First Harry Potter book could fetch up to £120,000 at auction

The first edition novel is expected to rack up a price between £80,000 and £120,000 in Edinburgh on Wednesday.

First Harry Potter book could fetch up to £120,000 at auction SWNS

A rare edition of the first Harry Potter book is expected to fetch up to £120,000 at auction.

The 1997 Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone hardback novel has been signed and inscribed by its author J.K Rowling.

Auctioneers, Lyon & Turnbull estimate the book will rack up a price between £80,000 and £120,000 when it goes up for sale in Edinburgh on Wednesday. 

It will be sold during the Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs auction.

The words ‘6-9-97 / For James, Kate and Laura, with best wishes, J.K. Rowling’ are inscribed in the book with the date September 1997, three months after the book’s official publication.

Only 500 copies were produced in first edition, first impression hardback, with around 300 of these being given to libraries and schools. 

The book has returned to Edinburgh for sale – a city widely seen as the “home of Harry Potter”. 

In the past J.K Rowling has said she imagines Hogwarts to be in Scotland, saying: “Edinburgh is very much home for me and is the place where Harry evolved over seven books and many, many hours of writing in its cafés.”

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