Rare Harry Potter Paperback Sets New World Record at Auction
Jim Spencer with the paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
A pristine first edition paperback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has set a new world record selling for £17,000 at Rare Book Auctions.
The book, which would have cost £4.99 when published, was kept unread in a loft for almost 30 years and had an estimate of £7,000-£10,000.
“Because it had been kept in storage it was in pristine condition," said Jim Spencer from Rare Book Auctions which set the previous record for a first edition paperback which sold for £12,000 last year. "It is amazing to think first edition Harry Potter paperbacks are now achieving almost as much as hardbacks were a decade ago.”
When J.K. Rowling’s debut novel was first published, Bloomsbury printed 500 hardbacks and just over 5,000 paperbacks. The paperback issue had been sent to Katrina McNicol in 1997 to review when she was aged 24 and working on a magazine in the Scottish Highlands. The unread paperback languished on a pile, before ending up in storage.
“It sold to a private UK buyer which is good news for the homegrown book market because the biggest bids for Potter have traditionally always come in from the USA,” said Spencer.
