How to Identify a First Edition of The Stand
Stephen King
A first edition of The Stand says "First Edition" on the copyright page and carries the code T39 in the inner margin of page 823 — the last page. Doubleday, 1978, jacket priced $12.95, from a first printing of 70,000. The 1990 "Complete and Uncut" edition is a different book, not a later printing of this one.
The first edition at a glance
- Publisher
- Doubleday
- Published
- 1978
- Original price
- $12.95
- Pages
- 823
- Edition statement
- "First Edition" on the copyright page, together with the code T39 on page 823.
Identification checklist
Copyright page
Reads "First Edition".
The code on page 823
T39, in the inner margin of the last page. Read it alongside the copyright page rather than instead of it — a first printing carries both.
Publisher, year and size of the printing
Doubleday, 1978. 823 pages, from a first printing of 70,000 copies.
Jacket price
$12.95.
What does not make it a first edition
The 1990 "Complete and Uncut" edition
A different book rather than a later printing of this one. Doubleday published it in 1990 at $24.95, in a run of 400,000, and its copyright page reads "First Trade Edition" — wording close enough to the real thing to catch a hurried reader. The 1978 text is the shorter one; roughly a quarter of what King wrote was cut from it, and the 1990 edition is where that material was restored.
Variants and states
First edition, 1978
Doubleday, 70,000 copies at $12.95. The abridged text.
Complete and Uncut, 1990
Doubleday, 400,000 copies at $24.95, stating "First Trade Edition" on the copyright page. The restored text.
Think you have one?
Photograph the cover and the copyright page and FirstFinder will work out the edition and printing, then price it against copies that actually sold. What a specific copy is worth depends on its condition and its jacket, which is why there is no single number on this page.
Check your copyOther identification guides
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- How to identify a first edition of East of Eden — John Steinbeck
- How to identify a first edition of The Great Gatsby — F. Scott Fitzgerald
- How to identify a first edition of Gone with the Wind — Margaret Mitchell
- How to identify a first edition of Pet Sematary — Stephen King
- How to identify a first edition of The Way of Kings — Brandon Sanderson
- How to identify a first edition of It — Stephen King
- How to identify a first edition of Rage — Stephen King
- How to identify a first edition of The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger — Stephen King
- How to identify a first edition of The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower — Stephen King
Sources
- The Stand — stephenkingcollector.com — accessed 2026-09-09