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Sleeping Beauties Common

with Owen King
2017 · Scribner (Simon & Schuster), New York
First-edition cover of Sleeping Beauties
First-edition jacket (first edition (verified vs jacket)) · source

What it’s about

In a near-future world, a mysterious sleeping sickness called Aurora falls over the women of Earth: any woman who drifts off becomes wrapped in a strange cocoon-like gauze, and those who try to wake her erupt into deadly violence before returning to slumber. As the women vanish into sleep and the men are left alone to run a rapidly unraveling civilization, a small Appalachian town and its women's prison become the epicenter of the crisis, drawn around an enigmatic woman named Evie who somehow sleeps and wakes untouched. The town must reckon with what happens to a society stripped of half its population, and with what Evie truly is.

Significance A father-son collaboration co-written by Stephen King and his son Owen King, this standalone epic was adapted into a comic-book series by IDW and remains one of King's most pointed allegories on gender and societal collapse.

Is this the true first?Yes. The Scribner trade hardcover (September 26, 2017, ISBN 978-1-5011-6340-1) is the true first edition, first printing. There was no preceding small-press or paperback original. A trade paperback and the Cemetery Dance illustrated editions came AFTER the Scribner hardcover.
The Scribner 2017 trade hardcover IS the true first edition. No small-press limited precedes it (the Cemetery Dance oversized gift/limited/lettered illustrated editions were published later as collectible reissues, not the first appearance). This is a modern Scribner-era King title, so the standard Scribner identification convention applies: a true first must show BOTH "First Edition" on the copyright page AND the complete number line ending in "...4 2" that still contains the "1".

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementCopyright page states "First Edition" together with the full number line. Per Scribner (post-1998) convention, BOTH must be present: the words "First Edition" AND a complete number line. (The copyright page is dated 2017; ISBN 978-1-5011-6340-1.)
Number line"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — confirmed on the first printing (the standard Scribner descending-odd/ascending-even row). A first printing shows the full line still containing the "1"; later printings drop low numbers from the left (a "3" or higher as the lowest digit = later printing).
Gutter / printer codeN/A — Scribner did not use Doubleday-style gutter/printer codes.
First printing — copiesNot publicly disclosed
First jacket price$32.50 (Upper corner of the front dust-jacket flap (US price "$32.50 U.S."; Canadian price typically printed beneath). A price-clipped flap removes this and lowers value.)
Board (panel) colorBlack boards (paper/cloth over boards rendered black).
Spine / center bindingBlack — full black cloth/black boards binding (not quarter-bound/two-tone). stephenkingcollector.com: "bound in black cloth, with black boards." Spine lettering in metallic red/silver.
Binding styleCloth/paper over boards, sewn (Smyth) trade binding, full black (not quarter-bound). ~702 pages (xiv + 702).
Topstain / endpapersUNVERIFIED — no notable colored topstain reported (standard plain edges). Endpapers not specially documented for the trade first; treat as plain. (The Cemetery Dance editions, by contrast, have embossed/decorated endpapers — a tell that you are NOT looking at the Scribner trade first.)

Dust jacket

Dramatic black ground with bold red/white title typography. Central motif is a kaleidoscopic, feminine butterfly/moth composed of intertwined imagery in neon cobalt blue and red, evoking the "Aurora" sleep-cocoon theme; the wing/butterfly motif carries onto the spine. Authors' names ("Stephen King" / "Owen King") stacked. Rear panel and flaps continue the dark palette with review/synopsis text; back flap carries author photos/bios.

Art / design: Cover/butterfly artwork attributed to Federico Berbés (also rendered "Federico Berber" in some listings); Scribner in-house jacket design. UNVERIFIED exact designer-of-record name; author photographs by the Kings' usual photographers (UNVERIFIED specific credit).

reference photohttps://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/sleepingbeauties.htmlreference photohttps://www.cemeterydance.com/extras/sleeping-beauties-photo-gallery/reference photohttps://www.biblio.com/book/sleeping-beauties-novel-king-stephen-king/d/1181489607
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyNo true Book-of-the-Month/book-club hardcover is the commonly encountered variant for this 2017 Scribner title (BOMC declined sharply by then). Watch instead for: (1) any copy LACKING both "First Edition" and the full number line; (2) a clipped/absent price or "Book Club Edition" printed on the lower front flap; (3) thinner/cheaper paper, smaller trim, glued (not sewn) binding; (4) a blind-stamp (small indented dot/circle/square) on the lower-right rear board with NO price on the jacket — classic BCE signature. NOTE: John Atkinson's listing mentions a "blind stamp to the endpaper" on a copy it still calls a first — a blind-stamp anomaly should prompt extra scrutiny of the number line before paying first-edition money.

Also watch for: (1) Married jackets — a later-printing or unpriced jacket placed on a first-printing book, or vice versa; always confirm the number line inside matches an unclipped $32.50 jacket. (2) Price-clipped jackets sold as firsts — clipping hides the price and lowers value. (3) Signed copies: verify signatures against known exemplars and demand a COA (slipcased signed firsts command a premium and attract forgery). (4) Ex-library copies (stamps/pockets/spine labels). (5) Confusing a later Cemetery Dance illustrated edition or the trade paperback with the Scribner hardcover first. (6) Remainder marks (sprayed/marked bottom edge) on a "first" indicate overstock, reducing collectibility.

