Rowling, J.K. (1997) ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, UK hardback first edition, second printing

Joanne (Kathleen) Rowling (1997) ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘, UK first edition, second printing, published by Bloomsbury. The Wendy Cooling blurb on the front panel; the rear panel has the typos from the first printing corrected as called for. On page 53 the famous double ‘wand’ listing error has been corrected as called for. No dust jacket as issued. One of only 1,000 copies printed [Errington 2017: 4] of which the majority did not survive the passage of time in decent condition.

Condition: very good as our images showcase.  This is NOT an ex-library copy and bears no stamps anywhere inside the book. Also, NO previous owners’ scribbles of any sorts. All pages are present. There are no scribbles inside, no drawings, no graffiti of any sorts. This edition has been printed on cheap paper stock and therefore the paper is prone to natural ageing of which this copy is no exception. The page block edges are yellowed/ darkened commensurate with age. Slight cosmetic restoration to spine and corners to restore some rubbing. This restoration work was done by a UK based leading professional book restorer. As such the book presents in near fine condition. However, we list the condition as very good to factor in the restoration. Fair value considering that not ex-libris first edition copies fetch this price multiple times over.

Rowling and Harry Potter need no further introduction. The most popular children fantasy series of the last decades which sold hundreds of million copies world wide in its over 60 languages to date. Perhaps Rowling’s most important credit is that with the captivating story of a young wizard boy named Harry Potter she made reading cool again for an entire generation of kids which grew up on electronic media entertainment.