NEEDFUL THINGS

First edition, first printing. Publisher's original quarter black cloth and black paper covered boards with gilt titles to the upper board and spine, in the rare trial issue Rob Wood illustrated dustwrapper. Illustrated title page by Bill Russell. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm with a little bumping at the spine tips, the boards bright and fresh. The contents are clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed and creased dustwrapper that is without fading, loss or tears.

The dustwrapper is in what we assume to be a trial state and differs from the regular first edition in several respects. The lettering on the upper panel, metallic foil on the regular trade edition, is here printed in brown. The publisher's price at the top of the front flap here reads US $35.00 / Canada $49.00 (the regular issue is priced US $24.95 / Cananda $29.99). The publisher's code to the lower flap is identical on both '1091' for October 1991. The isbn numbers on both are identical, however the bar code numbers differ on the rear panel. There is no barcode to the lower front flap of this issue, there is on the regular issue. The book is identical in every respect to the first printing. The October 1991 first printing of Needful Things is not a rare book, as it was issued in an edition of 1,500,000 copies. This variant or trial state dustwrapper however, seemingly un-recorded, is the first we have encountered.