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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
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Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Paperback - 1999

by J.K Rowling


About this book

The first novel of J.K. Rowling's acclaimed Harry Potter Series was released in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

In this novel, the audience first meets Harry Potter and his horrible family. Harry is an orphan, and lives in a tiny room under the stairs, serving his family by cooking and cleaning. His life takes a turn for the better when he gets a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardy.

Winner of:  British Fantasy Award (1999), Mythopoeic Fantasy Award for Adolescent Literature (2008), British Book Award for Children's Book of the Year (1998), Smarties Prize (1997), Prijs van de Nederlandse Kinderjury (2002) ...more Prijs van de Nederlandse Kinderjury (2002), Rebecca Caudill Young Reader's Book Award (2001), South Carolina Book Award for Junior Book Award (2001), Grand Canyon Reader Award for Teen Book (2000), Charlotte Award (2000), Nene Award (2000), Massachusetts Children's Book Award (2000), Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award (2001), Blue Hen Book Award for Chapter Book (2001), Nevada Young Readers' Award for Young Reader Category (2000), Sasquatch Reading Award (2000), Golden Archer Award for Middle/Junior High (2000), Indian Paintbrush Book Award (2000), Carnegie Medal Nominee (1997), ALA's Top Ten Best Books for Young Adults (1999)

Summary

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is a fantasy novel written by British author J. K. Rowling. The first novel in the Harry Potter series and Rowling’s debut novel, it follows Harry Potter, a young wizard who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday, when he receives a letter of acceptance to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school, and with the help of his friends, Harry faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed Harry’s parents, but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.

From the publisher

Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to hatch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility.All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley - a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry's room is a tiny closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasn't had a birthday party in eleven years.But all that is about to change when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry - and anyone who reads about him - will find unforgettable.For it's there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him... if Harry can survive the encounter.

First Edition Identification

True first editions of the initial Harry Potter novel were published in the UK under the title Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In the US, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone was released in 1998 by Scholastic Press. 

The copyright page has the full number line "1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2     8 9/9 0/0 01 02". Below the number line is "Printed in the U.S.A. 23", and below that is "First American edition, October 1998." Boards are purple with an embossed diamond pattern, and a red cloth spine. The dust jacket has a $16.95 price on the upper corner of the front flap. The dust jacket back has a cream/light yellow bar code field with two bar codes in it, and the smaller bar code says "51695". The dust jacket back also has a single quote from the Guardian saying "Harry Potter could assume the near-legendary status of Ronald Dahl's Charlie, of chocolate factory fame." Later issue dust jackets have a substitute quote from Publishers Weekly. The top spine of both the book and the dust jacket lists "J.K. ROWLING" and lacks the "YEAR 1" badge, and the gold lettering is raised on the spine of the dust jacket.

There are book club editions that have the same full number line as the true first U.S. edition. But they lack the embossed diamond pattern on the book boards. A book club edition is far less valuable than the true first U.S. edition.


Details

  • Title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
  • Author J.K Rowling
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition [ Edition: Repri
  • Pages 320
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Scholastic, New York
  • Date 1999
  • ISBN 9780590353427
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
    • Topical: Friendship

Media reviews

Citations

  • Beyond the Cover Author Interv, 07/01/2000, Page 13
  • Booklist, 05/01/2001, Page 1611
  • Ingram Paperback Advance, 10/01/1999, Page 8
  • Publishers Weekly, 09/13/1999, Page 86
  • Publishers Weekly Best Books, 01/01/1998, Page 51

About the author

Mary GrandPr has illustrated more than twenty beautiful books, including The Noisy Paint Box by Barb Rosenstock, which received a Caldecott Honor; Cleonardo, the Little Inventor, of which she is also the author; and the original American editions of all seven Harry Potter novels. Her work has also appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic Monthly, and the Wall Street Journal, and her paintings and pastels have been shown in galleries across the United States. Ms. GrandPr lives in Sarasota, Florida, with her family.

J.K. ROWLING is the author of the enduringly popular, era-defining Harry Potter seven-book series, which have sold over 600 million copies in 85 languages, been listened to as audiobooks for over one billion hours and made into eight smash hit movies. To accompany the series, she wrote three short companion volumes for charity, including Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, which went on to inspire a new series of films featuring Magizoologist Newt Scamander. Harry's story as a grown-up was continued in a stage play, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, which J.K. Rowling wrote with playwright Jack Thorne and director John Tiffany.

In 2020, she returned to publishing for younger children with the fairy tale The Ickabog, the royalties for which she donated to her charitable trust, Volant, to help charities working to alleviate the social effects of the Covid 19 pandemic. Her latest children's novel, The Christmas Pig, was published in 2021.

J.K. Rowling has received many awards and honours for her writing, including for her detective series written under the name Robert Galbraith. She supports a wide number of humanitarian causes through Volant, and is the founder of the international children's care reform charity Lumos. J.K. Rowling lives in Scotland with her family.

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