Skeleton Crew, Anniversary Edition
Stephen King
Cover, Endpapers and Interior Art: Pete Von Sholly
Forward: Stephen Jones
SKELETON CREW, Stephen King’s second collection, appeared in June 1985 making the book 30 years old . . . hence the upcoming anniversary edition from good ol’ PS. By any yardstick, it’s a remarkable set, a true bumper gathering of ghouls and chills, now featuring a host (almost 30!) of some of what is perhaps the incomparable Pete Von Sholly’s finest work plus a remarkably knowing and erudite Introduction from the indefatigable Stephen Jones. It all adds up to around 550 pages of pure horrific bliss, kicking off with ‘The Mist’ and going forward to the true depths of despair of such chilling tales as ‘The Raft,’ ‘Survivor Type’ and ‘Gramma’ while still managing to touch so delicately on ‘The Reach’ and ‘For Owen,’ a short poetic paen to the author’s youngest son.
Limited to 974 slipcased copies, signed by Stepehn Jones & Pet Von Sholly (not signed by Stephen King) and sold out at the publisher
"red" version "blue" version
Lettered Edition: “Contributor Copy” - These are identical to the lettered copies but they carry a number designation, typically on the front of the traycase, book, and/or dustjacket, and from the copies we have had, on all of the signature pages, except Skeleton Crew which does not appear to have a limitation space at all on the signature page.
Also included, with the exception of
- Night Shift which does include a piece of artwork in the envelope designated “This signed card is one of 9 numbered copies for contributors only /s/ Dave McKean” also numbered to match the book,
- Carrie which does include a piece of artwork, but is sealed in the envelope
they do not have the individual artwork piece contained with the actual lettered copies but in most cases do include the envelope in which it would be contained, which also carries the numbered designation (please look at the pictures, if the book has the art and/or envelope with it, it will be pictured above, with the exception of Carrie, in which case the envelope contains the art, but is still sealed).
The traycases of the six books we have are consistent in height and width 11 ¼ x 7 7/8, but differ in the width of the spine (depth) ranging from 2” (Carrie) to 5 ¼” (The Stand, which contains 3 books inside the traycase) and look very nice on the shelf together.
As for the quantity produced of each book we cannot say, but have seen numbers listed or referenced as high as 9 but really have no knowledge. Each title is traycased, includes the book(s) associated with the particular title, and a really nicely bound softcover book entitled “The Remarque Artwork” or with the newer titles, rightly called, “The Artwork.” This softcover book contains copies of all the artwork contained in the aforementioned envelope for the actual lettered books. I am confused as to why these were called “remarques” as I always thought remarques were drawn in the books themselves, and at least the lettered copies we have in our collection are not actually remarqued?
Finally, we did notice that the editions with the black leather binding, Salem’s Lot and Thinner, appear to have some small blue splotches in the material, visible in the pictures (didn’t notice it until we put them in the light box to photograph), if you want better pictures please ask.
NOTE: we get these are expensive, because of that extended layaway is available for any of the Contributor Copies we are offering for sale (Please note our threshold for payment to be made by wire transfer, yes even layaway payments if the book’s total meets the threshold.)
Remember in some cases these are the only limited editions produced of a particular title signed by Stephen King and a rare opportunity to own something which simply does not come up for sale very often.
| Publisher | PS Publishing |
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