A first edition, first impression of J.K. Rowling’s ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ is to be sold in Tennants Auctioneers’ Books, Maps and Ephemera Sale on 28th July with an estimate of £20,000-30,000 plus buyer’s premium.
A sought-after volume in exceptional condition, the book was one of 500 case-bound copies printed in the first run, and it demonstrates all the requisite points of identification: the copyright page is dated 1997, with the numberline down to 1 and with the author credited as 'Joanne Rowling'; page 53 has the error '1 wand' repeated; and the rear cover features the misprints 'Wizardry and Witchcraft' (for 'Witchcraft and Wizardry') and 'Philospher's Stone'.
Of the 500 copies of the preferred case-bound issue, 300 were sent to libraries and experienced a high rate of loss and damage. This present copy was bought by the vendors in 1997, the year of release, from Dillons in Nottingham, the premises remembered under its original trading name of Sisson and Parker.
