A first-edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone , containing original illustrations and notes from author J.K. Rowling, sold in auction for $228,000.
The book, known in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone , is the first in the Harry Potter series and was sold to an anonymous bidder over the telephone. The item was sold as part of a charity book sale, which partnered with the English PEN writer’s association.
Rowling and other authors were asked to contribute to the charity by taking first-edition copies of their books and adding “second thoughts, marginalia or drawings,” the The Washington Post reports.
Rick Gekoski, curator of the auction, said that he and his colleagues equated opening each of the books they received for the charity event to opening presents on their birthday. Gekoski explained the objective behind the auction in the introduction to the catalogue. "The joy of these books is that, so often, the writer has responded in a voice as immediately recognizable as that in the work itself,” Gekoski wrote, according to MSN Entertainment .
In total, the auction raised nearly 440,000 British pounds, or over $666,000.