Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1974. First edition. First prinitng, with P6 gutter code on final page and "First Edition on the copyright page. Unclipped dust jacket with the correct $5.95 price. A Fine copy in Near Fine dust jacket. Inscribed by the author: "The George – with best, Stephen King 9/8/79." Jacket with a short quarter inch tear at the base of the spine (no loss and unrepaired). Both panels slightly wavy, but a clean, fresh example overall.

King's first published novel, introducing a major literary talent to the world and setting a high bar for authors of the horror, spooky sci-fi, and the bizarre.

"Although Carrie helped usher in a boom period of huge popularity for horror fiction, it's also a strange and unusual book – uncompromising. Carrie changed the paradigm by announcing a very American form of horror that broke with the past" (VanderMeer). Unlike its peers, this novel took a more naturalized, less stylized approach to its characters. King brought horror into a contemporary space rather than pushing it into a time and place already past. Written when King was twenty-six, a multitude of readers connected with the story of a telekinetic teenager struggling in a household governed by a fanatically religious mother and a school filled with bullies. "The book's power endures," as horror writer Adam Nevill commented in the Guardian. Brought to life in television and film, Carrie remains a horror classic that inspires writers and speaks to readers who identify with Carrie's loneliness, fear, and rage. Fine in Near Fine dust jacket. (Item #8212)