11 Scribes · All titles · The Dark Tower (Donald M. Grant)

The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands Collectible

1991 · Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. (Hampton Falls, NH)

First-edition cover of The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands — First-edition jacket (first (Wikipedia infobox)) · source

What it’s about

Gunslinger Roland of Gilead presses on toward the Dark Tower across a decaying world that has "moved on," joined by the companions he has drawn from our own reality. As his ka-tet grows and Roland is tormented by a paradox of memory that threatens to splinter his mind, their path leads them toward a ruined, lawless city and the monorail that may carry them deeper into the waste lands.

Significance The third novel in King's epic Dark Tower series, first published in 1991 with illustrations by Ned Dameron; famous (and infamous) for ending on a cliffhanger that left readers waiting six years for the next volume.

Is this the true first?Yes
Grant was the ORIGINAL publisher of the Dark Tower volumes, so there is no separate small-press first to precede this — the Grant 1991 issue is the true first. There is a hierarchy of states, all 1991/Grant: (1) the LETTERED issue — 26 lettered copies (A-Z), signed by King and Dameron, the senior-most/most desirable state (CORRECTION: the draft said no lettered Grant state exists — it does; confirmed by stephenking.com and grantbooks.com); (2) the signed/numbered LIMITED issue — 1,250 numbered copies, of which 1,200 were offered for sale (plus stated 12 Publisher's, 40 Author's, 10 Artist's copies), signed by King and illustrator Ned Dameron; (3) the TRADE issue — 40,000 copies, unsigned, "First Edition" stated. The numbered limited is the most commonly collected "true first"; the lettered is the apex. A softcover Advance Review Copy / Advance Proof precedes the trade for issue-completists (white wrappers, black ink, lacking the color plates). Later mass-market/Plume paperback (Jan 1992, Penguin/Plume) and 2003 reissue are reprints, NOT firsts.

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 statementTrade issue: copyright page explicitly prints "FIRST EDITION" (stated first edition) with NO descending number line — that printed statement IS the point of issue (meets the Official Stephen King "Guide to Identifying First Editions"). Numbered limited issue: identified by the signed/numbered front limitation page — "of a total edition of 1,250, #1-1,200 offered for sale" — signed by King and Dameron. Lettered issue: front limitation page shows one of 26 letters A-Z, signed by King and Dameron.

Number lineNo number line on the Grant 1991 hardcover (any issue). Grant identified the first printing SOLELY by the stated "FIRST EDITION" on the trade copyright page and by the signed limitation page on the limited/lettered issues. A descending "9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1"-style row is NOT present and should not be expected. CAUTION: the LATER Plume/Penguin trade paperback (January 1992) DOES carry a number line beginning with 1 on its copyright page — a number line on a "Waste Lands" copyright page therefore signals the Plume paperback (or another later reprint), NOT the Grant first.

Gutter / printer codeN/A — Grant did not use Doubleday-style gutter/printer codes. (Gutter codes are a Doubleday convention and do not apply to Donald M. Grant.)

First printing — copies40,000 copies (trade hardcover first printing), plus a separate signed-limited issue of 1,250 numbered + 26 lettered copies. Issue price $38 (trade). accepted figure

First jacket price$38.00 (Printed on the front dust-jacket flap (upper corner). A price-clipped flap (corner cut away) hides this and reduces value. The same $38.00 trade-style jacket shipped on BOTH the trade issue and the limited/lettered issues (the limited/lettered add a slipcase over the jacketed book).)

Board (panel) colorTrade issue: RED cloth-covered boards. Numbered-limited and lettered issues: WHITE/CREAM cloth boards stamped in copper gilt. (The "black cloth" sometimes seen quoted is an error/conflation — corroborated consensus is red trade / white-cream limited.)

Spine / center bindingTrade issue: full RED cloth spine, lettered/stamped in BLACK ("red cloth, black stamped text to spine"). Numbered-limited and lettered issues: WHITE/CREAM cloth spine stamped in COPPER gilt. All issues are full-cloth (not quarter-bound).

Binding styleFull-cloth, sewn hardcover (Grant produced higher-quality bindings than mass-market trade publishers). Trade = full red cloth, black spine stamping. Numbered-limited / lettered = full white/cream cloth, copper-gilt stamping. Illustrated throughout with 12 full-color plates by Ned Dameron; 512 pages; pictorial (red) endpapers.

