# Is "Gwendy's Button Box" by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Gwendy's Button Box by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar (Cemetery Dance Publications, Maryland, 2017) is identified by: The first edition is the Cemetery Dance trade hardcover published 16 May 2017 (ISBN 978-1-58767-610-9, approx. The US Cemetery Dance hardcover of 16 May 2017 is the true first; the UK Hodder & Stoughton issue of the same year went on sale in June 2017 and therefore follows.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition is the Cemetery Dance trade hardcover published 16 May 2017 (ISBN 978-1-58767-610-9, approx
- 171 pp.), bound in blue cloth boards with gold debossed titling on the front board and spine, with coloured head and tail bands, a full-colour dust jacket, and interior illustrations by Keith Minnion
- The first printing is identified by 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with no later-printing designation added; the jacket is priced at the flap
- Cemetery Dance went back to press before publication and a second printing shipped in June 2017, with third and fourth printings following from the same setting, so a copy must be checked at the copyright page rather than by jacket or binding, which are unchanged
- Publisher imprint reads Cemetery Dance Publications, Maryland
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Stephen King & Richard Chizmar |
| Publisher | Cemetery Dance Publications, Maryland |
| Year | 2017 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition is the Cemetery Dance trade hardcover published 16 May 2017 (ISBN 978-1-58767-610-9, approx |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first edition is the Cemetery Dance trade hardcover published 16 May 2017 (ISBN 978-1-58767-610-9, approx. 171 pp.), bound in blue cloth boards with gold debossed titling on the front board and spine, with coloured head and tail bands, a full-colour dust jacket, and interior illustrations by Keith Minnion. The first printing is identified by 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with no later-printing designation added; the jacket is priced at the flap. Cemetery Dance went back to press before publication and a second printing shipped in June 2017, with third and fourth printings following from the same setting, so a copy must be checked at the copyright page rather than by jacket or binding, which are unchanged.

## Is this the true first?
The US Cemetery Dance hardcover of 16 May 2017 is the true first; the UK Hodder & Stoughton issue of the same year went on sale in June 2017 and therefore follows. Correcting the census note: Cemetery Dance did not publish signed/limited states at first publication — the trade hardcover was the only Cemetery Dance issue, and the slipcase sometimes seen with it was an aftermarket accessory, not a published state. The oversize slipcased Gift Edition limited to 600 copies, with seven tipped-in colour plates by Vincent Sammy, is from Short, Scary Tales Publications (SST) in the UK and is a 'first edition thus', not a first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No traditional book-club edition exists. The variant to know is the June 2017 Nocturnal Reader's Box subscription issue: it is the Cemetery Dance first edition, first printing in an exclusive alternate dust jacket by Justin Wisniewski printed only for that box, and dealers correctly catalogue it as a first edition with the Nocturnal Reader's Box jacket — a jacket swap, not a club reprint. Later mass-market and UK paperback issues are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Gwendy's Button Box* by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/gwendys-button-box
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.