FYI: Your vintage ‘Harry Potter’ books might be worth a ton of money
Putting a price on Harry Potter is hard, because can’t you really put a dollar sign on sheer wonder and amazement, can you?
Well, maybe you can. Today, Entertainment Weekly directed us toward’s Philip W. Errington’s new book, J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013. In it, he provides a nifty little chart to figure out whether your HP book is worth something today. What should you be checking your bookshelves for right now?
Well, if you’ve got a hardcover Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was published by Bloomsbury, and the cover illustration shows Harry standing by a train, that’s worth a lot. We found one signed first edition on eBay for $4,7500. Even this unsigned copy in “good condition” is going for $256.
Also worth a lot, is a copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in hardcover, published by Bloomsbury. The one with the cover featuring Ron and Harry (and Hedwig) in Mr. Weasley’s flying car. This first edition version is selling for $2,500 on eBay.
These two books were the first editions published in the UK, with Philosopher’s Stone debuting on June 26th, 1997 and Chamber of Secrets on July 1st, 1998. Basically, if you were one of the first people ever to buy Harry Potter books (especially in the UK) they could be worth some dollar dolla bills. By the time books 4 through 7 came out, they were produced in such high quantities that, while they still hold sentimental value to us, they don’t hold any real financial value.
But back to the dollar bill books: We did some more deep-diving into eBay’s archives to find out how high these books can run—price-wise. And it turns out a signed, deluxe edition UK hardcover of Philosopher’s Stone could fetch up to $7,500 on eBay.
A first edition UK softcover of Philosopher’s Stone might set you back $5,195.95 (or, hey, best offer). We also found a signed first edition Sorcerer’s Stone US copy going for $5,000. You could buy out all of Honeydukes with that.
Incidentally, I’ve actually got a signed copy of Harry Potter myself. It’s the first edition, US print of Chamber of Secrets, and I met JK Rowling in 8th grade, and it’s still one of the best moments of my life. So yeah, even though I could get a hefty sum of money for it, I will never ever part with it EVER. You can’t really put a price on how many times I’ve yelled “EXPECTO PATRONUM.”
