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

The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Common

2004 · Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc. (Hampton Falls, NH) in association with Scribner / Simon & Schuster, New York

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

What it’s about

Gunslinger Roland Deschain and his ka-tet — Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and the billy-bumbler Oy — press toward the Dark Tower, the linchpin that holds all worlds together, as the Crimson King's agents race to topple it first. Spanning multiple Americas, the ruined city of Lud's borderlands, and the deadly approaches to the Tower itself, the quest demands brutal sacrifices and final reckonings. This seventh and concluding volume drives Roland's decades-long obsession to its threshold, where the cost of reaching the Tower may be everything he holds dear.

Significance The capstone of King's career-spanning magnum opus (begun in 1970), this finale binds the Dark Tower series to King's wider canon — featuring the author himself as a character and threading in 'Salem's Lot, Insomnia, and 'Hearts in Atlantis'; published 2004 with Michael Whelan's illustrations.

Is this the true first?Yes. The trade hardcover IS a true first edition / first printing — but read this carefully: for THIS title the publisher is Donald M. Grant (the small press), not the usual Scribner trade machine. Grant issued THREE hardcover formats simultaneously on King's birthday, 21 Sept 2004: (1) the deluxe signed/numbered limited set signed by King AND Whelan; (2) the unnumbered Artist Edition (5,000) signed by Whelan only; and (3) this mass-market 'First Trade Edition'. The Trade Edition is the affordable, widely-collected 'first edition first printing' and is the one documented here. There is NO paperback original preceding it.
The deluxe Grant LIMITED editions (King + Whelan signed/numbered set, and the Whelan-signed Artist Edition of 5,000) are the premium first issues, but they are separate, higher-priced products with their own ISBN (1-880418-61-4). The TRADE first edition, first printing — the subject here — is the Grant/Scribner trade hardcover, ISBN 1-880418-62-2, identified by 'First Trade Edition' on the copyright page plus the complete number line and the $35.00 jacket. No paperback original, no Doubleday gutter-code situation (this is a Grant/Scribner imprint, post-1998 conventions). Cross-confirmed across stephenkingcollector.com, thefirstedition.com, robertgavora.com, and multiple dealer catalog listings.

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 Trade Edition" — that exact phrase is the format identifier. The first PRINTING is then confirmed by the complete number line ending in "...2". (Distinct from the limited issues, which carry a numbered/unnumbered limitation page instead.)

Number lineFirst printing shows the full row "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" (the leading "1" present). A later printing drops the low numbers (e.g., a 2nd printing would begin at "2"). Cross-confirmed: stephenkingcollector.com and thefirstedition.com both report the complete line with the "1" present on a true first.

Gutter / printer codeN/A — this is a Grant/Scribner (post-1998) imprint, not a 1974-1983 Doubleday title; identification is by the printed "First Trade Edition" statement + number line, not a gutter code.

First printing — copies~700,000 copies (trade hardcover first printing, Grant/Scribner-S&S distributed) accepted figure

First jacket price$35.00 (Upper front dust-jacket flap (top corner). A price-clipped flap hides this and lowers value; the Artist/limited editions were priced higher (Artist Edition ~$55) so a $35.00 flap is itself a trade-edition tell.)

Board (panel) colorFull black cloth boards (no pictorial onlay on the trade issue)

Spine / center bindingBlack cloth spine, titled/lettered in gilt; full-cloth (not quarter-bound) on the trade edition

Binding styleFull black cloth over boards, gilt spine lettering; trade edition is conventionally bound (the deluxe Artist/limited editions are noted as the higher-quality Smyth-sewn issues). Thick octavo, [xviii] + 845 pp.

Topstain / endpapersPictorial / illustrated color endpapers by Michael Whelan (the endpaper illustration is a distinguishing feature; the book also carries 12 full-page color plates plus B&W in-text art). Topstain: UNVERIFIED (no plain topstain noted; standard Grant trade binding).

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$32ThriftBooksVintagejacket price not shown — no front-flap or price-corner photo; seller does not state $35.00. Not clipped per photos, simply not photographed. Minor cav cover only — verify$30Marvin Minkler Modern First Editionsunclipped (seller states unclipped DJ; price not visible in any photo — no real photo exists; jacket price $35.00 not verifiable). ZERO seller-uploade photos unclear$35Paul Johnson Fine Booksnot_shown_no_photo. VERDICT DRIVER: This listing has ZERO photographs. HTML carries bdpimage=none, a no-image-container-LD div, and the no-image.gif p

Dust jacket

Color pictorial dust jacket reproducing Michael Whelan cover art (the Dark Tower / Roland imagery). Front flap carries the $35.00 price and blurb; spine and rear continue the Whelan-illustrated wrap. Author/illustration credit to Whelan on the jacket. Pictorial, fully illustrated front-and-back wrap consistent with the Grant illustrated-edition house style.

Art / design: Michael Whelan (cover painting and all interior illustration — 12 full-color plates, illustrated title page, color endpapers, and B&W in-text art)

https://www.stephenkingcollector.com/1st/thedarktower7.html

https://thefirstedition.com/product/the-dark-tower-vii-the-dark-tower/

https://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-dark-tower-VII-signed-first-edition-grant-Michael-Whelan/

Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyNo widely-cataloged Book-of-the-Month / book-club edition of this Grant/Scribner trade hardcover is documented — Grant was a specialty small press, not a BOMC supplier. Treat the imprint + ISBN as the safeguard: a true trade first carries the Donald M. Grant/Scribner imprint and ISBN 1-880418-62-2 with the intact number line. If any copy shows a blind-stamp on the rear board, lacks a printed price, uses thinner/cheaper paper, a smaller trim, or omits the number line, treat it as suspect/club and verify the ISBN. UNVERIFIED that a formal BCE exists.