Topstain / endpapersPictorial/illustrated (red) endpapers noted on the trade. No distinctive topstain documented in the consulted sources — UNVERIFIED on topstain color.

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$150ThriftBooksVintageno-jacket (dust jacket missing; $38.00 jacket price could not be verified). CONFIRMED genuine US TRADE first edition / first printing, Donald M. Grant ✓ 1st/1st confirmed$325Peryton Booksintact $38.00. DECISIVE evidence present and photographed. Photo 5 is the full copyright page: title "THE DARK TOWER III: THE WASTE LANDS", "Copyright

1 listing flagged wrong-edition / later printing and hidden.

Dust jacket

Dark blue dust jacket with red borders; title in yellow lettering over red. Front panel carries Ned Dameron's pictorial Dark Tower / Mid-World color artwork. Spine and rear continue the dark-blue/red scheme. Price $38.00 at the top of the front flap.

Art / design: Ned Dameron (dust-jacket art and 12 interior full-color plates; he co-signed the limited and lettered issues alongside King).

https://secure.grantbooks.com/books/dark-tower-iii-waste-lands/

https://www.downtownbrown.com/pages/books/230961/stephen-king/the-dark-tower-iii-the-waste-lands

https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-dark-tower-iii-3-wastelands-signed-first-edition-1st-grant-coa/

Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyThere is NO mainstream Book-of-the-Month-Club / Doubleday-style BCE of the Grant issue — Grant was a small specialty press, not a book-club supplier, so the classic blind-stamp / "Book Club Edition" / gutter-code tells do NOT apply to the Grant first. The real "downgrade" traps for this title are: (1) the LATER Plume/Penguin trade PAPERBACK (Jan 1992) — illustrated, glossy, but a softcover with a number line beginning at 1, NOT a first; (2) the 2003 reissue and any other reprint; (3) ex-library Grant copies. A genuine Grant trade first must state "FIRST EDITION" on the copyright page, carry NO number line, and have the unclipped $38.00 jacket; a Grant numbered-limited must have the signed/numbered front limitation page + blue slipcase; a Grant lettered must show one of A-Z, signed.

Also watch for: Watch for: (1) price-clipped jackets hiding the $38.00 flap price; (2) married/facsimile jackets — verify the $38.00 flap price and crisp original printing; (3) limited copies sold WITHOUT the original blue slipcase, or with a slipcase whose white number sticker does not match the book's limitation number; (4) "signed" copies where the signature is an autopen, secondary signing, or inscription rather than the in-book numbered/lettered limitation signatures — the true limited/lettered is signed ON the printed limitation page by both King and Dameron; (5) ex-library trade copies (stamps, pockets) and remainder marks; (6) a "black cloth trade first" — the corroborated trade binding is RED cloth with BLACK spine stamping, so a black-clad "trade first" is a misdescription and warrants scrutiny; (7) a Grant copy with a number line on the copyright page — that signals the later Plume paperback, not the Grant first; (8) restored/rebound copies.

Print run & scarcity

First-printing trade run documented at 40,000 copies at $38 issue price (StephenKingCollector). Heavy unsold inventory (chain-distribution refusal + small-store closures + early Plume paperback) means many survive fine/shrinkwrapped, suppressing value vs. DT I/II. Signed limited: 1,250 numbered + 26 lettered, signed by King and Ned Dameron.

First-state points & errata

No catalogued textual errata point separating an early-state from a late-state Grant printing is documented in the consulted collector sources — the Grant 1991 trade had a single printing of 40,000, so "first/later printing" within Grant is effectively moot. The operative distinctions are ISSUE (lettered vs numbered-limited vs trade vs advance proof), the stated "FIRST EDITION" on the trade copyright page, the absence of a number line, and the unclipped $38.00 jacket. NOTE: the "black cloth" mention seen in one dealer description does NOT denote a trade variant — it is a misread; the trade is RED cloth and the limited/lettered are WHITE/CREAM cloth. UNVERIFIED only on a topstain point (none documented).

Limited & signed editions

Two signed states, both Donald M. Grant 1991, both signed by Stephen King AND illustrator Ned Dameron on a front limitation page: (1) LETTERED — 26 lettered copies (A-Z), the apex state, with dust jacket and slipcase (this state was OMITTED by the draft — now corrected per stephenking.com + grantbooks.com); (2) NUMBERED — total edition of 1,250, of which #1-1,200 were offered for sale (plus a stated 12 Publisher's, 40 Author's, 10 Artist's copies outside the 1,200), bound in white/cream cloth stamped in copper gilt, housed in the original DARK-BLUE cloth slipcase bearing a matching white number sticker on the lower edge. A softcover Advance Review Copy / Advance Proof (white wrappers, black ink, lacking the color plates) also exists as a precursor.

