"SCARE ME!": GRAPHIC HORROR IN A LIMITED EDITION SIGNED BY STEPHEN KING & OTHERS, ONE OF ONLY 52 COPIES

(KING, Stephen, et al.). CAMPITI, David, editor. CASTLE, Mort, editor. J.N. Williamson's Illustrated Masques. Colorado Springs: Gauntlet Publications, (2011). Octavo, original full black leather, original dust jacket, original maroon leather traycase. $1400.

Deluxe signed limited first edition, copy PPC of only 52 lettered copies printed, signed by most of the artists and all of the contributing writers, including Stephen King and Clive Barker.

J.N. Williamson (1932-2005)—whose rallying cry was "Scare me!"—edited the outstanding horror anthology series Masques, some of the best stories from which were adapted into graphic form in two 1992 issues of horror comics and then collected in this lavish production of "superbly painted and brilliantly scripted pages." This deluxe production features one newly illustrated story (F. Paul Wilson's "Soft"), accompanied by a laid-in lenticular art card signed by Wilson on the reverse. The volume includes an illustrated version of Stephen King's story "Popsy," which first appeared in his collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. The story was described as the Bangor Daily News as "simply wonderful" and was adapted into a film by Canadian director Jon Mann in 2019. Signatures include Paul Dale Anderson, editor/contributor/book designer David Campiti, Mort Castle, Stephen King, John Maclay, Robert R. McCammon, Wayne Allen Sallee and Robert E. Weinberg; of the artists (Clive Barker, Mark Evans, Apriyadi Kusbiantoro, Ted Naifeh, Mike Okamoto, José Pimentel, Matt Thompson and Tim Vigil), everyone except Kusbiantoro signed. Barker's signature is grouped with the writers, while King's signature stands alone on its own page. A signed, numbered edition of 500 copies (not signed by King) and a trade edition appeared in the same year, no priority established.

A very nearly fine copy, upper outer corners slightly bumped.