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Dear John: In your email newletter, you noted that Stephen King's Pet Sematary is now available for order. I have two inquiries regarding it: 1) From a book collector's persepctive, other than simply collecting it because it is a Stephen King book and one wants to have a copy of anything he has ever published, what is the value of a first edition of a book that was previously published decades ago vs. the value of the "true" first edition of that book? 2) Other than money, can you speculate as to why King would now be re-publishing some of his earlier works? Thanks for taking the time to read and respond to my inquiries. John H. John replies: Hi John - Obviously, the 1983 Doubleday first edition is the most desirable. Unfortunately, they have become scarce and a collectible copy can bring as much as $500. Most used copies have worn jackets making them unsatisfactory. Publishers have attempted to fill demand for King's earlier titles by reissuing them. Their value is as a placeholder in a collection or simply fills the need for those readers who want a hardcover edition. It is not uncommon for popular authors to reissue hardcover editions of their earlier titles. We simply provide them as a courtesy to our customers. John Ask John at: [email protected] Read articles about book collecting Read John's answers to book collecting questions Receive our Book Collecting PDFs and newsletters Sign up for our Book Club Follow us on Twitter Follow us on Facebook Watch our Videos