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

Joanne (Kathleen) Rowling (1997) ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘, UK first edition, first printing, published by Bloomsbury. 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 went into public libraries. This is an ex-library copy bearing a West Sussex Libraries stamp on the copyright page with a ‘Withdrawn For Sale’ stamp in red to indicate that the book was sold by the public library.

Condition: very good as our images showcase. There are only two stamps in the book: 1) the ‘West Sussex Libraries’ stamp in black ink which displays the history of the book (its location in the library, approximate time of acquisition, supplier); and 2) a ‘Withdrawn For Sale’ stamp in red directly over the former stamp. No further stamps anywhere inside the book. There are no library pockets glued onto the pages. 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 commensurate with age, and we find sporadic yellowish spots occuring on some of the pages inside as a result of the acid content in the paper. The spots are found mostly on the first and last pages with a few spots deep inside the book as the image of pages 110-111 examplifies. The boards do not show any bumps. A conservation expert has undertaken mild restoration to the boards in order to restore minor rubbing and colour loss to the edges. Certainly one of the better ex-library copies.

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 we are proud to be able to offer a copy in very decent condition.

Stored in a safety deposit box outside our premises