BookOpinion

The Associated Press is reporting that a first edition of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” (as titled in its UK debut) sold to an anonymous bidder for a mind-numbing $18,000. The publishers produced between 500 and 1,000 copies in the book’s first run (the last book in the Harry Potter series has a planned 12 million first print run for its July 21 first release).

For a book this new to bring in such a large amount is unprecedented, said Luke Battenham, Bonhams’ book specialist.

“The author is still alive, it’s a fairly new series . . . but by the time there was a third book, you could already see it would be a hit,” Battenham said. “It’s a phenomenon.”

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