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Under the Dome Common

2009 · Scribner (Simon & Schuster), New York
First-edition cover of Under the Dome
First-edition jacket (first edition (verified vs jacket)) · source

What it’s about

On an ordinary autumn day, an invisible, impenetrable force field slams down over the small Maine town of Chester's Mill, sealing it off from the outside world in an instant — severing roads, downing a plane, and trapping everyone inside. As the trapped townsfolk grapple with dwindling resources, no explanation, and no way out, a charismatic local politician seizes the chaos to consolidate power, while a small band of residents races to understand the barrier and resist his tightening grip. It is a sprawling small-town pressure-cooker about how quickly civilization frays when the lid comes down.

Significance A solo Stephen King novel (not a Bachman title) that King first attempted in the 1970s before abandoning it; the 1,072-page epic became a #1 bestseller and was adapted into the CBS television series "Under the Dome" (2013–2015), executive produced by King and Steven Spielberg's Amblin.

Is this the true first?yes — the Scribner trade hardcover (Nov 10, 2009, ISBN 9781439148501, $35.00) is the true first edition. No paperback original or earlier small-press edition precedes it. A Simon & Schuster signed/limited deluxe was issued essentially simultaneously, but the trade hardcover is the standard collectible first.
The trade hardcover IS the true first. Unlike the Doubleday-era titles (Carrie–Pet Sematary) or the small-press-preceded books (Dark Tower / Grant, Eyes of the Dragon / Philtrum, Cycle of the Werewolf / Land of Enchantment), Under the Dome has no precursor edition. The only "competing" issue is the Simon & Schuster signed Limited Edition of 1,500 (also 2009) — a deluxe collectible, not a separate earlier text state. For a standard first, you want the $35.00 Scribner trade hardcover with the correct number line.

First-printing points at a glance

First-printing statementCopyright page carries the Scribner edition statement (reported variously as "First Scribner Edition" / "First Scribner Hardcover Edition") together with the number line. Under modern Scribner convention BOTH the edition statement AND a full number line ending in the "1" must be present. EXACT on-page wording of the edition line is UNVERIFIED from a primary-source scan; confirm in hand.
Number line"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" — the standard Scribner first-printing line. A first printing shows the full line including the 1; later printings drop the low numbers (e.g., a "2" as the lowest remaining digit indicates a second printing).
Gutter / printer codeN/A (Doubleday gutter-code convention does not apply to Scribner-era titles; identification is via edition statement + number line).
First printing — copies~925,000 copies (first trade hardcover printing) accepted figure
First jacket price$35.00 (Upper front (inner) flap of the dust jacket; corresponding Canadian price typically also shown. Must be present and unclipped on a true first.)
Board (panel) colorNavy/dark-blue boards (paper/cloth over boards).
Spine / center bindingSpine with a textured/contrasting wrap and silver-stamped spine titles. (The deluxe Limited is the opposite scheme — black full cloth with silver embossed spine — do not confuse the two.)
Binding styleSewn trade hardcover, boards binding (the deluxe Limited is black full-cloth with a blind-stamped corgi device and four-color/pictorial-map endpapers).
Topstain / endpapersTrade edition: plain endpapers, no notable topstain reported (UNVERIFIED for an unusual topstain). NOTE: only the Simon & Schuster signed Limited has the distinctive four-color pictorial-map endpapers of the domed town — those map endpapers are a LIMITED-EDITION marker, not present in the trade first.

Dust jacket

Striking minimalist jacket: the title "UNDER THE DOME" and author rendered with a 3D/photo-illustration treatment of the domed town; cover, spine titles, and publisher imprint are essentially the only text on the jacket. Front and back present the dome/town imagery; very clean typographic layout.

Art / design: Jacket design by Rex Bonomelli; artwork/imaging credited to Platinum FMD (combination of illustration, photography, and 3D rendering).

reference photohttps://www.amazon.com/First-Under-Dome-Hardcover-Stephen/dp/B00GQT4K2Ireference photohttps://www.yjsboxesofbooks.com/pages/books/biblio368/stephen-king/under-the-domereference photohttps://veryfinebooks.com/stephen-king-under-the-dome-signed-limited-edition-w-playing-cards-sealed/
Book-club edition & fakes — how to spot a wrong copyA book-club issue (where present) would show: "Book Club Edition" printed on the lower front jacket flap, NO "$35.00" price (price absent), a small blind-stamp/dot on the lower-right rear board, thinner/cheaper paper, slightly smaller trim, often glued rather than sewn, and the absence of the edition statement / full number line. The presence of the "$35.00" flap price plus the "First Scribner" statement and the complete number line ending in 1 confirms a true trade first over a club copy.

Also watch for: (1) PRICE-CLIPPED jackets — a clipped corner hides the $35.00 and lowers value; many sellers still list these as "first." (2) Later Scribner printings sold as firsts — verify the number line includes the 1. (3) Married jackets — a first-state jacket placed on a later/book-club book; cross-check the number line inside the book. (4) Ex-library copies (stamps, pockets, spine labels). (5) Remainder marks on the bottom edge. (6) Do not confuse the deluxe Limited's black-cloth/map-endpaper binding with the trade first. (7) "New Cover Series No. 4" (Glenn Chadbourne / Cemetery Dance) and the large-print Thorndike edition (ISBN 9781410423962) are entirely separate later issues, not the first.

