This first issue copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone of 1997 sold for £24,000 at Sotheby's.
One of just 500 printed, it sold for a record $130,000 (£102,180) at Christie’s New York (25/20/12.5%) on December 4.
Meanwhile, a Sotheby’s (25/20/12.9% buyer’s premium) online sale that ended on December 10 in London offered an altogether scruffier copy (above) with a high estimate of £1500.
Ex-public library, it had a couple of library labels and barcodes pasted in, bore a ‘discarded’ stamp and showed quite significant wear and damage to the boards. It was also splitting at the joints – but sold at an astonishing £24,000.
