"WHAT'S BEHIND THE DOOR OR LURKING AT THE TOP OF THE STAIRS IS NEVER AS FRIGHTENING AS THE DOOR OR THE STAIRCASE ITSELF": STEPHEN KING'S FIRST NONFICTION BOOK, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR

KING, Stephen. Danse Macabre. New York: Everest House, (1981). Octavo, original red paper boards, original dust jacket. $3200.

True first edition, preceding the limited edition, of "perhaps the best personal account yet written of the broad appeal of the horror genre," inscribed by Stephen King to author, educator and political scientist Arnold Rogow: "For Arnold Rogow—Best, Stephen King 1/15/82."

King's survey of horror in literature, films and television includes incisive discussions of such subjects as Bram Stoker's Dracula, Tod Browning's Freaks, the work of Ray Bradbury, The Exorcist, Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, The Amityville Horror, Rod Serling's Twilight Zone, flying saucer films of the 1950s and more. King also includes autobiographical sketches of his initiation into horror, and comments about his own bestselling books and their place within the horror tradition. In his opening, he writes: "For me, the terror—the real terror… began on an afternoon in October of 1957. I had just turned ten. And, as was only fitting, I was in a movie theater." Stephen King cites Shirley Jackson's novel The Haunting of Hill House and Henry James's The Turn of the Screw as "the only two great novels of the supernatural in the last hundred years." It is likely that King's assessment contributed to the resurgence of interest in Shirley Jackson's fiction in recent years. To critics, Danse Macabre is "an important and readable volume and perhaps the best personal account yet written of the broad appeal of the horror genre" (Fantasy and Horror 11-42); the work won the 1982 Hugo Award for Best Non-Fiction Book. With numerous black-and-white photographic illustrations. First edition, with code "RRD281" on copyright page, preceding the limited edition of 265 copies. Brooks A12. Collings D1. Ketchum, Levack & Levin 6.

Book in fine condition, in a near-fine dust jacket with minimal edge wear. A bright, fresh inscribed copy.