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Christine Common

1983 · The Viking Press (New York). Trade hardcover first edition.
First-edition cover of Christine
First-edition jacket (first (Wikipedia infobox)) · source

What it’s about

When unpopular, awkward high-schooler Arnie Cunningham buys a rusted-out 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine from a sinister old man, his best friend Dennis watches the gawky outcast transform — growing confident, cocky, and obsessed as he pours himself into restoring the car. But Christine is no ordinary automobile, and the bond between boy and machine begins to curdle into something jealous and possessive. A small-town coming-of-age story that idles into pure American horror, all chrome, gasoline, and rock 'n' roll.

Significance A Stephen King novel published under his own name in 1983, adapted the same year into John Carpenter's now-classic film — a cornerstone of King's "haunted machine" canon.

Is this the true first?yes. Christine is a trade hardcover original from Viking; it is NOT a paperback original. (Signet paperback and the Viking/book-club hardcover BCE followed; the hardcover trade first is the true first.)
The Viking Press trade hardcover (1983, ISBN 0-670-22026-4 / 978-0-670-22026-7; published April 29, 1983) is the true collected first edition, first printing. The Donald M. Grant signed/numbered limited (1,000 copies, illustrated by Stephen Gervais, red slipcase) is a same-year deluxe PARALLEL edition that runs much higher in value but is NOT a small-press predecessor that supersedes the trade as the textual first (unlike Grant's Dark Tower or Philtrum's Eyes of the Dragon). For standard collecting, the Viking trade hardcover is "the first." Not a paperback original.

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementCopyright page reads exactly: "First published in 1983 by The Viking Press" — with NO additional printing/edition statement and NO number line. On this Viking title the first printing is identified by the COMBINATION of (a) that single "First published in 1983 by The Viking Press" line with no later-printing overprint, and (b) the correct dust-jacket price ($16.95) plus jacket code 041 63083. ISBN 0-670-22026-4. NOTE: the book-club edition's copyright page echoes the SAME wording, so the copyright line ALONE does NOT prove a true first — the priced/coded jacket and absence of a printer gutter code are the discriminators.
Number lineNo number line. Viking first printings of Christine do NOT carry a "1 2 3 4 5..." or "10 9 8..." row at all — the ABSENCE of a number line, combined with the bare "First published in 1983 by The Viking Press" statement, is the point. The trade first also carries NO printer gutter code; later printings/states add a printing statement, and the book-club edition carries a gutter code (see gutterCode).
Gutter / printer codeViking TRADE first: N/A — it carries NO printer gutter code (Viking is not a Doubleday-style gutter-code house, and the trade first shows no code). IMPORTANT DISCRIMINATOR: the BOOK-CLUB EDITION of Christine DOES carry a printer gutter code on a late text page (~p.470) — observed values include N26 and N38 (N38 = September 1983) — so the PRESENCE of a gutter code indicates the club edition, while the trade first has none. The first-edition discriminator is the DUST-JACKET code (041 63083), not a gutter code.
First printing — copiesNot publicly disclosed
First jacket price$16.95 (Front dust-jacket flap (upper corner). A price-clipped flap (corner cut off) hides this and lowers value — beware copies sold as "first" with the price clipped, since clipping can also mask a later-printing or club jacket. Per the stephenkingcollector forum admin, the single most telling sign of a book-club jacket is the LACK of a price on the inner front flap, so the priced flap is the key first-edition discriminator.)
Board (panel) colorRed paper-covered boards (front and rear panels). Two-tone binding overall (red boards + black cloth spine).
Spine / center bindingBlack cloth spine, stamped in silver and metallic red, with printed title on spine. Quarter-bound (two-tone): black cloth spine over red paper-covered boards — NOT full cloth.
Binding styleQuarter-bound (quarter cloth): black cloth spine + red paper-over-boards sides. Octavo, sewn binding. Collation viii, [2], 526 pp; ~9.5h x 6.25w in. Trade first run reported at ~270,000 copies issued in dust jacket.
Topstain / endpapersUNVERIFIED — no authoritative source consulted specified a topstain color or distinctive endpaper for the Viking trade first; treat as plain/unstained unless a copy in hand shows otherwise.

Where to buy marker-checked

Live AbeBooks listings, checked against the seller's own photos. ✓ confirmed = a photo shows the decisive first-printing marker; cover only = ask the seller for the copyright-page shot before buying.

