Few books have inspired the imaginations, and reading habits, of a generation to the extent of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter. The ‘boy wizard’ first appeared on bookshelves in 1997 and, almost 30 years later, the fantasy of boarding the Hogwarts Express bound for magical escapades has not diminished in popularity.
Rowling’s initial idea for Harry Potter was formed on a delayed train journey in 1980, and it was several years before she developed these ideas and wrote them down. By that time Rowling, originally from Gloucestershire, was living in Edinburgh and she has said she imagines Hogwarts to be in Scotland. Edinburgh provided inspiration for locations and characters in the books: amongst these, Victoria Street in the Old Town matches the description of Diagon Alley, and gravestones in Greyfriars Kirkyard bear names such as Thomas Riddell (Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort), William McGonagall (Professor McGonagall) and Elizabeth Moodie (Mad-Eye Moody).
The success of the books led to 8 Harry Potter films, 3 Disney theme parks, a sell-out stage play and a studio tour. Today the ‘Potterverse’ brand is estimated to be in the region of $25 billion and Rowling’s personal wealth is thought to be in excess of $1 billion.
Lyon & Turnbull has been privileged to offer many first edition, first impression copies and signed editions of Harry Potter books for sale in Edinburgh. In June 2020 we achieved £125,000 inc. premium for a very rare, first edition, hardback, first impression of Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, inscribed and signed by J.K. Rowling on the front free-endpaper.
Only 500 hardback copies of the Philosophers Stone were produced and around 300 of these were given to libraries and schools. This would leave only 200 copies in fine, non-ex-library condition (the actual number is likely to be far lower) and only a handful of first edition, first impression books were inscribed by J.K. Rowling for friends, acquaintances and family members.
