Is there a very easy way to tell if a particular copy is an original? I recently picked up a copy for less than $20, and would like to know if I got a steal, or just a decent deal.

Woohoo!! Thanks! I have, indeed, a 1st print, as the final page lists "Booty List" and counts up to 93. Yay!

Well, the last copy I was able to track down online had a starting purchase bid of $90. I thought that was just a bit much, but also figured the average price was around $35 for 1st print, dropping down for later "editions." Glad to know I have the 1st printing, though. And, it makes me feel smart for getting it for almost half what I assumed was average. :)

Interesting.  The concept of a "First Print" Dark Tower is relatively new.  

Used to be guys were happy just to have any print of Dark Tower.

And...just to crow a bit more....

My two copies of Dark Tower cost $9.99 and $5.00 respectively.

The $9.99 one was on Amazon.  The $5.00 one was on Ebay...and I was the only bidder (just a year or so ago).

Has anyone else noticed a trend....one that I have noticed?

Specifically, there seem to have been a disproportionate number of copies of Dark Tower on Ebay from sellers in Oregon and Washington.

Has anyone else noticed that?

It's possible that I just have selective memory and a geographic bias, but it seems like an unusually large percentage of all Judges Guild rares come from sellers in the Pacific Northwest.

Yes, yes...Seattle is the location of WOTC...but the sellers do not appear to be game industry executives.  It just seems like Judges Guild seeped deeper into the gaming scene in the Northwest than in other areas of the country.  Certainly, a strange number of Dark Tower, Wilderlands and City State publications reached the far Western edge of the world.

One exception would be the state of Texas, which has huge warehouses of JG stuff.

Also, the Southeastern United States seems to have cornered the market in 90% of the extant copies of Tarantis.

Your thoughts?

Oh, believe me, I am happy to have a copy of Dark Tower, but even more happy that its the original one. Now, I don't have to get other copies. (My fiancée is the completest; I'm just a "want it to play it," so if I get an earliest version, it saves time and money.)