✓ 1st/1st confirmed$200Walker Flynt Booksunclipped $16.95 (jacket flap reads 'FPT >$16.95'; matches first-printing price). Buyer should know: (1) This is the VIKING TRADE first, correctly pri✓ 1st/1st confirmed$450Dan Pope Booksprice-present ($16.95 intact on jacket flap, not clipped). Confirmed Viking trade first edition, first printing — priced flap "$16.95 / FPT" present (cover only — verify$395James Graham Booksellerflap price NOT visible in photo (front flap tucked inside, not photographed). Seller TEXT states 'fine UNCLIPPED dust jacket' — so price-present per s

Dust jacket

Front panel: stylized chrome-and-red illustration evoking Christine, the 1958 Plymouth Fury (grille/chrome motif), with title and author lettering. Rear panel carries the author photograph — a well-known King photo showing him seated with/on a vintage Plymouth (collector lore notes the car in the photo reads as a 1957, not the novel's 1958 Fury; trivia, NOT a state point). Spine and flaps standard Viking layout with the $16.95 price on the upper front flap and jacket code 041 63083.

Art / design: US Viking trade dust-jacket cover art credited to Craig DeCamps (per Wikipedia). DO NOT confuse with Gerry/Gerald Grace, who illustrated the UK first edition cover and the UK paperback (per Suntup Editions) — the draft's "Gerald Grace" attribution for the US jacket was a conflation and is corrected here. The Grant limited edition's interior illustrations are by Stephen Gervais (a third, distinct artist). US jacket artist remains single-source (Wikipedia) — confidence medium.

reference photohttps://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/christine.htmlreference photohttps://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-christine-signed-first-edition-first-printing-slipcased-COA/reference photohttps://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-christine-signed-limited-first-edition-grant-publishers-1000/
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyBook-Club Edition tells for THIS title: (1) Dust jacket has NO price on the front flap — and lacks the "$16.95" + "041 63083" jacket code (forum admin: "the most telling single thing about a book club edition is a lack of price on the inner flap of a DJ"). (2) A PRINTER GUTTER CODE is present on a late text page (~p.470) — e.g. N26, N38 (N38 = September 1983) — whereas the Viking TRADE first carries NO gutter code at all. (3) A small blind-stamp (indented dot/circle/square) on the lower-right corner of the REAR board. (4) Often smaller trim, thinner/cheaper paper, lighter overall weight than the Viking first. (5) Copyright page STILL echoes "First published in 1983 by The Viking Press," so the missing jacket price + gutter code + blind-stamp are the reliable tells — the copyright statement ALONE does NOT prove a true first.

Also watch for: (1) PRICE-CLIPPED jackets passed off as firsts — clipping can hide a later-printing or club jacket; a true-first jacket shows $16.95 + code 041 63083 on the front flap. (2) BOOK-CLUB textblock sold as "first edition" because the copyright wording matches — check for the rear-board blind-stamp, the missing jacket price, and especially a printer GUTTER CODE (N26/N38 etc.) on ~p.470 (the trade first has none). (3) MARRIED jackets — a first-printing jacket on a later/club textblock (or vice versa); verify copyright page AND jacket flap together. (4) FACSIMILE/reproduction jackets — modern reprints; check paper stock and print quality. (5) EX-LIBRARY (stamps, pockets, spine labels) and REMAINDER marks sharply reduce value. (6) Restored/sophisticated copies. (7) Do NOT pay Grant-limited prices for a Viking trade, or vice versa — confirm which 1983 edition.

Print run & scarcity

270,000 is the figure repeated across Stephen King collector references (stephenkingcollector.com and aggregated guides) for the Viking first printing — reflecting King's blockbuster status by 1983, which is exactly why the unsigned trade first is a common, low-dollar book. SEPARATE and far scarcer: the Donald M. Grant deluxe SIGNED LIMITED edition (1,000 numbered copies signed by King and artist Stephen Gervais, slipcased, also 1983) — that is the four-figure item, not the Viking trade book. Viking's true first carries no number line on the copyright page (later printings add one); presence of a printing line means it is NOT a first.

First-state points & errata

No widely-documented text errata / first-state vs second-state textual point is established for the Viking Christine across the collector sources consulted; the first printing is distinguished by the copyright statement + absence of number line + correct $16.95 / 041-63083-coded jacket rather than by a typo. The rear-jacket author-photo "1957 vs 1958 Plymouth" detail is collector trivia, not a state-distinguishing point. First-state textual erratum: UNVERIFIED (none confirmed). Note that stephenkingcollector.com itself flags Christine as "hard to authenticate as a true 1st edition" because the jacket price is essentially the sole discriminator from the club jacket.

Limited & signed editions

Donald M. Grant, Publisher (West Kingston, RI), 1983: signed/numbered LIMITED illustrated edition of 1,000 copies, numbered and SIGNED on the limitation/colophon page by Stephen King AND illustrator Stephen Gervais. Illustrated throughout by Gervais; ~6.5 x 9.5 in; issued in a bright RED SLIPCASE with dust jacket. Distinct binding from the Viking trade. Current fine/fine market ~$2,000-$2,500 (a fine copy, no. 830/1,000, listed at $2,150).

