Your harry potter books could be worth a fortune heres how to check. I just couldnt not have this book in my book collection. For all of the harry potter books, the first publisher is bloomsbury. How to tell if a harry potter book is a first edition. How to tell if a book is a first edition or valuable. Harry potter first edition book bought for 25p at jumble. A signed copy may be worth 1,500 an unsigned first edition copy of harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban may be worth.
Picture of the back dust jacket for the first edition of harry potter and the sorcerers stone u. Rare bookseller abebooks recently published a guide to collecting the harry potter series, and while the valuations vary based on the book number, there are a few rules of thumb. Before anything else you should check to see if the book has first edition, first printing written inside the cover. This little book lists most publishers and uses a simplified code system based on the authors experience handling actual first editions. If your copy is a 3rd printing, or a book club edition, it wont have the same value as a first edition. There are only 500 first edition copies of harry potter and the philosophers stone, but do you have one of them. When i first started, i did not know enough to know the difference between a first edition, first print, trade edition, book club edition, or state. Harry potter first editions harry potter at catch the snitch. How to tell if your old copy of harry potter is worth up.
How to tell if the harry potter book you have is a first. Pictures of the true first edition of harry potter and the goblet of fire u. A rare first edition of the first harry potter book which is expected to fetch up to. Harry potter and the order of the phoenix by the time the fifth book in the series came out, jk rowling was a global phenomenon. Its the earliest copy on the marketand because it was a national book award winner, im holding. The first harry potter book to be published was harry potter and the philosophers sorcerers stone. How to tell if you have a harry potter first edition set. Hardcover first edition first printings of this 1997 book have become the. However things are often not so easy and a book can clearly state first edition or first printed without mention of another edition or date and still be a reprint. K rowing will have a much higher value even if it isnt an early edition or part of harry potter first edition set. Be careful to make sure copies are by the first publisher. Whats the difference between a first edition and a first printing. Culture books news harry potter first edition sells for. How do i find out which edition of harry potter i have.
How to identify a first edition book from a reprint at bookseller world. Harry potter and the sorcerers stone book club editionsvaluable. Therefore, the print run is considered more important to determining the rarity of a book than the term first edition. A signed copy may be worth between 2,000 and 3,000. By this point in the harry potter series, rowling was signing fewer books, which means if you have a signed first edition copy of the fourth installment then youre in luck. So based off of this information, we can deduce that my copy of far from the tree is a first edition hardcover, first print fun in the publication year 2017.
Only 500 were published, and 300 went to libraries, so if you have one, go ahead and treat yourself to a nice dinner. Pocket guide to the identification of first editions sixth edition bill mcbride. How to tell if your old copy of harry potter is worth up to. The first printing was bound in two different ways.
Boards are purple with an embossed diamond pattern, and a red spine. Includes identificaton criteria and points of issue to help collectors identify the original book. I have a first edition copy of harry potter and the sorcerers stone but i can t a value. How you can tell whether your harry potter books are worth a fortune.
Forums auctions will see lot 535 auction a first edition of harry potter and the philosophers stone. A first edition of harry potter and the philosophers stone is expected to go for between. If you have a first edition signed by the author copy, the. Youd better dig out your harry potter books and see if you have a small fortune on your bookshelf. How can you tell if your harry potter book is worth lots. The harry potter series only began in 1997 and yet j. A hardcover book published in 1958 by viking isnt the same as a reprint published by penguin in 1963. The first three harry potter first edition, first print books can be worth thousands of pounds. One of the most common questions asked of book dealers is how can i tell if its a 1st. How can you tell if your harry potter book is worth lots of money. While early paperback editions of harry potter and the philosophers stone can a good sum of money at auction, the real holy grail is a 1997 hardback first edition of harry potter and the. Well, this section on mugglenet will explain all the intricacies associated with the rare harry potter books, from the first editions to the misprints and covers associated with each.
The harry potter books were the reason i fell in love with reading and makebelieve worlds and i have jk rowling to thank for that. The book club edition has plain boards which lack the embossed diamond pattern. Luckily, there are other ways of telling if your book is a first edition. If you are among the few who happen to have a first printing first edition of the uk edition of the first book, which was called, harry potter and the philosophers stone, you really have a treasure. Hi, my name is laura ward, and ive been looking up about the first edition printing of the first harry potter book, harry potter and the philosophers stone, it has to have the dumbledore on the back cover with the brown beard, just inside the front cover it has to have the number 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, and for the authors name it will.
Just 500 first editions of the first novel were published in 1997. Abe books, who sold a first edition of harry potter and the philosophers stone for. But generally only the first three in the series have much collectible value, as so many copies were printed of the later books. Also, some second printings may have value simply because the first edition is so very expensive for instance, second printings of early harry potter novels may hold 5% to 25% of the first printings value. It has the publishers weekly blurb on the back, is hardcovered, and is purple and red with gold lettering on the spine of the book itself. Here is a typical trick that can attract those who dont know much about the harry potter books. I got this book, harry potter and the sorcerers stone, after my old copy got lost during a move. Can you tell me if my book is first edition and value. Your old harry potter books could be worth a fortune. Here is how you can tell if you have an original and what it may be worth.
Pictures of the true first edition of harry potter and the sorcerers stone u. How you can tell whether your harry potter books are. The value then decreases incrementally with the second, third and fourth prints, and so on. An unsigned first edition copy of harry potter and the chamber of secrets may be worth between 400 and 600. Yes, in order to have a first edition of any of the harry potter books they must be published by bloomsbury in the year of original release and have a number line counting down to one. It says first american edition, october 1998 with the numbers. What are your harry potter bloomsbury edition books worth. It is common to see booksellers describe these later first editions as a. Publishers each have their own way of identifying the first edition or more correctly first printing of any book they produce. Culture books news how to tell if your old copy of harry potter is worth up to. Since the number line method wasnt widely used until the 1980s, you may well find books older without one.
Harry potter book has this typo, it could be worth thousands. A it says its first american edition, october 1998 it also has this number. I have been collecting harry potter books for roughly 10 years. If youve had it signed by jk rowling then its worth even more. Technically, all harry potter books are considered first editions.
How to identify first editions or a first printing of a book. Book collecting guide identifying and collecting first. Could your old harry potter books make you thousands. How much is first edition harry potter and the deathly. People will pay crazy money just because it says joanne rowling instead of j. First edition harry potter books have become very valuable. To be valuable, the books have to be original first edition hardbacks published in the year the book first came out and in very good condition. Bloomsbury publishing first printed the book in 1997. How to know if your harry potter book is worth tens of. By the time the fourth book in the series was released harry potter mania had well and truly taken hold and copies were printed by the millions.
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