What's your favourite collectible?

BevVincent

Tell us about your favourite King (or King-related) collectible.



My collection is very modest - I don't have any King-signed books, for example. My favourite collectible is probably my set of 5 F&SF issues in which the Gunslinger was first serialised. They're in very good condition, and I'm a Dark Tower freak.



At the risk of sounding like a sycophant, my favourite King-related collectible is a copy of Road to the Dark Tower, signed by our host, that I won for guessing the Re- word of DTVI.



HBJ

BevVincent

My favorite item in my collection is obliquely related to yours. It is a small yellow legal pad on which King handwrote the chapter in Song of Susannah (the oblique connection) where Roland and Eddie meet Stephen King. King wrote the chapter en route to visiting Frank Muller and sent it to me as a thank you for a fund-raiser I managed for the Wavedancer Foundation.

BevVincent

That is a really wonderful thing to have, Bev, particularly as King gave it to you himself as a gift of appreciation.



I definitely prefer collectibles that have a personal meaning like that. I think my favourite non-King collectible is a signed copy of The Runes of the Earth by Stephen Donaldson. The book itself isn't worth much money; signed copies of Runes are not hard to come by, and it is inscribed to me, which lowers its value. But it's a memento of my (finally) meeting him after twenty years of my enormous appreciation of his work.



HBJ

Lou_Sytsma

Very cool Bev. Nice one HBJ. I'm not much of a collector myself either so I don't have anything to qualify like that.



I do have a remarkably accurate Art Asylum Hand Phaser II reproduction (ie toy) from the original Star Trek that I constantly geek out with though.

Rache4173

My favorite King collectible is the copy of Bag of Bones that he signed for me. Well, it's flat-signed, but I don't care. 8-)



I have a couple of first editions and limiteds... my friends just bought me the Dark Tower comic compilation for Christmas. Now I have to buy a 2nd one so I can check it out... can't let the first one out of the shrinkwrap!! LOL ;D

rhinotough

I would have to say that I have a couple of favorites. My first would be a first edition copy of The Gunslinger that I bought about six months ago for $75. I was so stoked about the deal, and the book is in great condition. Not mint but great for $75. My second would be a signed copy of Dreamcatcher that I purchased from The Haven Foundation. Both hold a special spot in my collection.

BevVincent

A first edition Gunslinger for $75? Crikey. The only way I can imagine that wasn't a great find is if it were literally on fire.



HBJ,

who has a 1st ed Gunslinger, but paid more than $75.

BevVincent

I paid $20 for mine, but that was over a quarter of a century ago!

rhinotough

Must have been nice to have gotten in on the ground floor.

rhinotough

Need to share an awesome find I got with people who can appreciate it. Purchased all 5 Mag of F&SF issues with the Gunslinger stories in them for $7.50 total which included shipping. Rcvd them in the mail yesterday and while they are not minty fresh, they are in reasonable condition for being over 27 yrs old. I am quite pleased. 8-)

BevVincent

That's really good -- they generally go for about $10 each, last time I checked.



The first set of those I had, I committed an unspeakable atrocity upon! Before I got my 2nd edition Gunslinger in 1983-4, I cut them apart, bound them in cardboard and put a copy of the Whelan cover art from a Donald M. Grant flier on the front!

jhanic

At the time, I had a subscription to F&SF, so I got them at less than cover price. I still have them and they are all in near-mint condition.



I also go a 1st/1st Gunslinger when it first came out for $20. I'm still kicking myself, though, for not getting one of the numbered editions, which at the time went for $60. I thought it was too much money. I still don't have one.



John

BevVincent

The first S/L I bought was The Talisman, and I was a poor undergrad at the time so I had to weigh the big price difference between the trade edition and the signed version. I finally went for it. They all sound like terrific deals now. Who would think, a book like Skeleton Crew for $75?

jhanic

After a lot of thought, I think my favorite King collectible is my copy of the signed manuscript proof of The Two Dead Girls, Part 1 of The Green Mile, that was awarded to winners of a contest back when it first came out. (No, I wasn't one of the winners.) It's one of six copies. The Green Mile is one of my favorites, both the book(s) and the movie, and this adds to the value for me.



John

LauraK

I love my signed copy of From A Buick 8 since it was a great day with great friends and I finally got to meet SK!



But....my favorite collectible is the postcard that he sent me in reply to a fan letter when I was 15. (In 1982) He typed it himself and signed it. I remember pretty much losing my mind when it came in the mail, running through our apt complex showing it to everyone but not allowing them to touch it, lol!



I showed it to him at the FaB8 signing...just wanted to tell him how much that had meant to me and how his line of "do well in school," was taken to heart.



Bev, I kick myself more than once a year for not getting that $20 for the first Dark Tower. I still have the form letter SK sent out to those of us who asked what DT was and how we could get it......ughhhhh. I was teenager with only paltry babysitting money but if only I'd known.....

BevVincent

I was a few years older, so I had the chance to get in on that bargain. I also have one of those typed postcards in response to a fan letter. It's sitting on my desk -- dated 8/31/82.

LauraK

I just dug mine out and see I got the date wrong! It's dated 2/10/83.

Of course that also brought out the DT form letter from June 28, '84 that makes me want to tear my hair out, lol.

Oh well....maybe one day I'll find one at an estate sale or something... :P

jhanic

Those are some great stories LauraK.



John

BevVincent

My favorite is the first trade edition of The Gunslinger. Like many other King fans, I first heard about it when I saw it listed on the biblio page of Pet Sematary. "What's this? I've never heard of this book!" I started calling bookstores. Nobody else had heard of it either, but I finally tracked it down at a hole-in-the-wall bookstore in Belltown -- $50. That's more money than I'd ever paid for a book and I was broke. They said they'd hold it for me until I got paid, and they did, bless them.

jhanic

AuntiePam, nice buy! Congratulations!



John

jhanic

The rare white proof of Blockade Billy.



Front:







Back







I've got it on good authority that only 16 of these were produced.



John

Notaro

Not a first edition Signet printing but I managed to pick up this first NEL edition about twenty years ago in a second hand shop for £2.50p. 

Hedda Gabler

Notaro said:

Not a first edition Signet printing but I managed to pick up this first NEL edition about twenty years ago in a second hand shop for £2.50p. 

I've never seen this cover.  Cool.

GNTLGNT

....my personally signed copy of The Stand.....I lots of ephemera, but that one's the cake topper.....

Hedda Gabler

I don't really have any collectibles.  I have special books.  Kingfamilyfan over on the SKMB has the most amazing collection of things.  It's fantastic!

GNTLGNT

Hedda Gabler said:

I don't really have any collectibles.  I have special books.  Kingfamilyfan over on the SKMB has the most amazing collection of things.  It's fantastic!

....and obsessive....there's that....Love ya Lin!.......