Market value estimate

~$175–$325

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): $175–325 (genuine Grant trade first, fine/fine, unclipped $38 jacket); shrinkwrapped/sealed copies reach the top; signed limited S/N is a separate $700–1,100 market

Book-club edition (the trap): There is NO Doubleday/BOMC hardcover book-club edition of the Grant text — Grant was the sole US hardcover. The real "trap" substitutes are the 1992 Plume trade paperback (~$10–25) and the UK NEL/Hodder hardcover, both routinely mislisted as "first editions." An ex-library Grant copy runs ~$40–80. So the misidentified/"BCE-equivalent" trap value is roughly $10–25 (Plume PB) — a small fraction of the true Grant first. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

Condition-sensitive but a soft market: Grant overprinted (40,000), small-bookstore distribution collapsed, and the early Plume paperback cannibalized demand, so this is the LEAST valuable of the early Dark Tower trade firsts and many survive in shrinkwrap — driving "fine" prices DOWN, not up. The $38 jacket must be UNCLIPPED; clipping drops value 30–50%. Signed/inscribed by King is a different animal entirely: the publisher's 1,250-copy signed-limited (slipcased, signed by King AND Ned Dameron, +26 lettered) trades ~$700–1,100, and a King-signed trade copy carries a large premium over an unsigned one. THE SINGLE BIGGEST DISCRIMINATOR FOR THIS TITLE: it is a true first ONLY if it is the Grant hardcover stating "First Edition" with the Grant imprint and the red/black cloth + Dameron illustrations and 21 remarques noted — NOT the Plume paperback and NOT the UK hardcover. There is no later Grant printing and no Grant book-club issue, so the trap is publisher/format substitution, not a hidden gutter code.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: CORRECTIONS vs draft: (1) LETTERED EDITION — draft stated "No separate traycased/lettered Grant state is documented." FALSE. stephenking.com and grantbooks.com both document a lettered edition of 26 copies (A-Z), signed by author and artist, with dust jacket and slipcase. Added as the senior-most state. (2) SPECIAL COPIES — stephenking.com adds 12 Publisher's, 40 Author's, 10 Artist's copies outside the 1,200-for-sale; noted in limitedEditions. (3) ADVANCE PROOF — a softcover Advance Review Copy (white wrappers, black ink, lacking color plates) exists as a precursor; added to trueFirstEdition/limitedEditions. (4) PLUME PAPERBACK TRAP — clarified that the later Plume/Penguin paperback (Jan 1992) DOES carry a number line starting at 1, so a number line signals the Plume reprint, sharpening the no-number-line point. (5) "BLACK CLOTH" OUTLIER — resolved: black is NOT a trade variant; consensus is red trade cloth / white-cream limited cloth; one search summary that attached "black cloth" to a limited is treated as a summarizer error. CONFIRMED unchanged: $38.00 jacket price at top of front flap; stated "FIRST EDITION" with no Grant number line; red trade cloth, black spine stamping; white/cream limited cloth, copper-gilt stamping, dark-blue slipcase with white matching number sticker; dark-blue jacket, red borders, yellow-over-red title, Dameron art; 512 pp, 12 color plates. NEW INDEPENDENT SOURCE not in original sources[]: L.W. Currey (lwcurrey.com) listing for the Grant first; also added Wikipedia confirm (Sept 3 1991, ISBN 978-0-937986-17-2) and a Plume-paperback comparison listing.

confidence: high — publisher, year, illustrator, the three Grant 1991 hardcover states (lettered 26 A-Z; numbered 1,250 total / 1,200 for sale signed King+Dameron; trade 40,000 "First Edition" stated, no number line), $38.00 upper-front-flap price, red trade cloth / black spine stamping, white-cream limited cloth / copper-gilt stamping / dark-blue slipcase with matching number sticker, and the later Plume-paperback (number-line) trap all corroborated by 2+ dealer sources plus stephenking.com and grantbooks.com. Low only on topstain (UNVERIFIED) and on any textual errata point (none documented). The draft's omission of the lettered edition and its hedge that no lettered state exists are CORRECTED.← Back to all titles