For Collectors: What was the hardest book for you to obtain?

[fire_bat777]

As an avid SK collector, I often wonder which book was most difficult for you to obtain.

For myself, I remember looking for a Grant copy of Wizard and Glass for months and months finally finding a person in the UK had a US copy for sale for the low low price of $130.00

I was wondering if anyone else could share their story of trying to find a SK book they'd been craving.

Fire Bat

[Cowboy]

Still looking for a first run of Rage that doesn't cost too much. I figure I will stumble across one eventually in a used book store, flea market or yard sale.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

Welcome to the MB, and keep posting!

Long days and pleasant nights

[Srbo]

Welcome to the MB.:smile2:

How cool would it be to have The Stand deluxe limited coffin edition ?

:smile2:

[Matticus]

My most prized item was the hardest to get.

DTVII AE with Kings sig.

We had to go all the way to DC from Colorado. :laugh:

[Matthew.Degnan]

It took me ages to find a first edition copy of Rage, when i found one i snapped it up for £140 ($280) worth every penny.

Matthew.

[Natjen26]

I must say Rage, I'm looking for it about two years now and still no luck. The collection of the Bachman Books isn't good, because I have the other stories allready.

[fire_bat777]

I don't know what your finances look like, but this is about the lowest price I've seen Rage go for:

cgi.ebay.com/Rage-Richard-Bachman-first-print-Stephen-King-VGUC-rare_W0QQitemZ200278135598QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAntiquarian_Col lectible?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

[nunu_chis]

Dark Tower one and two, I found them this summer, when we were on vacation on the beach. I went to every bookstore in three different towns and I found it in the last one I went, there I also bough "the dead zone" and only for $90 (the three books, of course). Then, some weeks later we went back there and I went to another bookstore and found "the long walk", "the stand" and "salem`s lot" used and really cheap!, only $20 each one. I still haven`t found "It" and "Gerald`s game", but I`ll travel to the capital city soon and I hope to get them there, if they are not there.. well... I`ll have to phone sai King to ask him to bring me them personally, LOL!

[Antony butterworth]

Hello fans of the king

i think i would have to say that it was .the girl who loved tom gordon pop up book

[odienz]

I am an avid collector and have most of the books, but i still need to find the following:
Dark Tower 1-3 Hard cover
Danse Macabre H/C
Six Stories H/C
My Pretty Pony H/C
and possibly 3 of the bachman books in softcover, the earlier the better for those ones!

Problem is since I live in New Zealand, these ones are hard to come by, even in second hand shops and with the price of postage these days, it makes it hard to ship things from the USA or UK to NZ.

[Cognac]

ive never had a problem finding a book, but i dont know what are collectibles. how do you know which king book is a collectible and which ones are not. i own all his books, and comic books, and eventually will get around to collectible books. but whats to know bout it?

[Ubasti]

ive never had a problem finding a book, but i dont know what are collectibles. how do you know which king book is a collectible and which ones are not. i own all his books, and comic books, and eventually will get around to collectible books. but whats to know bout it?

Pretty much anything that's considered rare or hard to find is collectable. 1st editions of the older books are highly collectable. It sounds like you're off to a good start though.

[Agincourt Concierge]

It's not finding them.....it's affording them.....signed copies of DT series are a little steep...also would like HC 1-3 DT series....I just gotta pony up....that's all there is to it...by the way...
Greetings and Salutations,
Welcome to the board....

[SK_Crazy]

I am in South Africa, and I found It and Geralds Game on the following website: kalahari.net in rand value it is about R123.00 which is approximately $20 that is excluding shipping fees. Hope you come right!

[demorgan]

Books i know that i cant have!!!
The plant--usually way 2 expensive
Firestarter-looks like an aluminum cover to it..
The gunslinger s/l -original 500 run

Books that I was thrilled to get
THE LITTLE SISTER OF ELURIA-S/L that meant that i had to get a copy of
THE DARK TOWER S/L
THE WASTELAND S/L

hopefully, Sai King will do a tour that i can go to for Under The DOme...

[LongWalker]

ive never had a problem finding a book, but i dont know what are collectibles. how do you know which king book is a collectible and which ones are not. i own all his books, and comic books, and eventually will get around to collectible books. but whats to know bout it?

Do you have Cycle of the Werewolf?

[odienz]

I have cycle of the warewolf but not in hardcover unfortuently!

[Matticus]

ive never had a problem finding a book, but i dont know what are collectibles. how do you know which king book is a collectible and which ones are not. i own all his books, and comic books, and eventually will get around to collectible books. but whats to know bout it?

We have developed a wiki type guide to help with collecting questions. It not only has pictures but also a description of the item with it's collectible information.

