J.K. Rowling

The proof-reader's personal copy of the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

• J.K. Rowling (English).
• London: Bloomsbury, 1997.
• Octavo.
• Softcover.
• 223 pages.
• Pictorial card wraps by Thomas Taylor with Harry and the Hogwarts Express to upper cover and wizard to lower.

The first edition paperback of the first book in the phenomenally popular Harry Potter series. Both the hardcover and paperback of the first edition were printed on the same day, with neither having bibliographical priority. All of the first issue points are present with the complete number sequence of 10 down to 1, ‘1 wand’ repeated twice on the equipment list on p. 53 and and the misprint “Philospher’s” on the lower cover.

This, Pippa Le Quesne’s personal copy – Editorial Assistant at Bloomsbury during the period of publishing the first two instalments of the Harry Potter serie (1996 to 1998). As Pippa explains,

“One of my jobs was to proof-read both type-set books and their covers. Although I had been on a proof-reading course, this was my first job in publishing and my eye clearly wasn’t very sharp as it was me that made the infamous errors in the school list (a wand listed twice) within the text and the errors on the back cover of the Philospher’s Stone. I met Jo Rowling when she came down from Scotland to see my boss (Sarah Odedina) and her editor (Emma Matthewson). She brought with her her daughter Jess, who I played with whilst she was busy talking to them. She signed another copy of the paperback first edition of the Philosopher’s Stone for me, with the inscription 'To Pippa, thanks for all of your help with me and my commas, love Jo. Sadly, I had to sell that in 2003 to pay my electricity bill (famously starter publishing salaries do not match the cost of living in London), but I do like the thought that it is out there somewhere in the world and someone is wondering who Pippa is!

Another of my jobs was to clear the manuscript cupboard where we kept the original manuscripts until a book had been published, then they would be thrown away to make way for the next lot of commissioned manuscripts waiting to be edited/printed. So, another claim to fame (or biggest regret) is that I will have thrown into the bin various drafts of the first and second Harry Potter books, having no idea of their worth or interest in years to come. Jo Rowling worked on a typewriter rather than a computer initially (and yes, she really did hand write the first book in a cafe in Edinburgh). When she had finished the Chamber of Secrets she typed it up, packaged it up and sent it in the post to Bloomsbury. She did not even take a photocopy (because of the expense) but trusted Royal Mail entirely (bearing in mind this was before the first Harry Potter book had exploded) She phoned to say she had sent it, so we were expecting it within a couple of days. For some reason it took five or six days to arrive and we (including Jo) assumed it had got lost in the post! Huge relief all round when it arrived at Bloomsbury."

An exceptional association copy of the first Harry Potter story – the first edition, first printing, famous for the two typographic errors and owned by the editorial assistant who missed them