Stephen King, Peter Straub "The Talisman" Slipcased Signed Limited Edition "Designer's Copy" of only 5 w/Publisher Letter

Personally signed by Stephen King, Peter Straub, and the 10 illustrators. Included hand-written note by Thomas Canty. 

ONE OF NOT MORE THAN 5 "DESIGNER'S COPY" (STATED ON THE LIMITATION PAGE), GIVEN TO THE ARTIST THOMAS CANTY, WHO DESIGNED "THE TALISMAN".

This book is labelled "DESIGNER'S COPY".  Includes a hand-written note by Thomas Canty, dated "Winter 1985"

Presenting two beautiful volumes for the collector of uniquely fine books.

Donald M. Grant Publishers 1984. "The Talisman" Stephen King and Peter Straub. Signed limited edition. Personally signed by both authors, Stephen King and Peter Straub, along with the 10 illustrators. Includes hand-written note by Thomas Canty directly onto the title page. This is the rare DESIGNER'S COPY of only 5 which were given to the artist Thomas Canty who designed "The Talisman".  Two hardcover volumes slipcased.  Volume One: 463 pp. Volume Two: 334 pp. Deluxe Edition -- issued after the trade edition by Viking Press. Bound in cream cloth with gray pictorial endpapers; bright gilt lettering and ruled boxes, with blind-stamped decoration, to the spines and front boards; and a sepia-tone illustration mounted to each front board.

Includes letter (and original envelope) dated 29 March 1999. Signed by Robert K. Wiener, President of DMG Publishers.

Signed by both authors along with the 10 illustrators directly onto the limitation page: 

1. Richard Berry
2. Thomas Canty
3. Ned Dameron
4. Stephen Gervais
5. Jeffrey Jones
6. R.J. Krupowicz
7. Don Maitz
8. Rowena Morrill
9. Bernie Wrighton
10. Phil Hale

Illustrated throughout with 11 full-color plates, including 4 two-page spreads (all present and intact, featuring work by Jeffrey Jones, Rowena Morrill, Thomas Canty, Berni Wrightson, Don Maitz, Stephen Gervais, Ned Dameron, Richard Berry, Phil Hale, and R. J. Krupowicz). Two fine copies!

The Talisman

The Talisman is a 1984 fantasy novel by American writers Stephen King and Peter Straub. The plot is not related to that of Walter Scott's 1825 novel of the same name, although there is one oblique reference to "a Sir Walter Scott novel." The Talisman was nominated for the Locus and World Fantasy Awards in 1985. King and Straub followed up with a sequel, Black House (2001), that picks up with a now-adult Jack as a retired Los Angeles homicide detective trying to solve a series of murders in the small town of French Landing, Wisconsin.

Original issue price in 1984 was $120. This book charts the adventure of a twelve year old boy named Jack Sawyer. The young hero sets out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding an artifact called "the Talisman." The premise of the novel involves the existence of a parallel world to Earth, called "the Territories" (a strange fantasy world with ties to King's "The Dark Tower"). Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," or parallel individuals, in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and (it is intimated) other major life events are usually paralleled.

Publication history

The idea of writing The Talisman first took form when Stephen King moved with his family to London in early 1977. It was there he met Peter and Susan Straub, and their children. The two writers became friends, both being fans of each other's work. King and his family left London three months later to return to the United States. Straub and King had talked multiple times before about collaborating to write a book, but nothing ever surfaced until years after King returned stateside, when the Straubs also moved to the United States. According to King, they began collaborating. Their literary friendship continued after The Talisman was published; in 1999 they began working on the sequel, Black House (2001), which deals with Sawyer as an adult. The book's sequel Black House presents a retcon that the Territories are a parallel to All-World. This is made most clear by King's introduction to The Little Sisters of Eluria where he states the pavilion where Jack Sawyer meets Sophie is the same one in The Little Sisters.[2]