Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1975. First edition. First printing, Q37 gutter code on p. 439 and "First Edition" on copyright page. In the second state jacket, with "Father Cody" (rather than "Father Callahan"), and $7.95 price. A Fine copy in Near Fine dust jacket. A trace of foxing to edges of closed text block. Dust jacket with spine sunned (red around letters mostly faded away) and a scratch to spine fold. Still, presenting very well.

'Salem's Lot, Stephen King's second novel after Carrie, follows a struggling writer as he returns to Maine hometown to work on a novel, only to discover that it is being slowly overtaken by vampires. King wrote the novel while teaching Dracula to his students at a high school in Maine. The experience inspired to write a twentieth-century vampire novel that would put a fresh spin on the genre.

Peter Straub, who later co-wrote three novels with King, described the experience of coming across 'Salem's Lot in a bookstore for the first time: "If I had known that the book was about vampires, I might not have bought it. But I did buy it, and when I learned that one of the main characters was a vampire, it hit me like a ton of bricks. I thought, 'Oh my God, this guy is working with a very tired, almost exhausted, trope and he’s making something really vibrant out of it.' So I became a huge Stephen King fan on the spot...I wrote to him and said, 'You’re as good as it can get. I hope people notice how exciting your books are'" (University School of Milwaukee). Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. (Item #8211)