(Apologies – this is not a review.)

£915,334.89. That’s how much is being asked for for a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone on the book selling website ABE at the moment. Another signed copy is being offered for £719,169.88. These are asking prices of course and the actual prices paid are likely to be less, but you take the point – early editions of Potter are worth a lot of money! There’s a really handy check list of things to look for in first editions here. I almost always casually check editions of Philosopher’s Stone in second-hand book shops on the million in one chance of finding one of the 500 first editions (300 of which went to schools) – they must be out there somewhere! The thing I always look for first is on the back cover, which on early editions features this rather curious looking fellow. There’s an interesting story about this drawing told by the original illustrator, Thomas Taylor:

“when I was commissioned to produce the cover art for a debut middle grade novel by an unknown author called J. K. Rowling — and yes, I did read it — I was asked to provide “a wizard to decorate the back cover”. So I did. The books are full of magical characters and sorcerers, so it wasn’t difficult to conjure up one of my own. It never even crossed my mind to depict Dumbledore….The publishers found themselves repeatedly called on to explain why the wizard on the back didn’t

correspond to the description of Dumbledore in the book. It was clear what readers wanted and expected, so Bloomsbury contacted me for a portrait of the famous head of Hogwarts, and the original wizard disappeared in a puff of smoke. So that’s the answer. The first wizard wasn’t anyone in particular. Except… …except he was, actually. He was based on none other than my own wonderful, magical father. Yes, my somewhat eccentric, embroidered skullcap-wearing dad is the wizard on the back of Harry Potter. “

This illustration is a good sign that you have found an early edition. So when I came across a hardback edition of Philosopher’s Stone with this chap on the back at the reasonable price of £1.50 I was interested. It had an intact dust jacket as well, which sometimes helps. It was a fifth printing of the 1998 Ted Smart edition, after the novel had won the 1997 Smarties Gold Award. People are asking thousands for this edition on eBay, and a first printing is being offered for over £2000 on HarryPottercollectables.com so you never know – but there are others more realistically priced in the tens of pounds. £1.50 was a good value and I always wanted to own an edition with this pre-Dumbledore illustration, so I’m pretty happy. What true book-lover doesn’t enjoy a good second-hand bookshop find?

Collecting Harry Potter