The Stand by King, Stephen - 1978

New York: Doubleday, 1978 First edition, first printing. Publisher's black cloth-backed gold boards, titles in gilt to spine; original tan dust jacket, lettered in black and red, with John Cayea illustration to front panel. Very good with a touch of fading to spine ends, light soiling to rear board and top edge of text block, tiny spot of soiling to rear endpaper, previous owner’s bookplate to front pastedown; very good unclipped dust jacket with light toning to spine, light creasing and a few small closed tears to edges and spine ends, minor tape reinforcement to spine ends and jacket flap hinges on verso. Overall, a pleasing copy of Stephen King’s magnum opus. The Stand, written by famed horror author Stephen King, begins when a deadly chemically-engineered virus is accidentally released from a U.S. Department of Defense laboratory. In the ensuing pandemic, a host of survivors align into opposing camps of good and evil, as society is reduced to a brutal and supernatural battleground. King drew inspiration for this novel from a variety of sources, including J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings, the Patty Hearst trial, and a preacher's spirited warning of a coming plague on the radio. In 1990, King released the Complete and Uncut Edition, which added 400 pages to the already lengthy novel and shifted the setting from 1980 to 1990. Many consider The Stand to be the greatest achievement of the author, who penned such modern-day horror classics as The Shining, Carrie, and It. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good/Dust Jacket Included.