8vo. Original purple cloth; dust jacket (some minor marginal rubbing to rear).

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE with "P6" gutter code on p.199. INSCRIBED BY KING ON TITLE PAGE, "To David." Inspired in part by two elementary school classmates and his own experiences as a high school teacher, Stephen King began work on Carrie intending to submit it as a short story to one of the men's magazines in which he most often published his work, however after three pages he became uncomfortable with the story and threw it away. It was famously rescued from the garbage bin by King's wife, Tabitha, who encouraged him to finish the story. It was initially published in April 1974 and quickly proved a massive success, kickstarting King's career as one of the bestselling novelists of the twentieth century.