Inscribed Copy in a Custom Slipcase
The Dead Zone
Publication: New York: The Viking Press, 1979. First Edition.
Notes: An inscribed copy of King's sixth novel—"For Walter Shirley—Be well, Stephen King. 9/24/80" —that became a celebrated David Cronenberg film starring Christopher Walken and Martin Sheen.
The Dead Zone follows Johnny Smith, who awakens from a five-year coma with psychic abilities that force him to confront a rising political demagogue. The novel marked King's first venture into political themes and his first book for Viking after leaving Doubleday. This copy has particular interest for its association with collector Walter Shirley, who had King sign several books around 1980 and commissioned distinctive red clamshell boxes with gilt-stamped leather labels to house them.
426 pages.
Edition + Condition: First edition (first printing, stating "First published..." with no subsequent printings noted on the copyright page). Fine but for slight bumping to spine ends, in a fine dust jacket with the correct $11.95 price.
Provenance: Walter Shirley collection to Tom Garner by 1996, confirmed by distinctive bookseller markings retained for provenance. Garner's acquisition date was established by his concurrent purchase of the third Dark Tower book from the same seller. Additional auction records show Shirley's second printing of 'Salem's Lot sold at PBA (December 5, 2024) and his inscribed Carrie proof appeared in AB Bookman's Weekly (1999).
Walter T. Shirley II, a book collector who was described in the New Yorker as "a ne’er-do-well playboy out of a Preston Sturges movie” died in 1992, and his library was dispersed.
ISBN: 0670260770
Item No: #364524
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