11 Scribes · All titles · Viking & Putnam (1979-1997)

Four Past Midnight Common

1990 · Viking (Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc.), New York

First-edition cover of Four Past Midnight — First-edition jacket (first edition (verified vs jacket)) · source

What it’s about

Four Past Midnight gathers four novellas, each a self-contained descent into the uncanny: a red-eye flight to Boston in which a handful of passengers wake to find the rest of the world gone; a successful novelist accused by a sinister stranger of stealing a story; a buttoned-up real-estate man stalked by a childhood terror he buried long ago; and an instant Polaroid camera that photographs something that should not be there. King opens each tale with a personal note about how it came to be, then turns ordinary people loose against things that wait just past the edge of the everyday.

Significance A Stephen King novella collection (solo-authored, not Bachman) that won the 1990 Bram Stoker Award for Best Collection; its lead story "The Langoliers" became a 1995 ABC miniseries, "Secret Window, Secret Garden" the 2004 Johnny Depp film "Secret Window," and "The Sun Dog" ties into King's Castle Rock canon as a prelude to "Needful Things."

Is this the true first?Yes. The Viking trade hardcover (1990) is a true hardcover first edition. No paperback-original or small-press edition precedes it.
The Viking trade hardcover (1990) IS the true first edition, first printing. Unlike The Eyes of the Dragon (Philtrum precedes Viking) or The Talisman/Christine/Firestarter/Cujo (limiteds from Donald M. Grant / Phantasia / Mysterious Press), Four Past Midnight had NO signed/numbered small-press edition issued before or alongside the trade. Viking is the only US first. NOTE: the first printing was an enormous 1,500,000 copies (per stephenkingcollector.com), so true firsts are extremely common and command modest premiums. A US Book-of-the-Month Club (BOMC) edition and a UK book club edition (Guild Publishing, London, 1990) also exist and must be distinguished from the Viking trade 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 statementCopyright page reads "First published in 1990 by Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." Viking does NOT print the words "First Edition"; the printing is identified solely by the number line. (Number-line beginning with 1 = first printing per dealer descriptions and stephenkingcollector.com.)

Number line"10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page (confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com and the BiblioFile listing, which states "number-line beginning w/1"). A true first printing must show the full descending row containing the numeral 1. The 1 is removed for the second printing.

Gutter / printer codeN/A (Viking title — identified by a number line, not a Doubleday-style gutter code).

First printing — copiesNot publicly disclosed

First jacket price$22.95 (US). Canadian price $29.50. (Upper front jacket flap: US "$22.95" with Canadian "$29.50" beneath. A price-clipped flap removes the $22.95 and lowers value. (The "0990" foot-of-flap date code is dealer-reported and not independently re-confirmed in this pass; treat as plausible but unverified.))

Board (panel) colorBlack paper-covered boards, with a gilt "SK" monogram stamped on the front board (standard on the true first). Some sources describe the SK as embossed/blind-and-gilt at the lower corner; consistently reported as gilt/gold on the front board.

Spine / center bindingBlack cloth spine (cloth-backed/quarter-bound over black paper-covered boards), with gilt (gold) spine lettering plus a gilt crescent-moon-and-stars device. Effectively black-on-black with gold stamping.

Binding styleHardcover. Black cloth-backed spine over black paper-covered boards (quarter-bound look); gilt stamping on front board and spine. 763 pages. Trim approx. 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.

Topstain / endpapersYellow endpapers per stephenkingcollector.com and betweenthecovers (some dealers describe them as "golden" or "orange-mellon" — color variously reported as yellow/golden). No distinctive topstain on the trade first (plain top edge); the gilt motif is on the binding, not the edges.

