Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Price: $300.00
Hard Cover. London: Bloomsbury, 1997. First Edition. Near Fine / Dust Jacket Included.
First edition, twenty-seventh printing. Publisher's pictorial boards illustrated by Thomas Taylor, with yellow, black, and white lettering, old wizard to rear panel; in original dust jacket matching the boards. About fine book with light toning to text block edges; near fine unclipped dust jacket with light creasing to panel edges and tiny chip and small closed tear to top corner of front panel. Overall, an attractive early printing of the true first British edition of Harry Potter. First published in 1997, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is the first book in the Harry Potter heptalogy. It introduces both Harry and readers alike to the secret, magical world of witches and wizards in Great Britain. It also sets the stage for the six subsequent novels by familiarizing readers with the villainous Lord Voldemort and how his and Harry's fates are inevitably intertwined. Although often regarded as a children's novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone topped adult reading charts in the UK, and in the United States, where it was published under the alternate title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. Notably, the first printing of this book in hardcover format is exceedingly rare; only 500 copies were printed, of which about half ended up in libraries. Despite its small print run, the book was an immediate success, and went through dozens of print runs within the first few years after publication. Item #JKR081
