Rowling, J.K. (1997) ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone’, UK signed and inscribed uncorrected proof

Rowling, Joanne Kathleen (1997) ‘Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone‘, UK uncorrected proof, published by Bloomsbury. Signed and inscribed by the author on the dedication page: “to Catriona – long time since I have seen one of these!. J.K. Rowling”. Housed in a beautiful yellow full leather solander case for protection and stunning presentation on the shelf. Provenance: Catriona was the children’s book buyer at a famous large Edinburgh book shop from 1995-2000. She was given this proof by the publisher’s agent in 1997 and, from the start, advocated the story based on its merits. This copy was personally inscribed by Rowling during a visit to the shop in 1999. Condition: a very good specimen not restored in any way. Light creases  to the wraps and shelf wear. Small ink stain to top page block. Internally clean. According to Errington [2015] and Bloomsbury records 200 proof copies have been printed. This stands against a first hardback print run of 500 copies intended for the library market and 5,150 paperbacks for the general public. Therefore, this is one of the rarest collectable Harry Potter book as not many proofs have survived the passage of time, made even scarcer by the fact that this is a signed and inscribed copy. We have only ever seen a handful of signed uncorrected proofs of the first Harry Potter titles on the market.