For fans of the boy wizard, this could be the most coveted copy of all the Harry Potter books in the world.
A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that contains author J.K. Rowling’s notes and original illustrations fetched 150,000 pounds (NZ$278,130) at a London auction on Tuesday.
Sotheby’s said the work, offered as part of a charity book sale jointly organized with the English PEN writers’ association, was sold to an anonymous bidder by telephone.
Rowling peppered the book with many personal annotations, including editorial decisions, comments on the process of writing and a note on how she came to create the game of Quidditch.
She also drew about two dozen illustrations in the copy, including a sleeping baby Harry on a door step and an Albus Dumbledore Chocolate Frog card.
As part of the fundraising event, Rowling and dozens of other best-selling authors were asked to “scribble second thoughts, marginalia or drawings” on a first-edition copy of one of their books.
A copy of Roald Dahl’s best-selling children’s book Matilda containing new drawings by illustrator Quentin Blake fetched 30,000 pounds, while an annotated copy of Kazuo Ishiguro’s acclaimed novel The Remains of the Day was sold for 18,000 pounds.
Other participating authors in the charity sale included Ian McEwan, Seamus Heaney, Lionel Shriver and Yann Martel.
In all, the sale raised a total of 439,200 pounds.
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– AP
