Have you been a faithful fan of Harry Potter since the very first book? Do you have your pristine first edition copies of each book in pride of place on your shelf? If so then you may well be holding a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that contains a typo, and if you do you could be holding a copy worth £20,000!
On page 53, Harry receives his school list, including a pewter cauldron (standard size 2), some brass scales, and a wand. However, if you’re lucky enough to have one of just 500 copies printed with a mistake, then you’ll see wand listed twice!
Given the trouble Harry had selecting his wand at Ollivander’s, it’s probably a good job he wasn’t actually required to have two, and the mistake has gone down as a treasured piece in Harry Potter arcane, making copies carrying the duplicate very valuable indeed.
It’s thought just 500 copies were printed with the error, before it was spotted and rectified for the next printing, so if you have a copy then you may want to keep it as pristine as possible. If you don’t have a copy and you’d like one, then you may want to get in touch with Bonhams auctioneers, as they have a pristine copy with the error going up for auction this November. However, if you’re hoping to bid you might want to visit your Gringott’s vault first!
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I just looked at my copy. I live in the USA and just happened across a copy of Philosopher’s Stone in a secondhand bookstore, so I jumped on it. It’s not in great shape, but it does include the typo! How did I not notice this before?!?!
Mine’s second edition Canadian copy and has this error, I think there are many more than 500 out there.