Heritage Auctions will be featuring an uncorrected book proof of J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” at its upcoming Historical Platinum Signature auction in Dallas.
The proof has a misspelling on the title page listing “J. A Rowling” as the author, which was corrected in the first edition.
The uncorrected proof appeared in a print run of only 200 copies, marking the first time the story appeared in print, according to Heritage Auctions.
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The wrappers are soiled with a few creases, a few scuffs and some stains.
A copy of the first edition sold for $471,000 at the auction house in 2021.
“Some copies contain the very rare, original stiff paper draft mock-up of the illustrated boards (not present in our copy). Copies without the mock-up have sold in the $18,000 range, while copies with the mock-up have sold for roughly double this amount,” Francis Wahlgren, Heritage Auctions’ international director of rare books and manuscripts, said in an email to FOX Business.
Heritage Auctions has another “Harry Potter” piece listed in the auction.
There will be a first edition of the novel in hardcover going under the hammer as well. The book also has errors printed inside.
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Only 500 copies of the hardcover books were produced with a review from British children’s book author Wendy Cooling that included the misprints “Philospher’s” and “Wizardry and Witchcraft.”
“The copy we are selling is in very good condition, and we would expect it to sell at or just below the six-figure level. It will allow us to reassess the market today for what has always been a rare book, being printed in only 500 copies in the hardback format,” said Wahlgren.
The hardcover version has a copyright page listing the author as “Joanne Rowling,” copyright page without a space between “Taylor” and “1997,” and “1 wand” listed twice on page 53.
The bidding begins on July 1 and concludes on July 25.
In 2022, a hardcover edition of the “Harry Potter” book without errors had initial offers of $250,000 in a Christie’s auction, FOX Business reported.
Since then, other versions of the book have come with various price tags depending on the quality of the copy.
FOX Business’ Brittany Kasko contributed to this report.
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