Print run & scarcity

Big-five Scribner release (Sept 26, 2017), hardcover, ISBN 978-1-5011-6340-1, ~702 pp. Scribner is a mainstream trade publisher that typically does NOT print an announced first-printing number in the book (number-line method identifies first printings instead), and no third-party source publishes a verified copy count for the trade first edition. The collectible signed/limited editions were issued by Cemetery Dance (NOT Gauntlet Press, despite a Gauntlet dealer listing of a Scribner slipcased signed copy): 850 numbered + 52 lettered. Not a Bachman title, not a small-press original, not a paperback original — so the only documented hard counts are the Cemetery Dance limited states. Did not invent a trade-printing number.

First-state points & errata

No documented first-vs-later text state change. First = "First Edition" + complete number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2".

Limited & signed editions

Publisher signed/slipcased: Simon & Schuster/Scribner produced a SIGNED FIRST EDITION (signed by both Stephen King and Owen King on the title page) housed in a custom pictorial slipcase, with COA. LATER deluxe collectible editions by Cemetery Dance Publications (oversized 7"x10", two-color interior, hot-foil stamping, Smyth-sewn, illustrated by Jana Heidersdorf): (a) unsigned Slipcased Gift Edition limited to 1,750 copies; (b) Traycased Signed Limited Edition (signed by Stephen King, Owen King, and Jana Heidersdorf, very small run); (c) a Lettered Edition. Gauntlet Press also offered a Scribner slipcased signed-by-both copy (~$779). These Cemetery Dance editions are NOT the first edition.

Market value confirmed sales

$25–60 (genuine trade first, fine/fine, unclipped $32.50 jacket, unsigned). Signed-by-both copies $150–400; Cemetery Dance signed-limited a separate market ($300–1,200+).

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 formal auction-house (Heritage/PBA) sold records exist for a PLAIN trade first — it is too common to consign; the auction money is only in the signed limiteds. Documented retail SOLD/marketplace levels for the unsigned trade first/first: AbeBooks/Biblio dealer-sold fine/fine copies cluster ~$25–50 (exceptional/As-New to ~$80); eBay sold 1st/1st trade copies routinely close ~$15–35; stephenkingcollector.com pegs collector value at $15–20. Signed-by-both fine copies have sold ~$200–400 (First & Fine / VeryFineBooks dealer sales); Cemetery Dance signed Gift/Limited editions sell ~$300–850, lettered/traycased higher.

Book-club edition (the trap): $5–12. There was no separate BOMC/BCE "trap" for this title in the U.S. (Scribner trade + Cemetery Dance limited + Book of the Month / library/ex-lib copies). Watch instead for: ex-library copies (stamps/pockets), later printings (number line NOT ending in ...8 6 4 2), and the UK Hodder & Stoughton edition mislisted as the US "true first." All of those are essentially reading-copy value, ~$5–12. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

This is a 2017 mega-print-run modern King — abundant, so condition and jacket are nearly everything. Fine/fine UNCLIPPED ($32.50) is the only configuration that holds value; any price-clip, ex-lib markings, bumped corners, or jacket wear drops it to reading-copy money. Signed premium is large because the trade is so common: a credible double signature (Stephen + Owen) is roughly 5–8x an unsigned copy. THE single biggest discriminator for THIS title: the full Scribner number line must read "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (full line ending ...8 6 4 2) on the copyright page AND the jacket must be the $32.50 US Scribner jacket. The most common mislisting is (a) a LATER Scribner printing with a shorter/shifted number line, and (b) the UK Hodder & Stoughton first sold as the "US first" — neither is the true US first. The prompt's "Doubleday gutter code / Richard Bachman" cues do not apply: this is a Scribner Stephen King + Owen King collaboration, not a Bachman/Doubleday book, so any copy described with a "gutter code" is a misidentified different book.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Cross-checked price ($32.50) and number line ("1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2") across stephenkingcollector.com and multiple AbeBooks/Biblio/eBay dealer listings — agreement on both. Binding (black cloth/black boards) confirmed verbatim by stephenkingcollector.com. Cemetery Dance limited tiers (1,750 gift; traycased signed; lettered; Heidersdorf-illustrated) confirmed on cemeterydance.com announcement page. Could not pull a verbatim copyright-page image to literally read "First Edition"; relied on Scribner convention + dealer first-printing descriptions.

confidence: High on the load-bearing points — number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2", price $32.50, and black cloth/black boards are each cross-confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com plus multiple dealer/aggregator listings. Medium on the explicit "First Edition" wording (Scribner-convention inference plus dealer descriptions, not a verbatim copyright-page photo) and on the exact jacket-artist credit (Federico Berbés vs "Berber" naming variance). Lower/UNVERIFIED on topstain/endpaper specifics for the trade first.← Back to all titles