Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.)

The copyright page has the full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2     8 9/9 0/0 01 02". Below the number line is "Printed in the U.S.A. 23", and below that is "First American edition, October 1998." Boards are purple with an embossed diamond pattern, and a red cloth spine. The dust jacket has a $16.95 price on the upper corner of the front flap. The dust jacket back has a white bar code field with two bar codes in it, and the smaller bar code says "51695". The dust jacket back also has a single quote from the Guardian saying "Harry Potter could assume the near-legendary status of Ronald Dahl's Charlie, of chocolate factory fame." Later issue dust jackets have a substitute quote from Publishers Weekly. The top spine of both the book and the dust jacket lists "J.K. ROWLING" and lacks the "YEAR 1" badge, and the gold lettering is raised on the spine of the dust jacket.

Note: There are book club editions that have the same full number line as the true first U.S. edition. But they lack the embossed diamond pattern on the book boards. A book club edition is far less valuable than the true first U.S. edition.

To find the market value for this book, click on the pre-filled eBay, AbeBooks, or Biblio links to the right and look for comparable listings that have all of these first edition points.

Picture of the 1998 first edition dust jacket for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.).

Picture of the first edition copyright page for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.).

Picture of dust jacket where original $16.95 price is found for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.).

Picture of the back dust jacket for the first edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.).

Boards are purple with an embossed diamond pattern, and a red spine. The book club edition has plain boards which lack the embossed diamond pattern.

On the back of the dust jacket, there is a single quote on the top from the Guardian in London saying "Harry Potter could assume the near-legendary status of Ronald Dahl's Charlie, of chocolate factory fame." On the bottom left there is a white bar code field with two bar codes in it, and the smaller bar code says "51695".

This is the front cover of the Advance Reader's Edition, which is a softcover.

This is the copyright page from the Advance Reader's Edition. It is slightly different than the first edition. It states the text copyright as 1998 rather than 1997, and Bloomsbury for permissions rather than Scholastic. It also lists the ISBN for the paperback edition (0-590-35342-X).

This is the back of the Advance Reader's Edition. It states that the first printing will be 30,000 copies.

This is the spine of the Advance Reader's Edition. It has "J.K. ROWLING" just as the first edition does.

This is the table of contents from the Advance Reader's Edition. The page numbers have not been set.

The Advance Reader's Edition included a note from the publisher, Arthur A. Levine, who makes a very insightful prediction: "I predict you'll also face another quandary; whether to share this [book] with a friend, or to keep it for yourself, knowing how much this Reader's Edition of J.K. Rowling's first book will be worth in years to come."

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