Print run & scarcity

Big modern Scribner title with a large public first printing. Headline: first trade hardcover printing ~925,000 copies (Scribner, released Nov 10, 2009; $35.00 jacket price; 1,074 pp; first-printing identified by full number line ending in '1', i.e. '1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2'). LIMITED/SPECIAL editions issued concurrently: (1) Collector's Edition limited to 25,000 copies — orange dust jacket, packaged with a set of trading cards depicting Chester's Mill and a DVD of King's short story 'N.'; (2) Signed Edition limited to 1,500 copies, signed by King on a tipped-in page, in a custom slipcase (per Wikipedia/Fandom). A separate UK limited edition of 500 numbered/slipcased copies (facsimile King letter + 'N.' DVD) also exists. Source agreement is strong on 925,000; the only minor disagreement is one source conflating the 25,000 Collector's Edition with the trade run — the 925,000 figure is the standard trade first printing and 25,000 is the limited Collector's Edition.

First-state points & errata

No widely documented errata or text-state change separating first-state first printings for this title. The discriminator is purely the edition statement + complete number line (with 1) and the unclipped $35.00 jacket. A reported white-lettering vs. gray-lettering dust-jacket variant exists in some descriptions but is NOT confirmed as a recognized first-vs-later state point — treat as UNVERIFIED.

Limited & signed editions

Simon & Schuster / Scribner signed Limited Edition, 2009 — Signed Limited Edition of 1,500, personally signed by Stephen King, with 27 part-title character illustrations by New Yorker cartoonist Matthew Diffee, a matching deck of 27 character cards, ribbon marker, four-color pictorial-map endpapers, black full-cloth boards with silver embossed spine and blind-stamped corgi device, housed in a titled traycase/clamshell (issued ~$200; secondary ~$1,500–1,800+ sealed). Separately, a UK Hodder & Stoughton edition was limited to 500 numbered copies for Waterstone's.

Market value confirmed sales

$25–$60

Assumes a genuine first edition / first printing in near-fine to fine condition (clean copy, unclipped jacket). Lesser condition is worth less.

Confirmed sales: Unsigned trade first printing, fine/fine: cluster of sold/clearing dealer copies at ~$20–30 (AbeBooks fulfilled listings, "As New" w/ full number line + $35 jacket, 2024–2025). Signed trade first, fine/fine in slipcase: $1,250 (AbeBooks dealer, sold/listed 2024–2025). Signed trade first, fine/fine: $2,000 (two concurrent AbeBooks dealer placements, 2025). Signed 1,500-copy slipcased limited w/ character cards: ~$2,495 (AbeBooks/VeryFineBooks, 2024–2025). Note: no Heritage/PBA hammer record located for the UNSIGNED trade first — it is too common to consign; treat the dealer-sold tiers above as the market.

Book-club edition (the trap): No true BOMC/BCE was the dominant trap for this 2009 title (book clubs were largely defunct by then); the practical "trap" equivalents are the Reader's Digest/condensed and later-printing trade copies and the $200 Collector's Edition — a later-printing or 5th-printing trade copy is worth ~$10–18, i.e. a small fraction of a real signed first. — a fraction of a true first; never pay first-edition money for one.

[Audit-corrected from $20-2000: value is for a genuine UNSIGNED trade first in fine/fine; signed/limited copies excluded.] Condition sensitivity is LOW in dollar terms for the unsigned first (the whole tier is $20–40, so fine vs near-fine barely moves it) but is the entire game once signed — a signed fine/fine clean copy holds $1.5–2K while a bumped/clipped or ex-lib signed copy drops to ~$900–1,100. Signature/inscription premium is the dominant value driver: it multiplies value roughly 50–80x over the unsigned first. The SINGLE biggest thing separating a real, valuable first from the mislisted copies of THIS title is NOT the number line (almost every hardcover sold was a stated first printing — "First Edition" + full number line ending in 1 is necessary but nearly universal here, so it does NOT make a copy special). The real discriminators are: (1) a genuine, verifiable SIGNATURE — without it you have a $25 book regardless of "first edition" hype, and forged/secretarial King signatures are rampant; and (2) NOT confusing the common $35-jacket trade first with the $200-jacket signed Collector's Edition (25,000) or the 1,500-copy slipcased limited — sellers routinely cross-list these to inflate a plain trade copy. Verify: $35.00 price on the unclipped jacket flap = trade first; $200.00 jacket price + character/trading cards + slipcase = the limited collector tiers.

Value sources:

Sources

Verification notes: Cross-checks completed: $35.00 price (2 sources), number line + Scribner edition statement (2 sources). Open items for in-hand verification: exact copyright-page edition wording; whether the white/gray jacket-lettering variant is a genuine first-vs-later state. stephenkingcatalog.com and Kenneth R. Johnson's King bibliography would be the authoritative confirmations for the exact statement wording.

confidence: medium-high — Price ($35.00) cross-confirmed by two independent sources; number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2" and "First Scribner Edition/Hardcover Edition" statement confirmed by two sources; designer (Rex Bonomelli / Platinum FMD), navy boards/silver spine, and Limited-edition particulars confirmed via dealer pages. Lowered from high because (a) the EXACT on-page wording of the edition statement was not captured from a primary scan, and (b) the white-vs-gray jacket-lettering variant could not be verified as a recognized state point.← Back to all titles