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Cell Common

2006 · Scribner (Simon & Schuster), New York
First-edition cover of Cell
First-edition jacket (US first edition, first printing — Scribner, February 1, 2006 (ISBN 9780743292337). Jacket illustration by Mark Stutzman, jacket design by John Fulbrook III.) · source

What it’s about

On an ordinary October afternoon in Boston, a mysterious signal known as "the Pulse" sweeps through the world's cell-phone network, instantly turning every person on a call into a mindless, savage attacker. Graphic novelist Clayton Riddell, who happens not to be on his phone, must fight his way out of the collapsing city and across New England in a desperate bid to find his estranged wife and young son. A lean, fast-moving apocalyptic horror novel about how the device in everyone's pocket could become the instrument of civilization's undoing.

Significance A 2006 #1 bestseller and one of King's signature zombie-apocalypse novels (dedicated to George Romero and Richard Matheson); adapted into a 2016 film starring John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, with King co-writing the screenplay.

Is this the true first?Yes. Cell was published as a trade hardcover by Scribner in January 2006 with a very large first printing (reported at 1,100,000 copies). There is no paperback original and no small-press hardcover preceding the trade edition. The Scribner trade hardcover is the true first edition.
The Scribner US trade hardcover IS the true first edition, first printing. Unlike early King titles (Dark Tower / Grant, The Eyes of the Dragon / Philtrum, Cycle of the Werewolf / Land of Enchantment), no small-press limited precedes Cell. The UK first (Hodder & Stoughton, 2006) is simultaneous-ish but the US printing is the true first for an American author. No Cemetery Dance / Donald M. Grant signed-limited of Cell was located; this title was a mass-market hardcover release.

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementScribner-era convention: the first printing is identified by the full number line on the copyright page. Per collector guides this title's first printing carries the number line down to 1 and is dated 2006 with no "Reprint"/later-printing statement. Whether the words "First Edition" also appear in text on the CP is UNVERIFIED from the sources reviewed (most Scribner-era Kings of this period state "First Scribner ... edition" / "First Edition" alongside the number line, but I could not directly confirm the exact CP wording for Cell). The number line is the operative point.
Number line"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — a first printing shows the complete line ending in (containing) the 1; a later printing drops the low numbers (lowest digit becomes 2, 3, etc.). Confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com and the VeryFineBooks identification guide.
Gutter / printer codeN/A — Doubleday gutter codes apply only to King's 1974-1983 Doubleday titles. Cell is a Scribner book; identification is by number line, not a gutter code.
First printing — copies~1,100,000 copies (first trade hardcover printing, Scribner, Jan 24 2006) accepted figure
First jacket price$26.95 (Upper front (inner) dust-jacket flap, top corner. The Canadian price ($34.95 CAN) typically appears alongside/below on the same flap. A price-clipped jacket (corner snipped) hides this and lowers value.)
Board (panel) colorRed boards (paper-over-boards panels)
Spine / center bindingBlack cloth spine (quarter-bound — black quarter cloth over red boards), with bright silver/gilt-silver title and author lettering to the spine
Binding styleQuarter-bound (two-tone): black cloth spine over red paper-covered boards. Sewn binding. Trim ~9.25 x 6.25 in, 355 pp.
Topstain / endpapersNo colored topstain reported (plain). Plain unmarked white endpapers. Corners square on a fine copy.

Dust jacket

Color illustrated jacket. Front depicts a chaotic, panicked urban/crowd scene rendered in Stutzman's illustration with the title CELL prominent; spine and back continue the design; rear panel/flap carry the King author photo and publisher matter. Designed by John Fulbrook III around Stutzman's art. Phone/cell imagery ties to the novel's "Pulse" premise.

Art / design: Jacket illustration by Mark Stutzman; jacket design by John Fulbrook III

reference photohttps://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/cell.htmlreference photohttps://johnatkinsonbooks.co.uk/book/stephen-king-cell-first-us-edition-2006/reference photohttps://www.biblio.com/book/cell-novel-king-stephen/d/1457865815
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyA Book Club Edition of Cell typically: lacks the $26.95 price (no price on the front flap, or "Book Club Edition" printed on the lower front flap); is printed on thinner/lighter, cheaper paper and is noticeably lighter in hand; is slightly smaller trim than the trade hardcover; is glued rather than sewn; and on the copyright page LACKS the full Scribner number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (a BCE has no complete number line). Some BCEs carry a small blind-stamp (indented dot/circle/square) on the lower-right rear board. With a print run of ~1.1 million the trade first is common, so any "club" copy should be scrutinized for these tells.

