"STEPHEN KING'S GREATEST SHORT STORIES PRESENTED IN A WAY NEVER BEFORE IMAGINED"

KING, Stephen. CHADBOURNE, Glenn, illustrator. The Secretary of Dreams. Baltimore: Cemetery Dance, 2006-2010. Two volumes. Folio, original brown faux leather, original dust jackets, original matching slipcases. $2200.

Deluxe "gift" first edition, each volume one of only 5000 copies printed, of Stephen King stories in graphic novel format, illustrated by acclaimed Maine-based horror and fantasy artist Glenn Chadbourne.

Each volume is one of only 5000 copies of the oversized, slipcased "gift edition," with the two books designed in complementary orange and purple color schemes. The 12 stories included are "Home Delivery," "Jerusalem's Lot," "The Reach," "The Monkey," "Strawberry Spring" and "In the Deathroom" (all heavily illustrated) and "The Road Virus Heads North," "Rainy Season," "Uncle Otto's Truck," "Gray Matter," "One for the Road" and "Nona" (all in full graphic format for the first time ever). As the publisher notes, "not one word from King's original manuscripts has been left out. Instead Chadbourne presents the stories through a variety of techniques: traditional paragraphs of text merged directly into the artwork, handwritten bursts of dialogue to convey emotion, and even multiple fonts to match the mood of each scene." Fangoria called the first volume Cemetery Dance's "most ambitious and unique King-related work yet … Chadbourne's art is incredibly intricate, unmistakably unique and marvelously atmospheric, adding a somber yet blackly witty tone to the written words." Each volume issued in the same year as a signed and traycased edition of 750 copies and a signed lettered edition of 52 copies, no priority established. Dust jackets presumably variant issues, each with spine lettering of the author's name matching tones from front panels. Brooks A94 & A96.

Books in fine condition; dust jackets near-fine.