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From a Buick 8 Common

2002 · Charles Scribner's Sons (Scribner), an imprint of Simon & Schuster, New York
First-edition cover of From a Buick 8
First-edition jacket (first edition (verified vs jacket)) · source

What it’s about

At a Pennsylvania State Police barracks, Troop D has kept a secret locked away in Shed B for decades: a car that looks like a 1954 Buick Roadmaster but isn't a real car at all — it doesn't run, its parts make no sense, and now and then it puts on a violent light show and swallows things whole. When a trooper is killed on the highway, his teenage son starts hanging around the barracks, and the older cops finally decide to tell him the long, strange story of the thing they've been guarding. It's a novel about curiosity, grief, and learning to live with questions that refuse to be answered.

Significance A solo Stephen King novel (not a Bachman book); written largely before but published after 2002's Dreamcatcher, it shares the eerie-car premise with Christine yet King has stressed the two are unrelated, and it stands as one of his more meditative entries on the unknowable.

Is this the true first?Yes. The Scribner trade hardcover (Sept/Oct 2002, ISBN 0-7432-1137-5) is the true U.S. first edition, first printing. There is no preceding paperback or small-press first of the trade text. The Cemetery Dance signed/lettered limited and the CD gift edition were published the same year as collector parallels, NOT a precedent (see trueFirstEdition).
The Scribner trade hardcover is the true first of the standard text. Cemetery Dance Publications issued collector editions in 2002 (750 numbered traycased, signed by King + Bernie Wrightson; 52 lettered traycased, signed; and 1,750 unsigned gift copies in slipcase, illustrated by Wrightson) — these are separate deluxe issues, valuable in their own right, but the Scribner trade is the accepted reading first. No Doubleday/Viking/Putnam complication here; this is a clean Scribner-era first identified by BOTH the "First Edition" wording AND the asymmetric Scribner number line.

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementCopyright page states "First Edition" (Scribner-era convention) AND must carry the asymmetric Scribner number line. Both must be present on a true first printing. Designed by Erich Hobbing; jacket designed by John Fulbrook III; author photo by Chris Buck.
Number line"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — the canonical Scribner first-printing line (odd numbers ascending, then 10, then even numbers descending). A first printing shows the full line ending in the low "2". Any later printing drops the lowest numbers from the left (e.g. a line beginning "2 4 6..." or "3 5 7..." or a line whose lowest digit is higher than 1) indicates a later printing — NOT a first.
Gutter / printer codeN/A — Scribner-era title; no Doubleday-style gutter/printer code applies. Identification is by number line, not a gutter code.
First printing — copiesNot publicly disclosed
First jacket price$28.00 (Upper front (inside front) dust-jacket flap, top corner: "$28.00" (Canadian price typically "$42.00 CAN" alongside). A price-clipped flap (corner cut) hides this and lowers value; a true first should be unclipped showing $28.00.)
Board (panel) colorLight gray / grey paper-covered boards (the side panels)
Spine / center bindingPurple spine — quarter-bound with purple paper over the spine, silver (gilt) lettering. Described in dealer copy as "quarter purple paper with grey paper boards."
Binding styleQuarter-bound, two-tone, paper-over-boards (purple paper spine + light-gray paper sides), sewn. Not full cloth — a paper-over-boards binding typical of the Scribner era; trade hardcover with dust jacket.
Topstain / endpapersNo notable topstain reported; plain endpapers. UNVERIFIED for any distinctive topstain or coated endpaper — none documented as a point for this title.

Dust jacket

Front jacket carries the title/author typography over a dark, atmospheric photographic/illustrative design evoking the malevolent Buick Roadmaster; back panel continues the dark moody treatment. Inside front flap blurb opens: "From a Buick 8 is a novel about our fascination with deadly things, about our insistence on answers when there are none, about terror and courage in the face of the unknowable." Designer John Fulbrook III; author photo (Chris Buck) on rear flap.

Art / design: Jacket designed by John Fulbrook III; book interior designed by Erich Hobbing; author photograph by Chris Buck. (The Cemetery Dance limiteds are interior-illustrated by Bernie/Berni Wrightson — six full-page full-color images — which is a separate edition, not the trade jacket.)

reference photohttps://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/buick8.htmlreference photohttps://www.rarebookcellar.com/pages/books/30929/stephen-king/from-a-buick-8reference photohttps://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-from-buick-8-signed-limited-first-edition-leather-bound-cemtery-dance/
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyA Scribner Book Club Edition (BCE) of this title exists ("First Book Club Edition [2002] Scribner"). Tells: NO price on the front jacket flap (or "Book Club Edition" printed on the lower front flap); a small blind-stamp (indented dot/circle/square) typically on the lower-right rear board; smaller trim / thinner, lighter, cheaper paper; often glued rather than sewn; and — critically — the BCE lacks the Scribner first-printing number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" on the copyright page. If the jacket flap shows no $28.00 price and the rear board has a blind-stamp, it is a club copy, not the first.

