KING, Stephen Christine

“PAST THE CHROME GRIN OF THE CAR’S WIDE RADIATOR GRILLE CAN BE GLIMPSED THE JAWS OF HELL ITSELF”

8vo., black publisher’s boards, spine lettered typographically in gilt to spine with publisher’s device to foot; housed in the original unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (£8.95 net to front flap) featuring an illustration by Gerald Grace and a design by Ian Hughes; pp. [viii], 482, [vi]; the book near-fine, tiny bump to foot of spine and a couple of light spots to the upper edge of the text block and the first couple of prelim pages; the wrapper similarly near-fine, a couple of light creases and scratches, with corner crease to front flap, possibly to once obscure the price. The book is now housed in a custom-made red clamshell case by Wyvern Bindery, lettered in black and silver to spine with black velvet inlays. 

First UK edition. This copy warmly inscribed by the author in the year of publication to the ffep: “To Patricia / with best wishes / Stephen King / 5/11/83”. 

King’s thirteenth horror novel, a relatively early work in his now prolific line of some 60 books, beginning in 1974 with Carrie. His most recent offering, Other Worlds than These, is due for release next month, October 2026. For this title, King was reportedly inspired while out driving one evening, and watching his odometer change from 9999.9 to 10,000, leading him to imagine a vehicle that became younger instead of older. Christine takes as its focus the character of Arnie Cunningham, a high school student, who buys a red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury which he later discovers is possessed by supernatural forces. As he begins to restore the vehicle to its former glory, his obsession leads him to become “fired by an alien desire for revenge on a hostile world…he becomes no longer the possessor but the possessed”. 

Published just a few years after the great success of Kubrick's adaptation of The Shining, Christine appeared to mixed reviews, and is sometimes referred to as a ‘banned book’, due to the restrictions placed on it by the American Library Association, which challenged its accessibility due to its adult content, profanity, violence and alcohol/drug-related references. In December 1983 a film adaptation appeared, starring Keith Gordon in the lead role. 

A lovely example. 

SKU: 1800236