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Harry Potter First Edition Book Riddled With Mistakes Set To Sell For £200,000

Home> News

Published 14:28 4 Jun 2022 GMT+1

Harry Potter First Edition Book Riddled With Mistakes Set To Sell For £200,000

A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is set to sell at auction for over £200,000

Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck

A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is set to sell at auction for over £200,000 ($250,000).

If there was ever a time to get rifling through your cupboards and find the motivation to have a big old sort out, then the chance of finding a book worth nearly a quarter of a million pounds should definitely give you all the oomph you need.

A hardback first edition of the first book in the Harry Potter series is set to go to auction at Christie's in London this month.

And it's not the only one of its kind.

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A rare first edition and signed copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is set to sell at auction for over £200,000.
Alamy

The book features some of the original errors in the manuscript before they were edited out in further editions.

Specialist in printed books and co-curator of the exhibition the book is being auctioned off within, Mark Wiltshire, told Reuters: "There were a few things that they seemed to get wrong in the book production.

"On the back cover, for instance, philosophers, which of course is quite a key word... is misspelt 'philosphers', that 'o', that second 'o' is missing.

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"Also on page 53, in the list of items which pupils are asked to take to Hogwarts with them, 'one wand' is repeated twice."

The book is also signed by the author, J. K. Rowling, herself.

The second 'o' is missing in the title of the book on the back cover.
Alamy

The book is set to be sold in a private auction, however the public will be able to view it on display beforehand.

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It's auctioning as part of the 'Art of Literature: Loan and Selling Exhibition'.

Offers for the hardback start at £200,000.

'1 wand' is repeated twice on page 53.
Alamy

On 26 June, 1997, 500 hardback copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone were printed.

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However, there are only thought to be roughly 200 copies in good condition floating around in people's bookcases.

This is because the other 300 were sent to libraries and so have likely been manhandled multiple times and very well-used and so no longer in tip-top shape.

The copy being sold at auction has also been signed by J.K. Rowling.
Alamy

If books are discovered in good condition, each copy similarly could be worth hundreds of thousands of pounds.

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Wiltshire reflected on the high price: "In many ways, this book is the physical manifestation of a magic memory for so many people and that's what makes it so desirable."

If you don't happen to have a small fortune tucked away for a rainy day, then fear not, because you can still get a peep at the original.

The 'Art of Literature' event at Christie's is open to the public from 7 to 15 June at Christie's London auction house in Westminster.

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Books, Harry Potter, UK News, JK Rowling

Poppy Bilderbeck
Poppy Bilderbeck

Poppy Bilderbeck is a Senior Journalist at LADbible Group. She graduated from The University of Manchester in 2021 with a First in English Literature and Drama, where alongside her studies she was Editor-in-Chief of The Tab Manchester. Poppy is most comfortable when chatting about all things mental health, is proving a drama degree is far from useless by watching and reviewing as many TV shows and films as possible and is such a crisp fanatic the office has been forced to release them in batches.

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