Also watch for: Common cautions: (1) PRICE-CLIPPED jackets passed as firsts — confirm the unclipped $28.00. (2) Book Club Edition copies (no price/blind-stamp, no number line) misrepresented as the trade first. (3) MARRIED jackets — a later-printing or BCE book in a first-state jacket, or vice versa; verify number line AND jacket together. (4) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) — heavily devalued. (5) Remainder marks (spray/marker on bottom text-block edge) — common on this title given the very large print run; reduces value. (6) Facsimile/reproduction jackets — check paper/print quality. (7) Cemetery Dance limiteds offered without their traycase/slipcase, or signature pages that don't match the stated number.

Print run & scarcity

The trade first printing was very large, consistent with a peak-era King novel (debuted on bestseller lists Sept 2002). This enormous supply is precisely why the unsigned trade first carries little collectible value. Separately, the Cemetery Dance signed limited was a fixed, documented run of 750 numbered copies (signed by King and Bernie Wrightson), traycased, issued at $250 — that small, signed run is the genuinely scarce printing. A UK first (Hodder & Stoughton) exists as a distinct edition.

First-state points & errata

No documented first-state errata point separates first printings; rely on number line + "First Edition" + $28.00 unclipped jacket. Specific typo state: UNVERIFIED (none required to confirm a first).

Limited & signed editions

Cemetery Dance Publications, 2002 (ISBN 1-58767-061-9 / 9781587670619): (1) Signed Limited — 750 numbered copies, leather-bound, traycased, signed by Stephen King and Bernie (Berni) Wrightson, with six full-page full-color Wrightson illustrations; (2) Deluxe Lettered — 52 lettered copies, traycased, signed by King and Wrightson; (3) Gift Edition — 1,750 copies in slipcase, unsigned. The 408-page CD editions feature red-and-silver gilt decoration and a folding clamshell/traycase lined with matching felt.

Market value estimate

~$15–$40

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): $15–40 (genuine unsigned trade first, fine/fine, unclipped $28.00 jacket). King-signed trade first: ~$250–600. Cemetery Dance signed/numbered limited of 750: ~$300–600.

Book-club edition (the trap): $5–12. Book Club Edition (BOMC) is the trap — worth a fraction even of the cheap trade first; ex-library and reading copies often $3–8. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition sensitivity is real but the ceiling is low: even immaculate, an unsigned trade first rarely clears $40 because the first printing was massive (~1.75 million copies per stephenkingcollector.com) — supply, not condition, caps value. A price-clipped jacket or any library markings push it toward BCE territory. The ONLY meaningful premium is a SIGNATURE: a genuine King-signed trade first jumps to ~$250–600, and the Cemetery Dance signed/numbered limited of 750 (signed by King and illustrator Bernie Wrightson, traycased, issued at $250) is the actual collectible, ~$300–600. THE SINGLE BIGGEST DISCRIMINATOR FOR THIS TITLE: there is NO Doubleday gutter code — this is a Scribner book. Verify the trade first by the number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" plus "First Scribner Edition 2002" on the copyright page, blue quarter-cloth over white paper boards, and an UNCLIPPED $28.00 jacket. The mislisted copies are (a) Book Club Editions — blind-stamp dimple on the rear board, smaller/lighter build, and NO $28.00 price on the front flap — and (b) the separate Cemetery Dance limited being conflated with the cheap trade book. Anyone listing the common trade first at $80+ "rare first edition" is overpricing supply.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Price $28.00 confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com + multiple AbeBooks/dealer listings. Number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" confirmed by stephenkingcollector.com + dealer listings (rarebookcellar/columbiabooks). Binding (quarter purple spine, gray boards, silver lettering) confirmed by 2+ dealer descriptions. Designers (Fulbrook III jacket / Hobbing book / Chris Buck photo) confirmed by dealer copy. Cemetery Dance limited figures (750/52/1,750) confirmed by official stephenking.com limited page + veryfinebooks + biblio. BCE existence confirmed (bookshopapocalypse "First Book Club Edition"); exact blind-stamp placement not photo-verified — stated per Scribner-era norm.

confidence: High for publisher, year, "First Edition" + number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2", $28.00 price, quarter-bound gray boards/purple spine, designers (Fulbrook/Hobbing), Chris Buck author photo, and the Cemetery Dance limited figures — all cross-confirmed across 2+ independent sources (stephenkingcollector.com, multiple ABAA/IOBA dealer listings, official stephenking.com limited page). Medium/Lower on: precise jacket-art description (composited from listings), topstain/endpaper specifics (UNVERIFIED), and exact BCE blind-stamp placement (BCE existence confirmed; stamp location stated per Scribner-era norm, not photo-verified for this title).← Back to all titles