The Dark Half [First Edition with Signed Theater Poster]

King, Stephen

ISBN 10: 067082982X / ISBN 13: 9780670829828

Published by The Viking Press, New York, 1989

About this Item

Includes first edition of this title and the signed movie poster for same title. Beautifully signed by Stephen King to original film poster: "Stephen King, 6/9/93." Rare early signature contemporaneous with release of this George Romero film. The motion picture was released in theaters on April 23, 1993. Novel states at copyright page: "First published in 1989 by Viking Penguin"; first printing with full number-line beginning w/1. Black boards with gilt SK, black cloth spine wrap, gilt spine titles, light shelf wear. Pages fine; attractive toning. Deep purple endpapers. Original dust wrapper, fine; unclipped 21.95, protected in new clear sleeve. Front jacket photograph by Geoffrey Gove, full-size King portrait at back by Tabith King. Near fine first edition in same wrapper. Unable to write under his own name, writer Thad Beaumont uses the pseudonym George Stark for the violent novels he has been writing. When a gruesome murder occurs and Thad's fingerprints are found at the scene, he must face the possibility that George Stark is a very real, very dangerous, and willful part of his identity. An immaculate signed first edition. 431 pages. Insured post. Stephen King Signed The Dark Half Promo Poster 16x20 inches, Stephen King hand signed and dated 06/09/1993. Professionally dry mounted to foam core and framed with a black metal frame and glass. Frame has a couple scuffs, shown in pictures. Signature in gold pen, poster free of defects, normal folds from the printer. According to collector of this piece: "I bought many signed books and this framed poster from the original recipient or collector who had recently passed. Being an SK fan - I met him and had him sign some books of mine on The Dead Zone book tour in 1979 - I had no question this was authentic. I looked up date on the SK autograph site and on 6/3/93 I believe he did a signing at a library in Bangor; didn t see any event on the date he signed the poster. It s a neat piece I m sure you ll enjoy! Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Seller Inventory # 022314

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Dark Half [First Edition with Signed Theater Poster]
• Publisher: The Viking Press, New York
• Publication Date: 1989
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 067082982X
• ISBN 13: 9780670829828
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Hokanson, Lars (Illustrations); Stuart, Neil (Jacket Design)
• Edition: First Edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Fine
• Book Type: Book

About this title

Synopsis

Fine cloth copy in an equally fine dw. Particularly and suprisingly well-preserved; tight, bright, clean and especially sharp-cornered. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 431 pages; Description: 431 p. ; 25 cm. Form/Genre: Horror tales

Review

In 1985, 39-year-old Stephen King announced in public that his pseudonymous alter ego, Richard Bachman, was dead. (Never mind that he revived him years later to write The Regulators.) At the beginning of The Dark Half, 39-year-old writer Thad Beaumont announces in public that his own pseudonym, George Stark, is dead.

Now, King didn't want to jettison the Bachman novel, titled Machine Dreams, that was he working on. So he incorporated it in The Dark Half as the crime oeuvre of George Stark, whose recurring hero/alter ego is an evil character named Alexis Machine.

Thad Beaumont's pseudonym is not so docile as Stephen King's, though, and George Stark bursts forth into reality. At that point, two stories kick into gear: a mystery-detective story about the crime spree of George Stark (or is it Alexis Machine?) and a horror story about Beaumont's struggle to catch up with his doppelganger and kill him dead.

This is not the first time that Stephen King has written a dark allegory about the fiction writer's situation. As the New York Times writes, Misery (1987) is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his audience, which holds him prisoner and dictates what he writes, on pain of death. The Dark Half is a parable in chiller form of the popular writer's relation to his creative genius, the vampire within him, the part of him that only awakes to raise Cain when he writes, the fratricidal twin who occupies "the womblike dungeon" of his imagination." --Fiona Webster