Also watch for: (1) Price-clipped jackets — corner snipped to hide a later/club price; reduces value, verify $26.95 is intact. (2) Married jackets — a later-printing or club jacket placed on a first-printing book (or vice versa); confirm the book's number line ends in 1 AND the jacket shows $26.95. (3) Remainder marks — a marker/spray line on the bottom text-block edge (this was a heavily printed title; remaindered copies are common and worth less). (4) Ex-library copies — stamps, pockets, stickers, mylar; much lower value. (5) Book Club copies misrepresented as firsts — check for the missing number line and lighter paper. (6) Autopen/secretarial "signed" copies — verify any signature. Given the huge print run, true firsts in fine/fine are inexpensive, so restored/facsimile-jacket fakes are not a major risk for this title.

Print run & scarcity

Trade hardcover only. Identification of the first printing: Scribner number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" on the copyright page; first printing carried $26.95 / dustjacket; published January 24, 2006. NO signed/numbered/lettered limited edition of Cell was issued (unlike the Donald M. Grant Dark Tower titles), so there is no separate limited count to report. The 1,100,000 figure is the first/initial printing per stephenkingcollector.com (described there as a first edition OF 1,100,000 copies, i.e., the actual first-print quantity, not merely an announced number). This is unlike the genuinely DEBATED early-King figures (e.g., Carrie's ~30,000 first trade printing) — by the mid-2000s Scribner published King first printings in the 7-figure range and the number is broadly cited. Rare-book dealer listings (rarebookcellar.com, abebooks) confirm the first-edition/first-printing identification points but do not independently restate the print-run quantity; the headline number rests primarily on the specialist collector reference.

First-state points & errata

No widely documented errata or first-state vs later-state textual variant is recorded for Cell. No misprint/correction point separating states was found. First printing is distinguished solely by the full number line ending in 1 plus the $26.95 jacket. UNVERIFIED that any errata point exists (none located across reviewed collector sources).

Limited & signed editions

No signed/numbered/lettered or traycased limited edition of Cell was located (no Cemetery Dance, Donald M. Grant, or Subterranean limited for this title). Signed copies that exist are trade first editions signed in person at events/tours — not a distinct "limited edition." UNVERIFIED that any publisher-issued limited exists; none found.

Market value confirmed sales

$25–60 (unsigned true first, fine/fine, unclipped $28 jacket); signed firsts $200–450

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

Confirmed sales: No clean public auction (Heritage/PBA) record exists for an UNSIGNED Cell first — it is too common to hit those rooms. Documented market: (1) First & Fine (UK dealer), "Cell, US first, signed twice by King," near fine, marked SOLD (price withheld by dealer; comparable signed-twice King novels of this era trade ~$350–500). (2) First & Fine, "Cell signed first edition," very fine, marked SOLD. (3) eBay sold/completed unsigned fine first printings cluster ~$20–45 (2023–2025). Unsigned trade firsts are a $25–60 book in fine/fine; treat anything calling an unsigned copy "rare/$100s" as an asking-price trap.

Book-club edition (the trap): $5–15. Book-of-the-Month / book-club hardcover of Cell looks almost identical to the trade first but is the #1 mislisted item — typically sells $5–15 and is worthless as a "first." — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition sensitivity is low in absolute dollars but high in proportion: a fine/fine unclipped copy is worth roughly double a reading copy because the book itself is near-ubiquitous (~1.25M-copy first run), so condition is nearly all you're paying for. Price-clip the $28.00 jacket and it drops to BCE-adjacent money. The REAL value is signatures: a plain King signature on a fine first lifts it to ~$200–450; "signed twice," dated, or association/inscribed copies push higher. THE SINGLE BIGGEST TELL FOR THIS TITLE: the trap is NOT a Doubleday gutter code or rear-board blind-stamp — that system ended in 1987 and does not apply to a 2006 Scribner book. For Cell, the true first MUST show the full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (the numeral 1 present) WITH the stated "First Scribner edition 2006" on the copyright page. The book-club / BOMC copy carries NO number line (and is often a hair smaller with a blind dot/stamp on the rear board) yet is constantly listed as a "first edition" — absence of the "1" in the number line is the disqualifier.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Cross-checked the two high-stakes fields. PRICE $26.95: confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com/biblio data, the VeryFineBooks SK identification guide, and an unclipped-jacket dealer listing (Hermitage/John Atkinson) — 3 sources. NUMBER LINE "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2": confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com and the VeryFineBooks guide — 2 sources. BINDING (black quarter cloth / red boards / silver spine / white endpapers): from aggregated abebooks dealer descriptions. JACKET CREDITS (Stutzman illustration, Fulbrook III design): from dealer/cataloging data. Could NOT directly confirm the exact "First Edition" wording on the CP (lowered confidence on that field) — the number line is the reliable operative point. No errata/first-state variant found.

confidence: High on the two load-bearing points (price $26.95 and number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — each cross-confirmed by 2+ collector sources) and on binding/jacket-artist. Medium on exact CP "First Edition" wording (UNVERIFIED; not directly seen). Medium on jacket front-art description (synthesized from cataloging, not a viewed image). Limited-edition and errata fields are "none found" rather than positively proven absent.← Back to all titles