Crime Novel with a Criminal Past
The Dark Half
Publication: London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1989. First Edition.
Notes: A novel about a novelist whose pseudonym is out to get him. The author's note thanks King's own pseudonym: "I'm indebted to the late Richard Bachman for his help and inspiration. This novel could not have been written without him."
This British edition precedes the American (the UK publication date is reported as October 2 by SF dealers while the US publication date was planned for October 20; it is the case that British newspapers have this novel on the bestseller list prior to any American book reviews appearing, so the UK edition likely predates the American).
431 pages.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first print, with "First published in Great Britain 1989" with no indication of later printings). A fine copy in a fine dust jacket. Binding glue has started to brown in the gutter of the pastedowns.
As a crime novel of sorts, this copy has an apt history. It belonged to the collector James Strand; it was stolen from his house after he died; the FBI arrested one of the fences selling the books and returned the book to the family. This copy has the small Strand estate bookplate on the front pastedown and the original FBI evidence tag laid in.
ISBN: 0340509112
Item No: #162165
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