11 Scribes · All titles · Scribner Era (1998-present)

11/22/63 Common

2011 · Scribner (a Division of Simon & Schuster), New York

First-edition cover of 11/22/63 — First-edition jacket (first edition (verified vs jacket)) · source

What it’s about

Jake Epping, a recently divorced Maine high-school English teacher, is shown a portal in the back of a friend's diner that leads to a single fixed moment in 1958. Tasked with a near-impossible mission — to live through five years in the past and stop Lee Harvey Oswald from assassinating President John F. Kennedy — Jake discovers that the past is stubborn, that it pushes back against anyone trying to change it, and that the longer he stays, the harder it becomes to leave the life he's building there.

Significance A standalone time-travel epic that was one of King's most acclaimed late-career novels (a New York Times Best Book of the Year and Los Angeles Times Book Prize winner), adapted into the 2016 Hulu miniseries "11.22.63" produced by J.J. Abrams and starring James Franco.

Is this the true first?Yes. The Scribner trade hardcover (November 8, 2011, ISBN 9781451627282) is the true first edition, first printing. There is no preceding small-press or paperback original — unlike the early Doubleday-era Dial/Grant complications. A signed Limited Edition (1,000 copies) was issued essentially simultaneously by the publisher but it is a separate, distinguishable issue (variant jacket + DVD + extra photos), not the trade first.
The trade hardcover IS the true first. Modern Scribner-era King: no Donald M. Grant / Philtrum / Land of Enchantment precedence applies here. The only earlier-or-simultaneous variant is the publisher's own signed Limited Edition of 1,000 (see limitedEditions). For pure collecting purposes the standard trade first edition/first printing is the canonical "first."

I own a copy of this title

My notes — condition, state, price intact, is it a book-club copy?

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementScribner-era convention: a true first states "First Scribner hardcover edition" (or "First Edition" wording) on the copyright page AND carries the number line beginning with 1. BOTH must be present. No gutter/printer code applies (that is Doubleday-era only). For 11/22/63 the copyright/title verso shows the standard Scribner edition statement plus the full number line below.

Number line"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — the standard Scribner first-printing line. A first printing shows the full line with the 1 present (the 10 sits in the middle of the descending/ascending split). Later printings drop the low digits from the left (e.g., a second printing begins "2 4 6 8 10..." with the 1 gone). If the lowest number is not 1, it is NOT a first printing.

Gutter / printer codeN/A — Doubleday-only convention. Scribner uses an edition statement + number line, no gutter/printer code.

First printing — copies~2,000,000 (first trade hardcover printing). Plus a separate Scribner signed/limited hardcover edition of 1,000 numbered copies (tray-cased, w/ COA). accepted figure

First jacket price$35.00 (US). Canadian price typically printed alongside ($39.99 CAN — standard for the period; the US $35.00 is the load-bearing first-printing point). (Upper front (inner) flap of the dust jacket, top corner. A price-clipped jacket (corner cut) hides this and lowers value; book-club copies show NO price and instead say "Book Club Edition" on the lower front flap.)

Board (panel) colorRed paper-covered boards (front and rear panels).

Spine / center bindingBlack backstrip/spine cloth with gold (gilt) lettering on the spine — i.e., quarter-bound two-tone (black spine over red boards).

Binding styleQuarter-bound, two-tone: black cloth/paper backstrip over red paper-covered boards, sewn binding. 8vo, approx. 6-1/2" x 9-1/2"; [vii], 1-849, [2] pp.

Topstain / endpapersNo notable colored topstain reported (plain). Endpapers plain. UNVERIFIED as to any decorative endpaper — none documented; treat as standard plain.

Your verified copy ✓ markers verified

Verified Scribner 2011 TRUE first edition, first printing. Copyright page states "First Scribner hardcover edition November 2011" AND carries the full Scribner number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (the 1 present = first printing); jacket flap shows "U.S. $35.00 / Can. $39.99" unclipped with no "Book Club Edition" text; quarter-bound in red paper boards with a black CLOTH spine in gilt and the Scribner flame imprint; rear board carries no BCE blind-stamp. Faux-1963-newspaper jacket. Not a book-club edition.

Copyright page — "First Scribner hardcover edition November 2011" + number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (first printing)

Front jacket flap — "U.S. $35.00 / Can. $39.99", unclipped, no "Book Club Edition" text

Binding — red paper boards, black cloth quarter-spine

Spine — black cloth, gilt lettering, Scribner flame imprint

Dust jacket

Distinctive faux-newspaper design. FRONT panel is a simulated 1963 newspaper front page reporting JFK's assassination in Dallas ("the day Kennedy was killed"); the BACK panel is the alternate-timeline faux newspaper reporting that Kennedy SURVIVED/escaped the assassination. Title 11/22/63 and "A Novel" with Stephen King byline integrated into the newspaper layout. The two-timeline jacket is the signature visual point of this title.

Art / design: Jacket design by the Scribner art department. UNVERIFIED as to the specific named designer/photographer for the faux-newspaper layout; collector listings credit "publisher's design" rather than a named artist.

https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/112263.html

https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/title/11-22-63/author/stephen-king/first-edition/

https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/limited/112263.html

Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyBook Club Edition (BOMC) tells for this title: (1) a blind-stamp — small indented dot/square/circle, usually lower-right of the REAR board; (2) "Book Club Edition" printed on the lower front jacket flap; (3) NO price on the front flap (trade first shows $35.00); (4) smaller trim, thinner/lighter/cheaper paper stock; (5) often glued rather than sewn. Note: a BCE may STILL show a "1 ... " style number line, so the price/blind-stamp tells are decisive, not the number line alone.

