A signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone by J. K. Rowling is being privately auctioned at Christie’s in London.
Harry Potter Novel Up For Auction by Christie’s
There are some errors in this edition and it is one of 500 copies that were released in the initial run in 1997. The starting bid is $250,000 (£200,000). 300 of the initial copies were sent to the libraries.
The novel is part of Christie’s upcoming exhibition “The Art of Literature: Loan and Selling Exhibition.” It will be open from June 7th to the 15th.
“There were a few things that they seemed to get wrong in the book production,” Mark Wiltshire, a co-curator of The Art of Literature said.
“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. Also on page 53, in the list of items which pupils are asked to take to Hogwarts with them, ‘one wand’ is repeated twice.”
An Expensive Error
Those errors are going to make a lot of money for Christie. How much do you think the novel is going to fetch?
When the novels first released, nobody would have guessed that they would become a staple of children’s and young adult literature. One of the reasons why the novels did as well as they did was because children loved the books and chose it as their favorite book. Now, Harry Potter is a household name, a blockbuster movie franchise, a theme park, and much more!
“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,” Wiltshire said.
Interesting. Not sure how much it will go for but the typos are what makes it unique.