Also watch for: Most frequent issues: (1) PRICE-CLIPPED jackets — hides the $35.00 point and depresses value; (2) MARRIED jackets — a later-printing or facsimile jacket placed on a first-printing book (or vice versa); always confirm the copyright-page number line matches the jacket; (3) ISBN confusion — sellers cross-list the trade (1-880418-62-2) and the Artist/limited (1-880418-61-4) as the same thing; the limited is signed, the trade is not; (4) ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels) and remainder-marked copies; (5) the trade edition is NOT signed — any "signed first edition" claim on a $35-jacket trade copy is a flat signature, not a publisher-issued signed limitation. Verify Whelan/King signatures appear on a printed LIMITATION page, not loosely on the title page, for the true signed editions.

Print run & scarcity

This title is unusual: it is a Donald M. Grant small-press book whose TRADE edition was financed/distributed at mass-market scale by Simon & Schuster (Scribner). Published Sept 21, 2004 (King's birthday), illustrated by Michael Whelan, ~845 pages.\n\nEDITION BREAKDOWN (all 'first edition'):\n- Deluxe Limited: 1,500 SIGNED & NUMBERED copies — two volumes in a single slipcase, signed by Stephen King AND Michael Whelan.\n- Artist Edition: 5,000 copies signed by Michael Whelan (illustrator only), UNNUMBERED; ~1 in 50 contains an original drawing by the artist.\n- Trade hardcover: first printing ~700,000 copies (the headline number above).\n- NO lettered edition documented for this title.\n\nFIRST-EDITION POINTS: The Artist Edition and Deluxe (signed/limited) editions are considered the TRUE first editions because they were released about two weeks BEFORE the trade edition.\n\nSOURCE DISAGREEMENT / RELIABILITY: The trade first-printing quantity is the debated figure. The publisher's own grantbooks.com page states 700,000; one secondary search synthesis stated Simon & Schuster financed 750,000. Both note this was roughly 20x larger than anything Grant had printed before. Limited counts (1,500 / 5,000) are firmly corroborated across the publisher and rare-book trade and should be treated as reliable; the ~700k trade figure as a reasonable published estimate, not an audited number.

First-state points & errata

No widely-cataloged first-state-vs-later-state textual erratum is documented for the Grant trade edition; the format phrase + intact number line + correct ISBN (1-880418-62-2) is the controlling point set. UNVERIFIED whether any minor textual state variants exist between printings.

Limited & signed editions

Donald M. Grant issued, same day (21 Sept 2004): (1) the deluxe numbered LIMITED edition signed by Stephen King AND Michael Whelan (reported as a slipcased numbered limitation, the premium issue); (2) the unnumbered ARTIST EDITION limited to 5,000 copies signed by Michael Whelan only (gold/red marker on the limitation page), slipcased, ISBN 1-880418-61-4, original price ~$55. These limiteds (not the trade) are the high-value collectible tier; the trade edition documented here is ISBN 1-880418-62-2. (Note: exact numbered-limitation count for the King+Whelan deluxe set is reported inconsistently across dealers — VERIFY the limitation page directly; figure UNVERIFIED.)

Market value estimate

~$45–$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): $45–90 (genuine first trade edition, Fine/Fine, unclipped $35.00 jacket, full number line). This is a recent, high-print-run book — not a four-figure modern first.

Book-club edition (the trap): $8–20. Book-club / later-printing / ex-library / married-jacket copies are the trap, routinely mislisted as "first edition." A true BCE (no $35 price on jacket, blind-stamp dot/square on rear board, no full number line, cheaper boards/paper) is near-worthless — reading-copy money only. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

CORRECTION to the brief: there is NO Doubleday gutter code on this title — it was published by Donald M. Grant (with Scribner), not Doubleday, so any listing leaning on a "gutter code" is confused. The single biggest thing separating a real first from the mislisted copies of THIS title: a complete number line "1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10" on the copyright page together with the stated "First Trade Edition" AND the original $35.00 price intact on the unclipped front jacket flap. Drop any one of those and you likely have a later printing or a club/married-jacket copy. Condition sensitivity is modest because the book is common — a clipped jacket, ex-library mark, or rear-board blind-stamp craters value to near zero; Fine/Fine unclipped is the only configuration worth the upper range. Signed/inscribed premium is where the real money is: a verified Stephen King signature pushes a trade first to several hundred dollars; the Whelan Artist Signed limited (1/5,000) runs ~$300+, and the deluxe King-signed slipcased issue (1/1,500) commands four figures — but those are different objects from the bare trade first being valued here.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Trade-first point set cross-confirmed across at least three independent collector references: stephenkingcollector.com (states "FIRST TRADE EDITION" + number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" + $35.00), thefirstedition.com ("First Trade Edition", full number line, $35.00 front flap, Grant/Hampton Falls), and robertgavora.com/dealer listings (black cloth, gilt spine, Whelan jacket, 845 pp). Price ($35.00) confirmed on 4+ sources. ISBN 1-880418-62-2 (trade) vs 1-880418-61-4 (Artist Edition) confirmed via eBay/Biblio/Amazon listings. Number line leading "1" confirmed on two sources. Limitation counts for the King+Whelan deluxe set vary between dealers — left UNVERIFIED.

confidence: high — for the trade-first points (statement, number line, $35.00 price, black cloth/gilt spine, Whelan jacket, ISBN 1-880418-62-2), all cross-confirmed across 3+ collector/dealer sources. medium on the exact numbered-limitation count of the King+Whelan deluxe set and on BCE/topstain specifics (left UNVERIFIED rather than guessed).← Back to all titles