Also watch for: Cautions: (1) Married jackets — a later-printing or club jacket placed on a first-printing book (verify $35.00 price + matching state); (2) Price-clipped jackets hide the $35.00 point and lower value; (3) Book-club copies passed off as trade firsts (check rear-board blind-stamp + flap for "Book Club Edition"/no price); (4) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels); (5) Remainder marks (sprayed/marker on bottom text block) reduce value; (6) Autopen/secretarial or facsimile signatures on "signed" copies — genuine signed copies are the publisher Limited (with DVD/variant jacket) or in-person signings with provenance; (7) Custom traycases marketed as "publisher" cases — the publisher issued NO case.

Print run & scarcity

Trade first-printing figure of 2,000,000 copies traces to the Simon & Schuster digital catalog as cited on the StephenKingCollector forum (the primary collector reference for King print runs). This is a publisher announced-print-run figure, consistent with King's lead-title status. The signed limited hardcover (1,000 numbered copies, tray-cased with COA) is a distinct Scribner-issued collector variant confirmed by dealer listings (VeryFineBooks/AbeBooks), not part of the trade run. No small-press / Donald M. Grant edition exists for this title; it was a standard Scribner hardcover (not a paperback original or BOMC original). Hardcover format confirmed.

First-state points & errata

No widely-documented text errata or first-state/second-state internal change separates first-printing copies of the trade edition; the first printing is identified by the number line (lowest digit = 1) plus the $35.00 unclipped jacket. UNVERIFIED as to any minor typo points — none are reported by the major collector references for this title. (Distinct point: the signed Limited Edition contains exclusive chapter-heading photographs NOT in the trade copies — an issue distinction, not a state error.)

Limited & signed editions

Publisher's Signed Limited Edition (Scribner / Simon & Schuster, 2011): 1,000 copies SIGNED by Stephen King (approx. 850 sold to the public). Features a VARIANT dust jacket (different from the trade edition), an included publisher DVD, and exclusive chapter-heading photographs not in the trade copies. NOT individually numbered. Issue price $150. The publisher did NOT supply a slipcase/traycase — clamshell/traycases seen on the market (e.g., cream linen-and-leatherette magnetic cases with a two-sided newspaper placard) are LATER custom-added by dealers. Current value roughly $1,100-$2,750+ depending on condition/sealed status.

Market value estimate

~$20–$60

Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.

No confirmed sale found, so this is rated at no less than its original jacket price — a true first/first should hold at least retail in near-fine/fine condition. Soft estimate from dealer listings (treat as approximate): $20–60 unsigned trade first (fine/fine, unclipped $35 jacket); $800–1,500 flat-SIGNED trade first; $1,500–2,400 signed/limited of 1,000 w/ tray-case

Book-club edition (the trap): ~$3–8. There is no separate "11/22/63" Doubleday/BOMC BCE in the classic sense, but ex-library, reading-copy, and married/facsimile-jacket trade copies routinely flood listings; a beat-up unsigned copy or one with a clipped/reproduction jacket is worth a few dollars — effectively pulp. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition sensitivity is LOW for the unsigned trade first (so common that even fine/fine tops out ~$30–60) and HIGH for signed copies (a fine flat-signed copy ~$1,000–1,500 vs. a bumped/clipped signed copy dropping toward $500–800). SIGNED PREMIUM is the entire game for this title: King's signature multiplies value 20–50x, and the numbered signed/limited of 1,000 is the premier collectible (~$1,500–2,400, more if sealed with intact DVD + original tray-case). THE SINGLE BIGGEST THING separating a real first from the mislisted copies: this title is NOT rare in itself, so do not pay first-edition money for an unsigned copy — and confirm the first printing by the FULL NUMBER LINE that includes the '1' (line reads 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2) on the copyright page, the UNCLIPPED $35.00 price on the distinctive split-newspaper jacket (front panel: JFK assassinated; back panel: JFK survives), red boards w/ black backstrip, and the ABSENCE of any blind-stamp/dot on the rear board or a price-less/UPC-less jacket (the book-club/ex-lib tells). For SIGNED copies, the value rests entirely on authentication — demand a reputable COA (Bauman, VeryFineBooks) or matched provenance; King pre-signed only ~400–500 flat-signed trade copies on tour, so unverified "signed" listings are the highest-risk trap of all.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Price $35.00 confirmed across multiple AbeBooks/eBay first-edition listings. Number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" confirmed via search-aggregated copyright-page reports plus general Scribner-era convention; consistent with the official stephenking.com identifying-first-editions guidance for Scribner (edition statement + number line, both required). Binding (red boards/black spine/gilt) confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com and dealer listings. Limited edition (1,000 signed, 850 public, DVD, variant jacket, exclusive photos, $150 issue, no publisher slipcase) confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com limited page cross-checked with veryfinebooks.

confidence: High on the core points (publisher/year, red boards + black spine + gilt, faux-newspaper two-timeline jacket, $35.00 front-flap price, number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2", BCE tells, 1,000-copy signed limited with DVD). All cross-checked across 2+ sources. Medium/low on a named jacket designer and topstain/endpaper specifics (UNVERIFIED — no named artist or decorative endpaper documented).← Back to all titles