A first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone which was spotted and picked up for £10 in a bargain bucket has sold for more than £55,000 at auction.

The hardback copy is from the first print run which was destined for bookshops in 1997.

In the late 1990s, a mum on a caravan holiday found it for £12 in a bargain bucket in a bookshop in the Scottish highlands.

Since it did not have a jacket, the buyer managed to haggle for a £2 discount before she gave it to her children to read.

St Helens Star: The rare edition had been left in a cupboard under the stairs for years before it was recently found and valued. ( SWNS)The rare edition had been left in a cupboard under the stairs for years before it was recently found and valued. ( SWNS) (Image: SWNS)

The rare edition had been left in a cupboard under the stairs for years before it was recently found and valued.

It was one of the first copies published and was one of only 200 distributed to bookshops from the first print run.

The first print run of the famous book only had 500 hardback copies and these are considered the rarest and most prized Potter books.

How much are the first editions of Harry Potter books worth?

The first print run of the famous book only had 500 hardback copies and these are considered the rarest and most prized Potter books.

The book was tipped to fetch around £40,000 but sold for a total of £55,104, including the buyer’s premium, at Hansons Auctioneers on Monday, December 11.

When it comes to how much you could get for a first edition of a Harry Potter book - the price will depend on the condition of the book, according to We Buy Books.

Copies in ‘fair’ condition could fetch up to £4000, according to the experts.

In recent times, a copy sold for £68,800 at Bonhams Auction House, London, and a Bargain Hunt episode showed a copy of the book going for £28,000.

You can find out more about how to tell if you have a first edition and if it is worth anything via its website.

In this case, the seller, a 58-year-old Scottish woman, said she bought the book after reading one of the first-ever interviews with JK Rowling in The Scotsman newspaper in the late 1990s.

The retired third sector manager said: “I bought the Harry Potter book before anyone really knew much about it, or the author.

“I found it during a family caravan trip touring round the highlands of Scotland.

St Helens Star: In recent times, a copy sold for £68,800 at Bonhams Auction House, London, and a Bargain Hunt episode showed a copy of the book going for £28,000. ( SWNS)In recent times, a copy sold for £68,800 at Bonhams Auction House, London, and a Bargain Hunt episode showed a copy of the book going for £28,000. ( SWNS) (Image: SWNS)

“I was delighted to discover a bookshop café on an isolated peninsula after driving miles on a single-track road in the north-west of Scotland.

“I recognised the distinctive book cover straight away. The book seller had placed it in a wicker ‘bargain bucket’ basket on the floor.

“Because it had no dust jacket, I got a couple of pounds knocked off the price.

“Our two children enjoyed the wizard tale as a bedtime story all through that holiday in 1997.”

The seller, who lives just north of Edinburgh where JK Rowling wrote the first Potter book, added: “My children read something online years back about how to identify first editions and told me they thought we had one of them.

“But I said the edition was worthless due to it having no dust jacket.

“Some time later I learned the book was never released with a dust jacket.

"At that point, we stored the book away. It lived like the young Harry Potter did, in the cupboard under the stairs.

“I forgot about it for a long time but then read about the rarity of first editions.”


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She took the book to be valued and was stunned to discover it was worth tens of thousands of pounds.

Book expert Jim Spencer, of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “These first issues are getting harder and harder to find.

"This must be one of the few remaining copies that’s been in private hands since it was purchased in 1997.

“It’s a genuine, honest copy - and a fantastically well-preserved example.

“This hasn’t been paraded around salerooms or rare book fairs or been restored.

“Of the 500 first issue hardbacks printed, 300 went to schools and libraries in order to reach a bigger audience.

“This is one of the even scarcer 200 that went to bookshops.

“Even more astonishingly, this one ended up on a remote Scottish peninsula, and it was all down to an article in The Scotsman - and perhaps a dusting of magic - that
encouraged the inquisitive and very lucky buyer to pluck it from the bargain bin.

“Most examples are quite badly worn, especially ex-library copies.

“However, more traditional collectors are incredibly fussy about condition, and this could hardly be better.”