extremely high. I am not sure if you purchased his, but it was the same cover page as yours.

[jhanic]

Gerald, I mistook your copy for a US one and put it in the US section of the listing. I've since corrected it.

John

[neo_trinity]

Hi. I just came across this post and I wanted to let you know that Michael's copy is not unique. My set was printed by Hodder in 3 batches. The first batch, "One Past Midnight" contained "The Langoliers" and was printed on May 10, 1990. The second batch, "Two Past Midnight", contained "Secret Window, Secret Garden" and "The Library Policeman" and was printed on May 15, 1990. Batch three, "Four Past Midnight", contained "The Sun Dog" and was printed on May 16, 1990. The three batches were then combined by Gaby Naher (Press Officer for Hodder & Stoughton) and distributed to a few reviewers. My copy was sent to George Beahm on June 25, 1990 and after he received it on July 2, he in turn sold it to Barry Levin on July 5. The original fax from Gaby indicated the number of proofs that were being printed, but I have no further details as to whether or not they were. I have never been able to confirm the batch dates other collector's copies were printed on, to give a better picture of the printing schedule of this proof. Perhaps they could shed some light.
I just thought you would like to know. Take care. Gerald

Gerald, you must have seen my post from the other day (which I just updated with my info from four years ago that you just reposted which I couldn't find ... glad you did!). You should post all of your info and photos to the Four Past Midnight Proofs/ARCs page!

Hi George,
I did not see your post from 1/19. I just saw it now. No, I regularly read older posts and I just came across your discussion about Twice the Power and then I saw Michael's comment about his being the only unique copy. I knew that Bob also had a copy, as I read that years ago. I just wanted to let people know that there was another. I don't know how to add information to the page you mentioned.

[neo_trinity]

Gerald, I mistook your copy for a US one and put it in the US section of the listing. I've since corrected it.

John

Hi John,
I didn't even know where you were talking about. I do now. Yes it is a UK copy. Thank you for that. Gerald

[neo_trinity]

Gerald,
With a similar appearance to the photos of the proof you posted here is a UK proof of Needful Things. Have you (or anyone else) ever seen one of these?

Hi Bob,
Yes that is a similar format. Hodder used Rowland almost exclusively in the late 80s, early 90s for their internal proof copies. My Needful Things is not spiral bound like yours. It is the same as Four Past Midnight. Was yours from a reviewer / sales rep? If so, it would make sense for them to bind it to make it easier to read / show. Very nice find. I rarely see these surface.

[jhanic]

Gerald, I mistook your copy for a US one and put it in the US section of the listing. I've since corrected it.

John

Hi John,
I didn't even know where you were talking about. I do now. Yes it is a UK copy. Thank you for that. Gerald

I've been trying to list all known US and UK proofs of King's works in the listing in the first post of this thread, along with a very short description. If you know of any that I don't have listed, please let me know.

John

[carlosdetweiller]

Hi Bob,
Yes that is a similar format. Hodder used Rowland almost exclusively in the late 80s, early 90s for their internal proof copies. My Needful Things is not spiral bound like yours. It is the same as Four Past Midnight. Was yours from a reviewer / sales rep? If so, it would make sense for them to bind it to make it easier to read / show. Very nice find. I rarely see these surface.

You are right! The seller from whom I bought the Needful Things told me he got it from a publisher's rep in South Africa.

[neo_trinity]

Hi Bob,
Yes that is a similar format. Hodder used Rowland almost exclusively in the late 80s, early 90s for their internal proof copies. My Needful Things is not spiral bound like yours. It is the same as Four Past Midnight. Was yours from a reviewer / sales rep? If so, it would make sense for them to bind it to make it easier to read / show. Very nice find. I rarely see these surface.

You are right! The seller from whom I bought the Needful Things told me he got it from a publisher's rep in South Africa.

That makes sense. I have found many rare items in Johannesburg over the years. I know that Bloomsbury and Hodder both spend serious advertising pounds to push their respective authors wares there, as it is a lucrative market for English books.

[zelig]

Hi Bob,
Yes that is a similar format. Hodder used Rowland almost exclusively in the late 80s, early 90s for their internal proof copies. My Needful Things is not spiral bound like yours. It is the same as Four Past Midnight. Was yours from a reviewer / sales rep? If so, it would make sense for them to bind it to make it easier to read / show. Very nice find. I rarely see these surface.

You are right! The seller from whom I bought the Needful Things told me he got it from a publisher's rep in South Africa.

That makes sense. I have found many rare items in Johannesburg over the years. I know that Bloomsbury and Hodder both spend serious advertising pounds to push their respective authors wares there, as it is a lucrative market for English books.

This is crazy.. Before I read where Bob's copy originated from, I was thinking that these could have come from South Africa. I used to own a specialist bookstore in Johannesburg in the late 80s and early 90s, and I had accounts with the local agents for the big UK publishers. Of course, one was Hodder. I would often get proofs from the sales rep.

Anyway, I was thinking earlier after seeing these proofs that I don't know how I could have missed getting one. I had a really good relationship with the local sales rep at the time for Hodder and he'd get me all the proofs. I can only imagine that these being in limited supply that they went to the larger chain bookstores, and not a small independent like myself.

This all brings back some great memories of that time...

[Randall Flagg]

Not the best condition, but it's quite rare...

Skeleton Crew

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stephen-Ki...item418e49cd61

Who won it?

[neo_trinity]

Not the best condition, but it's quite rare...

Skeleton Crew

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Stephen-Ki...item418e49cd61

Who won it?

It wasn't me, I promise! It was a good price though.

[Pasiuk57]

I won it. Pretty happy!!

[carlosdetweiller]

I was surprised it sold for as much as it did. I haven't been keeping up with prices close enough, I guess.

[Lot guy]

Nice Mike!!!!

[jhanic]

Congratulations, Mike!

John

[The Library Policeman]

Congrats, Mike. Nice one!

[zelig]

Congratulations! Even though you outbid me!