A rare first edition of Harry Potter, personally signed by J.K Rowling and given to her friends shortly before the book's official release in June 1997 is now up for sale.
The author gifted the book to Deirdre and Gerry just 15 days before the first batch of 500 hardback copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone were published.
This early, personalized edition has made it a highly sought-after collector's item which is now valued £150,000.
The full inscription reads, "11.6.97, For Deirdre & Gerry, with love & thanks for everything, You-Know-Who. a.k.a. J.K. Rowling X."
Deirdre first became friends with Rowling's sister while training as a nurse and later she and Rowling became close friends.
Deirdre has owned this signed edition for 28 years but is now selling it through Sotheby's, a London-based auction house with the sale scheduled on December 11.
A Sotheby's spokesperson said in a statement, noting, "What distinguishes this copy is that it's inscribed by JK Rowling pre-publication. These are scarcely ever seen at auction and the estimate of £100,000-150,000 reflects the rarity factor."
This rare edition also contains printing mistakes like the phrase "one word" appearing twice on page 53.
Along with this, Rowling's names is printed as "Joanne Rowling" and there is also a printing error on the back cover which has a typo missing an "o" in "Philosopher's Stone."
More than 120 million copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone have been sold worldwide so far.
