First Edition Points and Criteria for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.)

Year Published: 1998
Author Last Name: Rowling
Author First Name: J.K.
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Original Price: $16.95
Pages: 309

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 cream/light yellow 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.

Picture of the 1998 first edition dust jacket for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's
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
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
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
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
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.

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

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

On the back of the dust jacket, there is a single quote on the top from the Guardian in
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 cream/light yellow bar code field with two bar codes in it, and the smaller bar code says "51695".

The true first edition dust jacket has "J.K." on the spine.
The true first edition dust jacket has "J.K." on the spine.

The true first edition dust jacket has "J.K." on the spine like the one on the right.
The true first edition dust jacket has "J.K." on the spine like the one on the right. The "J.K." was removed in early printings like the one in the middle. "Year 1" was added to later printings like the one on the left.

These are the bar codes from (top to bottom) the first printing, the 11th printing, the
These are the bar codes from (top to bottom) the first printing, the 11th printing, the 21st printing, and the 39th printing. The bar code is the same until the price is changed somewhere between the 11th and 21st printings. The bar code background and price is changed in much later printings.

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

Some of the sixth printings had plain boards (on the top) instead of the normal embossed
Some of the sixth printings had plain boards (on the top) instead of the normal embossed diamond pattern (underneath).



Other first edition points for books by J.K. Rowling include: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (U.S.), Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (U.S.), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (U.S.), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (U.S.), Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (U.S.), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (U.S.), Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

\"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry \"Harry 

Quick Search:

Search for other books in the FedPo database:

Book:



Market Value:

Use the pre-filled links below to find the market value of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.). Remember that the dust jacket is an important part of any book, and so books without their original dust jackets typically have less value.

Book:


Abe Books, Passion for Books
Author:

Title:

Keywords:







Find Books, Save Up To 90% Alibris



Search by author:

by Title:

by Keyword or ISBN:









Popular on FEdPo:


Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (U.S.)  To Kill a Mockingbird  The Old Man and the Sea  Gone with the Wind  Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (U.S.)  The Catcher in the Rye  Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (U.S.)  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (U.S.)  Outlander  Jurassic Park  Twilight  God and Man at Yale  Of Mice And Men  Nineteen Eighty-Four  The Godfather  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (U.S.)  The Great Gatsby  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets  For Whom the Bell Tolls  Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban  The Color Purple  Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil  Lonesome Dove  The Road  Out of Africa  Watership Down (U.S.)  The Grapes of Wrath  A Brief History of Time  Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (U.S.)  The Hunt for Red October  The Stand  Cry, the Beloved Country (US)  Ender's Game  Invisible Man  The Firm  Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix  Stuart Little  Wicked  The Underground Railroad  Silent Spring  The Keepers of the House  Laughing Boy  A Thousand Acres  The Plot Against America  Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl  The Secret History  Gravity's Rainbow  Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farms  The Goldfinch  Cannery Row  Interpreter of Maladies  East of Eden  Rabbit is Rich  Scarlet Sister Mary  The Shipping News  The Stories of John Cheever  Years of Grace  In Cold Blood  A Thousand Splendid Suns  Snow Crash  Leaving Las Vegas  Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows  All the Light We Cannot See  Life of Pi  The Hunger Games  Profiles In Courage  The Caine Mutiny  The Optimist's Daughter  American Pastoral  Alice Adams  The Hours  The Magnificent Ambersons  The Joy Luck Club  Forrest Gump  The Kite Runner  A Farewell to Arms  The Client  How to Win Friends and Influence People  A Visit from the Goon Squad  The Peter Principle  Truman  Go Set a Watchman  Death in the Afternoon  The Lightning Thief  The Pearl  The Yearling  The Collected Stories of Katherine Anne Porter (U.S.)  Seabiscuit  The Reivers  Saratoga Trunk  The Valley of the Dolls  The Naked and the Dead  The Manchurian Candidate  Who Moved my Cheese?  The Virgin Suicides  The Accidental Tourist  The Road Ahead  Where or When  Blood Meridian  The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao  Varieties of Disturbance  In the Heart of the Sea  Sophie's Choice  Raise High the Roof Beam  The Dead Zone  Go Set a Watchman (UK)  Fortune Smiles  Catch-22  A Confederacy of Dunces  Early Autumn  Mr. Citizen  On Our Way  

Disclaimer: This website is intended to help guide you and give you insight into what to look for when identifying first editions. The information is compiled from the experience of reputable collectors and dealers in the industry. Gathering and updating information about these books is more an art than a science, and new identication criteria and points of issue are sometimes discovered that may contradict currently accepted identification points. This means that the information presented here may not always be 100% accurate.