A RARE copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is set to cast a spell at auction.
Estimated at £3,000 to £4,000, the softcover first edition of the boy wizard’s literary debut goes under the hammer with Richard Winterton Auctioneers on 13th April.
Seller Naveed Younas, 37, from Nottingham, said he received the paperback as a present when he was small.
He said:
“I liked it very much, read it quite a lot and went on to read the other Harry Potter books in due course.
“It has been left on my shelf for a few years now and I thought this would be a good time to pass on to someone else who will appreciate it.”
There were 5,150 copies of the first edition first impression softcover of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone printed by Bloomsbury in June 1997.
Five hundred hardback copies containing the same text were also issued.
Robert French, valuer at Richard Winterton Auctioneers, said:
“This well-thumbed example has clearly been much-loved and read repeatedly – exactly what it was printed to do.
“There are some interesting anomalies which identify a first edition first printing of the book, either soft or hard cover.
“For example, on page 53 is a list of school supplies Harry receives from Hogwarts where ‘1 wand’ appears twice, at the start and again at the end.
“On the back cover there is a letter ‘o’ missing from the word philosopher’s and it also refers to ‘Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft’, which was later swapped around to ‘Witchcraft and Wizardry’.”
The catalogue goes live online a week before the sale date at www.richardwinterton.co.uk/auctions/auction-calendar.