Market value confirmed sales

$60–150 (genuine unsigned trade first, fine/fine, unclipped $16.95 jacket, no BCE blind-stamp)

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

Confirmed sales: Grant signed limited (1 of 1,000, signed by King + artist Gervais, slipcased) #357 sold ~$1,654, Nate D. Sanders Auctions (near-fine). A comparable Grant signed limited #94 of 1,000 realized in the same ~$1,500–1,700 band at Nate D. Sanders. Unsigned Viking trade firsts in fine/fine routinely close in the ~$40–120 range on eBay sold/AbeBooks sold (2023–2025); one European eBay sold copy at ~$99. Note: I could not surface a clean Heritage Auctions price-realized for an UNSIGNED Viking trade first — it is too common/low-value to appear regularly at major auction; the four-figure auction records are all the Grant signed limited, not the trade copy.

Book-club edition (the trap): $10–25. The Book-of-the-Month / book club issue is the dominant trap on this title — physically near-identical to the Viking trade first. Tell: a small blind-stamp (dot, square, circle, or leaf) in the lower rear board near the spine, an UNPRICED jacket flap (no $16.95), thinner/cheaper "vinyl-feel" boards, and often a slightly smaller trim. Mislisted constantly as a "first edition." — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

CONDITION & JACKET: This is a jacket-driven title — value lives in an UNCLIPPED jacket showing the original $16.95 price; a price-clipped flap roughly halves desirability and kills "fine" status. Red/black boards are prone to spine-fade and silver/red lettering rub; the white-heavy jacket shows edge-wear, soiling, and the common spine-toning easily, so genuine fine/fine commands the top of the range while VG/VG drops to ~$25–50. SIGNED PREMIUM: a verified King signature/inscription on the Viking trade first lifts it to roughly $700–1,500+ (authentication matters — King forgeries are common). The Grant SIGNED LIMITED (1 of 1,000, slipcased) is a different animal at ~$1,200–1,800 near-fine and more if pristine. THE #1 DISCRIMINATOR FOR THIS TITLE: the rear-board BLIND STAMP. Christine's book-club issue is visually almost identical to the Viking trade first, so before paying first-edition money, check the lower-right rear board near the spine for a small blind-stamp (dot/square/circle/leaf) AND confirm the jacket flap is PRICED at $16.95 — a blind-stamp or an unpriced flap means book-club, i.e. a $10–25 book, not a first. Also confirm "First Published in 1983 by The Viking Press" on the copyright page with NO number line (a number line = later printing).

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: CORRECTIONS vs draft: (1) jacketArtist — draft said "Gerald Grace (US Viking jacket)." That is WRONG/conflated: Gerry Grace did the UK first edition cover + UK paperback (Suntup Editions); the US Viking jacket is credited to Craig DeCamps (Wikipedia). Corrected accordingly; US artist now single-source (medium confidence). (2) gutterCode — draft flatly said "N/A." Refined: trade first has NO gutter code, BUT the BOOK-CLUB edition DOES carry a printer gutter code (N26, N38=Sept 1983) on ~p.470 — a genuine BCE discriminator the draft missed; folded into gutterCode + bceTells + commonFakesCautions. CONFIRMATIONS: $16.95 + jacket code 041 63083 confirmed by veryfinebooks + thefirstedition + stephenkingcollector search. "First published in 1983 by The Viking Press" + no number line confirmed by stephenkingcollector, thefirstedition, veryfinebooks. Quarter binding (red boards / black cloth spine, octavo viii,[2],526pp) confirmed by thefirstedition + stephenkingcollector. Pub date April 29 1983 + ISBN + 526pp + DeCamps confirmed by Wikipedia. Grant 1,000 signed (King + Gervais), red slipcase, $2,150 confirmed by veryfinebooks. BCE "no price on flap = best tell" confirmed by stephenkingcollector forum. NEW INDEPENDENT SOURCES added: Wikipedia, Suntup Editions, stephenkingcollector forum threads, nocloo, eBay BCE gutter-code listing. OUTSTANDING: topstain/endpaper UNVERIFIED; no confirmed textual first-state erratum; US jacket artist (DeCamps) still single-source.

confidence: high — on copyright statement ("First published in 1983 by The Viking Press"), no number line, $16.95 price + location (front flap), ISBN 0-670-22026-4, jacket code 041 63083, quarter binding (black cloth spine / red boards), 526 pp, April 29 1983 pub date, the Grant 1,000-copy King+Gervais signed limited (red slipcase), and the book-club gutter-code/blind-stamp/unpriced-jacket tells; all cross-confirmed across stephenkingcollector.com (+ its forum), veryfinebooks, thefirstedition, Wikipedia, Suntup Editions, and BCE listings. medium — on the trade jacket illustrator (now corrected to Craig DeCamps, single-source Wikipedia). low/UNVERIFIED — topstain/endpaper notes and any confirmed textual first-state erratum (none found).← Back to all titles