Author JK Rowling’s personal copy of the first Harry Potter book, with handwritten notes and illustrations by the famed author, has sold for a record 1,50,000 pounds at auction in London.
After a bidding war, the book sold for 150,000 pounds, a new record for a printed book by Rowling, BBC News reported. The largest amount paid for a JK Rowling book was the 2 million pounds fetched in 2007 by a handwritten copy of Tales of Beedle the Bard.
“The sale room fell silent as two determined bidders vied for the prized edition,” said a spokesperson for Sotheby’s. “Bidding leapt in increments of up to 25,000 pounds and the hammer finally fell, to a round of applause, on a 1,50,000 pounds telephone bid.”
Rowling’s personal annotations in the edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone cover 43 pages and include references to the series as a whole and also the film adaptations. Her notes include a reflection on an anomaly in chapter four about snapped wands and a section of text she refused to cut.
Rowling also talks about the genesis of the fictional game Quidditch. “[it] “was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend,” she writes. Rowling’s 22 original illustrations include drawings of a Dumbledore chocolate frog card, a brooding Snape and Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback dragon.
{{/usCountry}}Rowling also talks about the genesis of the fictional game Quidditch. “[it] “was invented in a small hotel in Manchester after a row with my then boyfriend,” she writes. Rowling’s 22 original illustrations include drawings of a Dumbledore chocolate frog card, a brooding Snape and Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback dragon.
{{/usCountry}}The book was part of a sale of annotated first edition books by 50 UK and Commonwealth writers. The sale raised a total of 4,39,200 pounds for English PEN.