Later

The census claim is correct in substance and worth stating precisely, because the hardcover trap is severe. The paperback original was published March 2, 2021, simultaneously in the US and UK by Titan Books under its Hard Case Crime imprint — that PBO is the true first edition. The Hard Case Crime / Titan limited hardback followed on March 30, 2021, nearly four weeks later, in three states totaling 2,900 copies: a standard unsigned state of 2,500, a numbered state of 374 signed by King on a tip-in sheet, and a lettered state of 26 signed on a tip-in sheet and housed in a traycase. The hardback carries exclusive Gregory Manchess cover art, eight Rob Gale illustrations, and a Robert Hack mapback — it is a handsome and desirable "first hardcover," but it is a first thus, not the first edition, and its "First Time In Hardcover" marketing is routinely misread as first-edition status. There is no UK-vs-US precedence question here: one publisher issued both territories on the same day.