for mr. Mercedes you will see a price on the inside front cover of the dust jacket of 30 dollars. also on the copyright page you will see the number line as 13579108642go to Stephen king collector dot com and click on first edition and gives you good aspects to look for , for verifying 1st editions. also if it doesn't have a price on the dustjacket that's a really good clue its a book club edition or something. definetly not a 1st 1st if no price. also sometimes at places like ollies where they sell new hardcovers for 2 bucks a lot of them have remainder marks on them. usually and ink slash or dot across the side top or back of paper. not really sure what a remainder mark is and why but even if its a first first if it has that mark on it it kills the collectiblility of it and value.