A world record was set when a first edition of ¡°Harry Potter" was sold for $471,000 or Rs 3,56,62,942.50 in the United States on Thursday. Auctioneers said it was a world record price for a 20th-century work of fiction, reported Reuters.
The hardback 1997 British edition of ¡°Harry Potter and the Philosopher¡¯s Stone," with a color illustration on the cover, was described by Heritage Auctions as ¡°magical, incredibly bright and so very near pristine."?
The book was published in the United States as ¡°Harry Potter and the Sorcerer¡¯s Stone." Only 500 copies with the specific binding were printed. The final price was more than six times the pre-sale estimate of $70,000.
Previously, auction prices for Harry Potter first editions have ranged from?$110,000 to $138,000.
¡°Not only is it the most expensive Harry Potter book ever sold, it¡¯s the most expensive commercially published 20th-century work of fiction ever sold," Heritage Auctions Executive Vice President Joe Maddalena said in a statement.
The book was sold by an American collector and the name of the buyer was not released.
British author J.K. Rowling wrote six more books about the 'Boy who lived' and have sold some 500 million copies worldwide in 80 languages, according to US publisher Scholastic.?The books were turned into eight films which made $7.8 billion at the global box office.
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