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Thinking of selling off your old copies of Harry Potter for cheap?  Stop!  They could be worth some real hard cold cash!

Despite being published less than 20 years ago, it turns out certain editions of the famous series could be worth upwards of $77,000 each.

Author Philip W Errington has researched the value of the Harry Potter books, gleaning his information while working at auction house, Sotheby’s.  He has shared his findings in his new book, J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997-2013.

Essentially, the older the copy, the more money you are likely to get for it.  A hardback edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, published by Bloomsbury, with a cover showing Harry standing by a train for instance is worth AU$76,000 according to AbeBooks.  If you are lucky enough for the edition to be credited to Joanne Rowling instead of J.K. Rowling you could expect to receive more.

A softback of the first book and a hardback of the second, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, could fetch up to AU$12,500.

J.K. Rowling’s third Potter book about Harry’s adventures with the Prisoner of Azkaban, published by Bloomsbury, is also worth hanging on to.  It is likely to go for around AU$900.

Later editions of the series were published in much larger print runs and therefore are not as rare or valuable,  the exceptions being if you have a signed copy or special edition, which maybe of some increased value.

Image source: Getty Images

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  • I will be checking Mums bookshelf to see if she still has my old copies next time I am over there now!
    I doubt I would have the ones in this article but regardless I have many happy memories with the ones I did own.
    I loved reading the Harry Potter books, more so than I enjoyed the movies.
    Very talented author with a vivid imagination!

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  • Unfortunately I don’t have any of these books, but I’ll bet there are a lot of people looking through second hand book stores for them.

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  • We have a modern boxed set, not worth the dollars they are talking, but worth even more. They have captured my childrens imagination, improved their literacy and lust for reading. They have been dragged about in the car, on holidays, and left next to their beds at night. Watching the movie is one thing. Watching my children absorbed by black marks on paper, is even better.

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  • lol i don’t have these books but i bet someone out there, is happy reading this article!

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  • What a shame none of our chidren showed an interest in Harry Potter. In fact one of them wouldn’t even watch the movies

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  • I am going to have to check all our copies now.

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  • Yes, I read. But I checked my daughter’s copies, and they are not between the valuable ones. What a pity! ;-)

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  • Oh wow! Wish I had of kept my books now :( haha

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  • Oooer. It’s actually surprising what some books are worth.

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  • Sounds interesting for original Potter Fans.

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  • Must pass this information on to my grandson.

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  • My son has all the Harry Potter books in hard cover. I wonder if he’s lucky enough to have one of the ‘special’ ones?! That would be nice

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  • Lke ew

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  • And my partner was about to throw ours out at the weekend – fortunately I stopped him!!

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  • Time to get out the books and see!

    Reply

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