Salem's Lot Gothic Clasped variant
Stephen King
Centipede Press
Author signature
Y
List Price
NFS
Publication year
Limitation
2004
2
Artist
Introduction
Jerry Uelsmann
Stephen King
Median Market Value
Recorded Sales
$7,635
2
2.a Goatskin binding with metal clasps, signed by Stephen King, Jerry Uelsmann, Forrest Jackson, David John Lawrence, Jim Croft, Stuart Brockman, and Ben Colborn (only 1 signed by Colborn): 2 – NFS
2.b Goatskin binding with traycase, signed by Stephen King and Jerry Uelsmann: 25 - $900 (15 in black Roman Numerals), NFS (10 in red Roman Numerals)
2.c Cloth binding with slipcase, signed by Stephen King and Jerry Uelsmann – 392+: $450 (300 in black numbers), NFS (80 in red numbers), NFS (unknown total with “Printer’s Copy” in black ink), NFS (unknown total with “Printer’s Copy” in red ink), NFS (unknown total with “Printer’s Copy” in black ink but not signed)
2.d Gift edition, not signed – 600 limitation : $150
Published as Centipede Press; 2004
Original price:NFS/$900/$450/$150
Note: Of the two copies of the goat skin edition with clasps, the only publicly documented sale was one copy, offered for sale by the owner in 2008 for $7500. Rather than use this as the "list" price and basis for further speculation, I am going to put the original price as Not For Sale, as with the red numbers and letters, and treat further prices as transactions on the secondary market, almost all of which have been undocumented and are private for this particular state.
First of all, this is the best list of editions and states that I have put together based on my own research and knowledge (and vastly supplemented by The Catalog). But if there’s any book in the CP canon that people on these boards are going to have extensive knowledge about, it’s this one, so feel free to post corrections. Note again that I define a “state” as a book with different physical characteristics, not by the color of ink or designation status. However, there are definitely other ways to view the states, and this is the book on which there could be the most possible interpretations that are all some version of correct.
Second, using my bibliographical system, this book has 4 states. If you were to consider different designations (numbered versus “Printer’s Copy”) and ink color, you could increase this to 8!
Several other early books had 3+ states - if you don’t consider ink color, Salem’s Lot isn’t even the book with the most states
[Based on this system, the book that I can document with the most states is The Other by Thomas Tryon, with 5. But it’s certainly possible that by my definition, there are books with even more…]
Third, as I have showcased before, I have a (franken)deluxe version of this book that I consider non-canonical, because, although it was designed and bound at the direction of Jerad, it was not part of the initial release.
Bibliography by Timothy Booksker adapted from thedarktower forum
Synopsis from Centipede Press website
Our edition of Salem’s Lot was widely held to be the best Stephen King-limited edition ever published. The trade edition was printed on 100# Mohawk Superfine and measured 9 × 13 inches. It had Jerry Uelsmann photographs reprinted as gorgeous duotones. It was bound in full black cloth and signed by Stephen King and Jerry Uelsmann.
The deluxe edition came in a traycase and was bound in full, top-of-the-line Nigerian goatskin, not the bonded leather that so many other publishers use. In addition, the text was printed on mouldmade Saunders Waterford and had deckled edges.