Stephen King "My Pretty Pony" Slipcased First Edition, First Printing

FINE hardcover book. A wonderful bright clean copy without any marks, writing, or stamps. Clean & straight boards. No attached bookplate or indication of any removed. A well-cared for book, protected from any potential damage. Appears unread with square and tight spine. Sharp outside corners. Near Fine slipcase with some corner flaws and minor edge-wear. his Collector's Grade First Edition of MY PRETTY PONY was limited to only 15,000 copies Knopf Publishers 1989. Stephen King "My Pretty Pony". First Edition, First Printing. Design by Barbara Kruger. This trade first edition was limited to only 15,000 copies. Oversized slipcased edition. The book size is 9.25" x 13.5". 68 pages. Fine hardcover book in a Near Fine slipcase. A first edition of My Pretty Pony is collectible because it sits at the crossroads of scarcity, art-book craftsmanship, and Stephen King’s bibliographic significance. The title exists in two major first‑edition states—both desirable, but for different reasons—and both are produced in ways that make them unusually appealing to serious collectors. "My Pretty Pony" is a short story written by Stephen King and illustrated by the artist Barbara Kruger. It was the sixth publication in the Whitney Museum of American Art artist and writer series. An original limited coffee table book edition of 250 was published in 1988 and was an oversized fine press slip-cased book with stainless steel faced boards and digital clock inset into the front cover. A trade edition of 15,000 was later published by Alfred A. Knopf in 1989. In 1993, the story was included in King's collection Nightmares & Dreamscapes. Plot summary An elderly man, his death rapidly approaching, takes his young grandson up onto a hill behind his house and gives the boy his pocket watch. Then, standing among falling apple blossoms, the man also "gives instruction" on the nature of time: how when you grow up, it begins to move faster and faster, slipping away from you in great chunks if you don't hold tightly onto it. Time is a pretty pony, with a wicked heart. Trivia In his note on the story in Nightmares and Dreamscapes, King says the piece was originally a flashback scene included in a full-length novel-in-progress in which the grandson was now a brutal hitman reflecting on his childhood. The novel was intended to be published under King's Richard Bachman pseudonym, but the author grew disenchanted with the work, and finally scrapped it entirely. King references this concept again in the "Sorry, Right Number" screenplay (also collected in Nightmares and Dreamscapes) where a direction states that a character's "pretty pony has done its fair share of running" (indicating that they have aged relatively rapidly). "My Pretty Pony" is also the name of a fictional indie rock band in "Debasement Tapes", an episode of the TV series Veronica Mars. A Unique Work in King’s Bibliography My Pretty Pony is not a typical Stephen King horror story. It’s a philosophical fable about time, originally created for an art‑book series. The pairing with Barbara Kruger—one of the most influential conceptual artists of the 20th century—makes it stand out: King’s text explores mortality, perception, and the elasticity of time. Kruger’s artwork uses bold, fragmented text and imagery, including the iconic phrase: “Time ain’t got nothing to do with how fast you can count.” This crossover between literature and contemporary art is rare in King’s career, giving the book added cultural and collector significance.