Rare, 1st edition 'Harry Potter' book goes up for private sale at Christie's
The first edition copy of ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’ is signed by JK Rowling
A rare copy of the first Harry Potter book is going up for private sale at Christie’s in London, with initial offers starting from $250,000 (200,000 pounds).
The first edition copy of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone" is one of 500 hardback copies from the initial print in 1997.
Of the initial print, 300 copies were sent to libraries, according to Reuters. The book going up for private sale was among the other 200 copies.
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The book – which is signed by author J.K. Rowling – is part of Christie’s upcoming "The Art of Literature: Loan and Selling Exhibition," which is open to the public from June 7-15, Reuters reported.
The edition has some errors, Mark Wiltshire, a printed books specialist and a co-curator of "The Art of Literature" exhibition, told Reuters.
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The errors include the misspelling of the word "philosopher’s" on the back cover and the repetition of the phrase "one wand" on page 53, where the book lists the items pupils are asked to bring to Hogwarts, according to Wiltshire.
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"There were a few things that they seemed to get wrong in the book production," Wiltshire said.
Despite the errors in the initial print, the "Harry Potter" series went on to gain worldwide fame.
"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.
Reuters contributed to this report.