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$88Allen's Rare BooksUnclipped — front flap shows US $22.95 / Canada $29.50 intact. Decisive copyright page (photo 5) is fully legible and shows the genuine US first-print ✓ 1st/1st confirmed$400Dan Pope BooksPRICE_INTACT. Decisive first-printing tell IS photographed. Photo 5 shows the copyright page with the exact statement 'First published in 1990 by Viki likely first$30Dan Pope Booksintact ($22.95 US, per seller text — not photographed). NO seller-uploaded photos exist on this listing. The page serves only the generic ISBN catalog

Dust jacket

Front: a large Roman-numeral clock face floating in a starry cosmos, hands set at four-past-midnight, with a burst of fire/light erupting from the center into the star field. Title "FOUR PAST MIDNIGHT" and author "STEPHEN KING" (author name in GOLD on the first-state jacket; TAN on later states). Spine and back continue the dark cosmic/starfield theme; author photo on rear flap/jacket.

Art / design: Jacket illustration by Rob Wood (clock-in-space concept). Interior/title-page illustrations by Lars Hokanson.

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

https://www.ebay.com/itm/362583745501

https://bookshopapocalypse.com/products/four-past-midnight-by-stephen-king-first-edition-first-printing-1990-viking

Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyUS Book Club (BOMC) and UK book club (Guild Publishing) tells: (1) NO price on the front jacket flap — first-printing trade jackets carry "$22.95 / $29.50"; a club jacket has no price; (2) a blind-stamp (small indented dot/circle/square) on the lower-right of the REAR board (standard BOMC marker); (3) often a smaller/lighter trim than the 6 1/2 x 9 1/2 trade size and thinner paper / glued binding; (4) the number line is absent or differs (no descending 1-line); (5) UK book club is stated "GUILD PUBLISHING [London]" on the copyright page (vs. Viking Penguin on the US trade first). Caution: club jackets are sometimes married onto a true first — check the flap for the $22.95 price AND check the rear board for a blind-stamp AND the number line together.

Also watch for: (1) Married jackets — a later-printing/club jacket (no $22.95) placed on a first-edition book, or a priced first jacket on a later/club book; verify the number line contains 1 AND the front-flap $22.95 AND the gold (not tan) jacket name together. (2) Later printings with TAN author-name lettering on the jacket sold as first state. (3) Price-clipped jackets hide the $22.95 and reduce value. (4) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) — common, low value. (5) Remainder marks on the bottom text-block edge. (6) Facsimile/reproduction jackets. (7) Forged King signatures on inscribed copies — demand provenance/authentication. (8) Because the first printing ran ~1.5 million copies, beware listings inflating an unsigned trade first to small-press prices.

Print run & scarcity

No stated limitation page exists (this was a mass-market trade first, not a numbered/limited issue). The 1.5M figure is the standard collector-community/trade-reported number rather than a Viking-published colophon. The practical takeaway matters more than the exact figure: the first printing was enormous, which is precisely why an unsigned first is a $10–$90 book, not a four-figure one. Scarcity, and therefore value, attaches only to (a) the author's signature/inscription, or (b) the separately-issued signed/limited collector editions, not to the Viking trade first itself.

First-state points & errata

PRIMARY first-state point is on the DUST JACKET: the author's name "Stephen King" is printed in GOLD lettering on the front of the jacket on the first state. stephenkingcollector.com: "The first state has 'Stephen King' in gold on the front cover. The second state does not." Later printings/states show the author name in TAN (not gold) lettering on the jacket — a known tell used to catch later-printing jackets passed off as firsts (eBay/dealer sources). NOTE on the BOOK BOARD: the gilt "SK" monogram on the front board is STANDARD on the true first; copies LACKING the gold SK on the board are treated by collectors as an anomaly/error variant, NOT the normal second state. Do not conflate the jacket gold-name state with the board SK.

Limited & signed editions

None. No signed/numbered/traycased limited edition was published for Four Past Midnight. "Signed" copies on the market are author-inscribed/signed copies of the Viking trade first, not a publisher limited. (A later BOMC faux-leather "Stephen King Library / Red Leather Library" volume exists as a club product, not a publisher limited.)

Market value estimate

~$40–$90

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): $40–$90 (genuine first, fine/fine, unclipped, first-state gold-foil jacket) — UNSIGNED. Signed/inscribed firsts: ~$1,000–$2,200.

