Stephenkingcollector.com Forums

if the boards are black binding (w/gold gilt lettering) and red boards, and code S52 in gutter - seems to me like it would be a first. but for $85 how could the he go wrong? great deal IMO.

If the copyright page doesn't state 'First Edition' then it's no first edition, in my opinion. The copyright page statement takes precedence over the gutter code and the board colours (again, my opinion). In fact, I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one copy of Night Shift that was definitely a BCE with the S52 gutter code before.

But in the end, all that counts is that a collector is happy with what he purchased.

I remember hearing an UNCONFIRMED report somewhere that some early BC editions were taken from extra printings of the 1st edition. (Obviously with either a modified or price clipped DJ).

If that is really the case then I would also look to the copyright page over the gutter code. The prevailing theory is that the gutter code represents the year and week that the book was printed.

So what's possible here is that this book came from the same print run as the 1st edition but was sold off as a BC for distribution.