First edition Philosopher’s Stone sells for $128,000

Mistakes pay!

A rare copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone fetched a record price of AU$128,000 at a recent London auction, thanks largely to some Muggle-made mistakes.

The unique copy is just one of 500 first editions printed with a number of errors, including the word “Philosopher’s” on the back cover without the second “o”. It is thought that 300 of the original first editions were sent to libraries, making pristine copies extremely rare. A similar first edition copy previously sold at auction in the US for AU$110,000.

Do you have one of these rare first editions? Here’s what you need to check:

• Look for the misspelled word “Philospher” on the back cover
• The book must be published by Bloomsbury
• Look on the copyright page – the latest date must be 1997
• The print line must be: “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1”
• Go to page 53 and find Harry’s school supplies list where the words “1 wand” must be listed twice
• The author’s first name “Joanne” is used instead of the now more familiar “JK”.

If you find one, be sure to let us know!