Rowling, J.K. (1998) ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets’, UK signed first edition

Joanne Kathleen Rowling (1998) ‘Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets‘, UK first edition, first printing, published by Bloomsbury with the first state dust jacket. Signed and inscribed by the author on the dedication page: “To Gillian – watch out for Ginny in this book! J.K. Rowling”. Beautiful inscription refering to Ginny Weasley in the story who opens the ‘Chamber of Secrets’.

Condition: a near fine copy in like dust jacket. No previous owner’s names, no scribbles, no bookplates, no stamps. The boards are clean with only slight shelf wear (light pushes to spine ends). The first state dust jacket is in very nice condition.

This is the second book in the seminal Harry Potter series that took the world by storm causing Pottermania everywhere. According to the publisher and printer (Clays Ltd), only 706 copies made up the first print run (see Philip W. Errington (2007) ‘J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography’, pp. 65-67). Most likely, however, the print run was much higher as unsigned copies are not so uncommon, perhaps as high as 7060 copies and Bloomsbury lost a zero in their records. ‘Chamber of Secrets’ won the British Children Book of the Year Award in 1998 following Rowling’s success with ‘Philosopher’s Stone’ in 1997. Adapted as a blockbuster film in 2002. The rest is fairytale history for Rowling and the Harry Potter franchise.