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

Joanne (Kathleen) Rowling (1997) ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘, UK first edition, first printing, published by Bloomsbury. Signed by the author on the dedication page. The true hardback first edition with all first issue points present: the Wendy Cooling blurb on the front panel; the rear panel bears the typo with an ‘o’ missing in “Philosopher’s” and “Hogwarts School of Wizardy and Witchcraft” instead of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy. Page 53 lists ‘wand’ twice as called for. No dust jacket as issued. One of only 500 copies printed of which the majority – about 300 – went into public libraries [Errington 2017: p4]. This is one of the 200 NOT ex-library copies and bears no stamps anywhere inside the book. Judging by the author’s signature style the book was signed in 1998 or 1999.

Condition: an original copy in very good condition, NOT restored in any way. No library or previous owners’ stamps anywhere inside the book. All pages are present. There are no scribbles inside, no drawings, no graffiti of any sorts. Boards are bumped at the corners, slight colour fade to the spine but not excessive. Usual toning to the pages commensurate with age.

J.K. 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. A highly coveted book and we are proud to be able to offer this signed copy. Based on past auction ocurrence we estimate that only about ten percent or less first edition hardback copies have been signed by the author.