First Edition Harry Potter Sold For $400,000 at Auction

A first edition first printing of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has sold for $400,000 at Heritage Auctions, the second-highest auction price for the title behind the $471,000 record Heritage established in December 2021.

Published by Bloomsbury in 1997, the first hardcover edition is distinguished by Thomas Taylor’s cover illustration and a series of details familiar to collectors: the author’s name appears as “Joanne Rowling” on the copyright page, “Philosopher’s” is misspelled on the rear board, and “1 wand” appears twice in the school supplies list on page 53. The copy offered at Heritage retains its original pictorial boards and is housed in a custom clamshell case by the Chelsea Bindery.

The 1930 first edition of Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon with its rare, unclipped first-issue dust jacket, identifiable by the plot summary on the front flap rather than the blurbs found on later printings, went for $93,750. Other highlights included:

• a signed first edition of Frank Herbert’s Dune published by Chilton Books in 1965 with John Schoenherr’s original dust jacket in its first issue with the $5.95 price intact was sold for $68,750
• a 1538 Coverdale New Testament printed in Antwerp among the earliest separate editions of Coverdale’s New Testament with 200 woodcut illustrations ($57,500)
• a first edition of Richard Taverner’s English Bible, published in London in 1539 ($52,500)