Potter breaks more records
A very young Daniel Radcliffe in the first Harry Potter film
Thursday, 25, Oct 2007 05:47
Not content with smashing records for book sales and box office receipts, the Harry Potter phenomenon has seen another landmark broken today.
A rare signed first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first book in the series - has been sold for a record-breaking £19,700 at Christie's auction house in London.
While many first edition copies of the book are of poor quality, having been bought by libraries, the copy sold today, signed "Joanne Rowling", was in pristine condition.
A publisher's proof copy of the book was also sold today, with a misspelling of author JK Rowling's name on the title page as "JA Rowling" not deterring potential bidders with the manuscript eventually selling for £2,500.
And a signed paperback copy of the novel, again signed by the author, was sold along with a hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second book in the series, for £1,250.
One of the books included in this auction item featured the inscription: "To Ella - I know your Mum!!! And she beat me in the quiz but we won't mention that - love from Jo (aka JK Rowling)."
Crispin Jackson, head of books at Christie's south Kensington branch, told the Guardian that copies of the Philosopher's Stone were extremely valuable.
"From Goblet of Fire onwards, the series took off so quickly that first editions were common because the print runs were huge," he said.
"The collecting buzz started with Prisoner of Azkaban in 1999 and while the market slightly dipped before the publication of Deathly Hallows, it has picked up again with the conclusion of the series and the huge success of the films".