He spent 20 years collecting rare Stephen King books. Then the nightmare became real

After 20 years, Gerald Winters had collected nearly every book by Stephen King imaginable, including manuscripts and first editions.

He moved from Thailand to King’s hometown of Bangor, Maine, just over a year ago to pursue his dream of opening a rare book store featuring his collection, according to The Bangor Daily News. Then a water main burst Tuesday on the street outside his business.

The broken main flooded his basement, where Winters had temporarily stored most of his collection while he reorganized his shop, WGME reported. He had no time to save anything.

"I looked down the stairs and I saw the water level rising up to the stairs,” Winters told the station. “I would have drowned in the water if I tried to have gone down."

The flood destroyed about 2,000 books and original manuscripts for seven of King’s works, including “Dolan’s Cadillac,” Maximum Overdrive” and “The Eyes of the Dragon,” Winters told WGME. First- and limited-edition King books, galleys, signed copies and prints in different languages also were lost. In all, Winters lost about 90 percent of his inventory.

“You can’t replace this stuff,” he told The Bangor Daily News. His collection also had included signed copies of works by J.R.R. Tolkein and George R.R. Martin, some dating back 80 years.

On Wednesday, King told the publication he was “horrified” by the news. “As a book lover, my heart goes out to him,” King said. “I will eventually reach out and see if I can help in any way.”

King, 70, has written more than 100 books, many of which have been adapted for television and film, including “Misery,” “The Shining,” “The Shawshank Redemption” and the recent release of “It.”

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 4:37 PM with the headline "He spent 20 years collecting rare Stephen King books. Then the nightmare became real."