A rare, first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone set a world record when it sold for $81,250 during Heritage Auctions’ offering of rare books on September 14, 2017. The book is one of just 500 original copies, of which 300 went to British libraries, barring the original Philosopher’s Stone title.
Several bidders sought the first edition book, which saw the price excel to four times the preauction estimate. Presented as it was originally sold, the book also set a world record for highest price paid for an unautographed work of fiction that was published in the last 50 years.
“We have sold great Harry Potter titles – not to mention chairs – in the past, but we never really paid attention to such a thing as a world record,” Heritage Auctions Rare Books Director James Gannon said. “This recent copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone surpassed the earlier record of approximately $60,000 by more than 30%. It very well may be the highest price obtained at auction for any unsigned work of literature published in the past 50 years.”
The Dallas auction at Heritage saw enthusiastic bidding with numerous lots going well beyond their preauction estimates, pushing the auction total to nearly $2 million.
“We are very pleased with the performance of genre fiction in our auction, continuing on our earlier successes in science fiction, fantasy, and mystery and detective literature,” Gannon said. “Heritage is extremely strong in presenting and marketing these books, and by now we have the attention of the rare book market and a large following of enthusiastic bidders.”
A first edition of History of the Indian Tribes of North America by Thomas L. McKenney and James Hall, with color plate portraits of chiefs, warriors, and squaws from various tribes, realized $66,250.
A John James Audobon [Robert Havell, engraver] original copper plate together with an Audobon Brown Creeper, Certhia Familiaris, and Californian Nuthatch, Sitta Pygmea original print plate sold for over six times the estimate, clearing $62,500.
A first edition of Ara Vos Prec by T.S. Eliot had 13 bidders pushing the price to $57,500, which was 11 times the preauction estimate. It is one of just four presentation copies and is inscribed by Eliot. “The crystal-clear provenance on the T.S. Eliot material helped these lots to far exceed their estimates,” Gannon said. “Coming directly from his family is really the very definition of ‘fresh to market’ and it is more accurate to say ‘never to market’ before.”
A 1929 first edition of Dashiell Hammett’s first book, Red Harvest, offered with the rare original color-printed dust jacket reached $50,625.
Other top sales were Liber cronicarum cum figuris et ymaginibus from The Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel for $50,000, first edition of The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway for $25,000, Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs for $28,750, The Birds of America, From Drawings Made in the United States and Their Territories by John James Audubon for $28,750, and a first edition of The Hobbit. Or There and Back Again by J.R.R. Tolkien for $28,750.