Published in 1986, It was Stephen King’s 22^nd book and the 17^th written under his name. His first published novel, Carrie, appeared in 1973 though it was actually the fourth he wrote, on a a portable typewriter belonging to his wife. It tells of seven children as they are terrorized by an evil entity that exploits the fears of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. I have read it once, in my twenties, and it terrified me. I was unable to sleep for days afterwards and have not seen the films, though I still own the paperback.

My paperback [above] is the 1987 New English Library edition with the cover line ‘The Terrifying New Bestseller’.

The first edition [above left] was first published in the USA by Viking on September 15, 1986. King first thought of the story in 1978 and began writing it in 1981. His original concept was that the title character would live in the local sewer system, inspired by the Norwegian folk tale Three Billy Goats Gruff, who lived beneath a bridge.

The current UK edition [above] is published by Hodder.
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The story
During a heavy rainstorm, six-year-old Georgie Denbrough sails a paper boat – made for him by his brother – along the rainy streets before it washed into a storm drain. Peering into the drain, George sees a pair of glowing yellow eyes. It is an eccentric clown who introduces himself as Mr Bob Gray, or Pennywise the Dancing Clown. Georgie declines a balloon but is enticed by Pennywise to reach into the drain and retrieve his boat,. The clown rips off the child’s arm and leaves Georgie to die.

Other editions

Films

Watch the trailers for the 1990 two-part mini-television series and the 2017 film [above]
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If you like old books, check out these:-
‘Couples’ by John Updike
‘The Moonstone’ by Wilkie Collins
‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Golding

And if you’d like to tweet a link to THIS post, here’s my suggested tweet:
First Edition IT by @StephenKing #oldbooks #bookcovers https://wp.me/p5gEM4-4ak via @SandraDanby