Book-club edition (the trap): $8–$20. The Book-of-the-Month/Viking book club edition is the dominant trap on this title — visually near-identical jacket art but it carries NO number line, the jacket has NO printed $22.95 price, the boards are lighter/thinner, and there is a blind-stamp (gutter dot/square) on the rear board. Constantly mislisted as a "first edition" on AbeBooks/eBay at $50–$300 asking. It is worth almost nothing. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition sensitivity is LOW in absolute dollars because the floor is so low — but a fine/fine unclipped first-state copy still doubles a VG copy. The decisive points for a TRUE first on this specific title: (1) full number line "10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1" on the copyright page (book club editions have NO number line); (2) FIRST-STATE dust jacket with "Stephen King" printed in GOLD foil on the front panel (a later-state jacket lacks the gold and is a second state, worth less); (3) printed $22.95 price on the front flap, UNCLIPPED (BCE jackets carry no price at all); (4) NO blind-stamp/gutter indent on the rear board and yellow endpapers present. THE SINGLE BIGGEST DIFFERENTIATOR: this title's traps are almost all book-club editions masquerading as firsts — confirm the full number line AND the printed cover price together; either one absent = not the trade first. The signed/inscribed premium is the whole game: a genuine King signature lifts a $40 book to $1,000–$2,200+, so authentication of the autograph (provenance, known dealer, or PSA/Beckett) is far more value-determinative than book condition. Beware "signed bookplate" and secretarial/auto-pen signatures, which carry little premium.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: CORRECTIONS vs draft: (1) FIRST-STATE POINT REFRAMED — the draft attributed the gold/no-gold state to the front BOARD SK ("second state lacks the gold [SK on board]"). Sources put the true first-state point on the JACKET: first state has author name "Stephen King" in GOLD on the front of the dust jacket; later states show it in TAN (stephenkingcollector.com: "The first state has 'Stephen King' in gold on the front cover. The second state does not."; eBay/dealer: later prints have tan lettering). The gilt SK monogram on the front BOARD is standard on the true first; a board MISSING the gold SK is an error/anomaly, not the normal second state. firstStatePoints field (empty in draft) now populated. (2) VALUE RANGE CORRECTED DOWN — draft's $75-$200 for an unsigned fine/fine first is inflated; the first printing was 1,500,000 copies and stephenkingcollector.com values a clean copy at $10-$20. Revised to ~$20-$75 unsigned (signed premium retained). (3) PRINT RUN ADDED — 1,500,000 first printing (stephenkingcollector.com / search corroboration). (4) BOOK CLUB SCOPE EXPANDED — US BOMC main selection AND a UK book club edition by Guild Publishing, London (1990) both exist; UK club is stated on the copyright page. (5) ENDPAPERS — primary sources say YELLOW (stephenkingcollector.com, betweenthecovers); "golden"/"orange-mellon" also reported — recorded as variously reported. (6) "0990" flap code retained but flagged as dealer-sourced/unverified in this pass. (7) Copyright statement firmed to the full "Viking Penguin, a division of Penguin Books USA Inc." form. Number line, price ($22.95/$29.50), 763 pp, ISBN 0-670-83538-2 / 9780670835386, Rob Wood (jacket) + Lars Hokanson (interior), black boards / black cloth spine / crescent-moon-and-stars gilt all re-confirmed across independent sources.

confidence: High on the core identification points; medium on value. The number line ("10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"), "First published in 1990 by Viking Penguin" statement, $22.95 price, 763 pp, black boards with gilt SK, black cloth spine with crescent-moon-and-stars gilt, yellow/golden endpapers, and Rob Wood / Lars Hokanson art are cross-confirmed across stephenkingcollector.com, betweenthecovers, firstandfine, and multiple dealer listings (BiblioFile/abebooks, bookshopapocalypse, rarebookcellar). The 1,500,000 print run and the jacket gold-vs-tan first-state point are independently confirmed (stephenkingcollector.com, eBay/dealer). Value is the softest field — wide dealer spread because of the huge print run.← Back to all titles