Do you have a first edition of any of the Harry Potter books? If so, you may find yourself with a small fortune if you’re willing to part ways with it.
Recently, a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, a discarded library book, was purchased for $1.22 at a library sale before being auctioned off for about $34,600. Talk about a profit margin!
Harry Potter And The Philosopher’s Stone
You might be wondering how the book was able to be identified as a first edition. The answer is that the original (and quite rare) first-impression copy of the book contains some typos that can help indicate its originality.
For some reason, though the book was printed in both hardcover and paperback, the hardcover editions are much more valuable. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there were thousands of the paperbacks printed while only 500 hardcovers were printed.
The Typo Found In The Book’s Blurb
One of these 500 copies was auctioned off at Hansons Auctioneers, located in London, England. There were three bidders trying to outbid one another for the copy, but only one was able to snag the original book.
So how can you know if you have one of the other 499 hardcover copies? Well, there are some telltale signs. These include:
- The hardcover books were printed by Bloomsbury, and this will be found printed on the title page of the book
- The copyright year that will be listed should say 1997
- The word “philosopher” is not spelled correctly in the book’s blurb
- On page 53, the phrase “1 wand” is accidentally printed twice on the list of Hogwarts students’ list of equipment; one time at the beginning and another at the end
- JK Rowling is listed as Joanne Rowling
An important thing to note is that even if your book does match this description, it must be in good condition on top of all of that.
Do you have one of these precious first-edition copies?
A Typo Found In The Text
