Charlie the Choo Choo

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misery chastain loves co.

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Brewer,ME
I searched and searched for a thread but didn't find one. Please integrate if one does indeed exist.
There has been much discussion on this particular book. For example the SDCC version which originally sold for over a thousand dollars upon it's release, being the true first edition, then the trade edition being released with some versions having an "anomaly" and Waterstone's in the UK released a slipcased trade with a "signed" limited print that ran 1000. I have ordered that and also the US trade from CD along with their slipcase because I'll be getting it remarqued by Ned.
Many theories are flying about the limited print from Waterstone's as it was signed by "Beryl Evans". Some say it was King, some say it could be Tabitha, Joe, or Owen. Maybe Ned. Hell, it could just be a Waterstone employee.
Maybe Moderator is allowed to shed some light on this?
If not, has anyone bought this version and what do you think?
I just think the entire concept of this book in general is awesome. Such a cool idea!
 

Moderator

Ms. Mod
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Jul 10, 2006
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I searched and searched for a thread but didn't find one. Please integrate if one does indeed exist.
There has been much discussion on this particular book. For example the SDCC version which originally sold for over a thousand dollars upon it's release, being the true first edition, then the trade edition being released with some versions having an "anomaly" and Waterstone's in the UK released a slipcased trade with a "signed" limited print that ran 1000. I have ordered that and also the US trade from CD along with their slipcase because I'll be getting it remarqued by Ned.
Many theories are flying about the limited print from Waterstone's as it was signed by "Beryl Evans". Some say it was King, some say it could be Tabitha, Joe, or Owen. Maybe Ned. Hell, it could just be a Waterstone employee.
Maybe Moderator is allowed to shed some light on this?
If not, has anyone bought this version and what do you think?
I just think the entire concept of this book in general is awesome. Such a cool idea!
My guess is it was the same actress who signed as Beryl Evans at SDCC, but have an email in to my contact at Hodder. I don't know if she will be able to help me or not as I'm not 100% certain that Hachette Children's Group is an imprint of Hodder.
 

Lilja

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Jul 11, 2006
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Here is what Waterstones Customer Support has to say about the limited Charlie the Choo Choo:

- The official line is that this is a “scripted signature”.
- In the US, the actress was presented as Beryl and signed the prints using “Beryl’s signature”.
- The same signature appears on the prints, but it was a third person who held the pen.
- To be clear, Stephen King did not sign them.

Lilja
 

misery chastain loves co.

MORE Count Chocula please.....
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Brewer,ME
My guess is it was the same actress who signed as Beryl Evans at SDCC, but have an email in to my contact at Hodder. I don't know if she will be able to help me or not as I'm not 100% certain that Hachette Children's Group is an imprint of Hodder.
I believe it is a Hodder imprint. There were some guesses that it was her so perhaps that is right. Someone had posted who it was but they were asked to pull their comment which of course hasn't helped the curiosity.
 

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Ms. Mod
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I believe it is a Hodder imprint. There were some guesses that it was her so perhaps that is right. Someone had posted who it was but they were asked to pull their comment which of course hasn't helped the curiosity.
I've heard back from Hodder and it is one of their imprints but I don't have info about who signed them yet. Lilja did post info above from Waterstone's but I can't verify they've given out accurate information.
 

misery chastain loves co.

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I've heard back from Hodder and it is one of their imprints but I don't have info about who signed them yet. Lilja did post info above from Waterstone's but I can't verify they've given out accurate information.
That's what I'm thinking....it might not be so accurate which makes me ponder...why all of the secrecy? :devil:
 

misery chastain loves co.

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Jul 31, 2011
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Brewer,ME
Steve did it. Steve gets blamed for everything. Seriously, I don't have any idea who put pen to paper on this one. My order is on the way right now. What anamoly(ies) are there with this book? I haven't heard/seen anything about any of that.....
Apparently this was discovered by Dave over at Overlook Connection who is now selling this "anomaly" version for $190.00 :confused:
Here is what he wrote:
We have discovered that the very “first” printing of Charlie the Choo-Choo by Stephen King, under his pseudonym Beryl Evans, was inadvertently printed without the Simon & Schuster information on the back, and without a UPC for a short print run. A UPC sticker was applied to correct this, but the Simon & Schuster information was left off. We also discovered that the printing of the interior also has a different printing numbered line.
The printing numbers shows as thus: 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
The copyright page features ISBN 9781471163777 - this does not correspond to the US or UK edition. Both feature different ISBNs. Looking this ISBN up the master list has no information applied to it. The copyright page in this edition is slightly shorter, and very different than the regular first edition. It begins that it was printed for Great Britain in 2016, and then states it was printed for the US in 2016, again, different than the regular first printing.


This anomaly edition was obviously a mistake, and they stopped the presses to correct this error. After correcting this mistake, the publisher continued the printing of the first print run. This updated first printing still show a first, but the line now reads: 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 9, 7, 5, 3, 1, which is the back and forth numbered line version. The UPC and Simon & Schuster publisher information placed in the bottom right and left corners on the back as it was supposed to appear.


With this information we’ve only discovered there are a handful of these but we’ll probably never know the exact quantity. This means both the interior and the cover were printed independently of other editions with these anomalies, making this the true first printing. The first printing of this book is just over 30,000 copies (this would include the Anomaly printing), according to my publisher source direct from Simon and Schuster. Again, no information of how many Anomaly copies were printed before they caught the mistake, but it couldn't have been many. As I publish this in early December the publisher informed us that Charlie the Choo-Choo has just gone into a third printing.
 

misery chastain loves co.

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Jul 31, 2011
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Brewer,ME
I ordered one from Waterstone which is on its way. Also ordered from CD. not sure when that comes.
The CD one will show up in about two years ;-D
Seriously though, I love Brian, Mindy, Dan, Richard, and co, I think I have 20 things pre ordered with them right now but they can be a tad on the slower side with getting things out :0:
 

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The "first" printings were done for Sony (not Simon & Schuster) for the San Diego Comic Con to promote The Dark Tower but I don't know if that's the first printing he's referring to. That's why there wasn't any publisher info or UPC sticker.
 

misery chastain loves co.

MORE Count Chocula please.....
Jul 31, 2011
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Brewer,ME
The "first" printings were done for Sony (not Simon & Schuster) for the San Diego Comic Con to promote The Dark Tower but I don't know if that's the first printing he's referring to. That's why there wasn't any publisher info or UPC sticker.
He posted this when the trade edition came out so I think he's referring to this "anomaly" being in the S&S edition.
(I HAVE to put that anomaly word in quotes every time because this is simply getting out of hand ;-D)
 

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Ms. Mod
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Jul 10, 2006
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He posted this when the trade edition came out so I think he's referring to this "anomaly" being in the S&S edition.
(I HAVE to put that anomaly word in quotes every time because this is simply getting out of hand ;-D)
I should check our copies to see if we have some of those. We should probably keep them separated from others if we do.