The King Collectibles Catalog (http://www.thedarktower.com/palaver/forumdisplay.php?f=124)

Feel free to have a look if you like.

[psj77]

I'm a colector but I don't set out looking for a certain book. I check my local used book store & ebay & get what they have I can aford. My most expincive perches was the gift edition of Insomnia for a little over $50 on ebay. My least expincive was the ARC (Addvance Readers Copy) of Bag Of Bones for $3 at my local used book store.

[JayneH]

I had most first editions early on in life and they were stolen when my house was robbed along with my LP record collection... stupid theives.
Anyway - over here it became almost impossible to get HC older books of SK let alone first editions. I have managed to find quite a few HC books over the years and a couple of first editions but now with the internet I keep an eye out on ebay. Bought a Stand Uncut hardcover the other week which I had been looking for for ages. They advertised it as a 1st edition so thought I had a bargain but it wasnt ! The guy was great though and we reached an agreement on the price and he refunded me but I was disappointed.

I do have the signed Colorado Kid which has pride and place on the bookshelf.

[demorgan]

I had to stop myself from collecting with the economy as it is now. Need the cash for toliet paper and toothpaste and other essentials now.

[JohnDalglish]

I had to stop myself from collecting with the economy as it is now. Need the cash for toliet paper and toothpaste and other essentials now.

Hi,

Well, maybe si, maybe no.

I agree completely about collecting expensive editions, but I think the current economic situation has just increased the fun of searching for book bargain goodies in thrift shops, jumble sales etc.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Born In Sin]

My first edition Gunslinger (actually got off ebay for a reasonable price) and first edition Wizard and Glass (had to go to Betts Books a bit more than I wanted to spend, but...), took me along time to get.

[tillyn]

I have most of them in hard cover, except Salem's lot, just got It in hard cover for 2$ what a find. My friend who garage sales during the summer is on the look out for a couple more for me.

[Q'smum]

The hardest for me so far was Wasteland. I have started the DT series and was just finishing up book 2 Drawing of the Three and couldn't find Wasteland (DTIII) anywhere in hardback. I already had to read Gunslinger in paperback and was refusing to go forward until I found it in hardback, and that was the revised edition. Only able to find Gunslinger and Drawing of Three in hardback at library. But have found volumes VI and VII in hardback... for less than $5 each - new, not used. :wow:Yea! :biggrin2: Also picked up Lisey's story for $3.99! It was a banner day for books this weekend.

[Boni]

Until know it was Needful Things the book was only published here once, in 1992, if I'm not mistaken... but I didn't buy The Bachman Books yet (same thing as NT), and since it has the rare and precious RAGE in it, it's costing here 130 bucks plus the tax from mail service. I hope the book is in good shape, more than 15 years later...

[rok]

i have to say coffin edition stand and leather bound desperation were the hardest

[jchanic]

I am an avid collector and have most of the books, but i still need to find the following:
Dark Tower 1-3 Hard cover
Danse Macabre H/C
Six Stories H/C
My Pretty Pony H/C
and possibly 3 of the bachman books in softcover, the earlier the better for those ones!

Problem is since I live in New Zealand, these ones are hard to come by, even in second hand shops and with the price of postage these days, it makes it hard to ship things from the USA or UK to NZ.

Odienz, Six Stories was never issued as a hardcover. There were a total of 1100 copies printed as a trade-sized paperback.


John

[Renzo]

Cycle of the Werewolf for me. Finally grabbed it this weekend for 6 bucks in very good shape. It is only the paperback though.

[Chelle71]

I found it hard to find a first ed hardback copy of Different Seasons....got it now though:biggrin2:

[Beatbox]

I Just found a copy of Stephen King Uncollected, Unpublished which I snagged for $50. It has been out of print and contains an excerpt from Sword in the Darkness.

[ChristineB]

I have yet to have any trouble finding any of his books for sale (baring the exclusive limited editions like My Pretty Pony and The Plant), even things like Six Stories can be found rather easily through ABE.com or alibris.com. Even ebay has those much of the time.

The hardest thing for me is finding them at a price I am willing to pay.

On that front, Wizards and Glass has been the hardest for me to stomach. I just have a very hard time paying 3-4 times more for that book then the one just before it that had the same print run. But perception is everything and since that one flew off the shelves (due to the type of shelves it was sold from) the perception is that it was more rare.

When looking for the Bachman books you can always look for a canadian copy, they are less rare and were printed and released the same time as the US ones. Ofcourse for those serious purists this won't do, but for me it was better.

The absolute most rare one I have looked for is the original special edition of My Pretty Pony. Looked for that for a year and only saw one for sale, ofcourse this was just for my entertainment since there is no way I am going to pay that kind of money for a book I will never even touch after I had the acrylic, humidity and temperature controlled case build for it and sealed after putting it in. :eek2: