World-renowned auction house Sotheby’s revealed the key details you need to check for in your Harry Potter books – as they could potentially be worth a fortune

Photo of a draft copy of the first Harry Potter book in, which the author’s name was wrongly spelled (Image: Press Association)

Don’t discard your old Harry Potter books – they could actually be worth an absolute fortune.

JK Rowling has flogged more than 600 million copies of the popular wizarding books since 1997. And a fair few of them could be more valuable than you’d expect.

In fact, the experts at Sotheby’s have revealed how to spot if your old novels are worth more than they appear to at first glance. They compiled their top tips in a handy YouTube video that’s garnered 683,000 views.

An expert held up a rare copy and addressed viewers by saying: “Is your book of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone worth $100,000? Here’s four ways to tell.” You can read their advice below…

1) Check the edition

First editions turn into gold dust when books become extremely popular. The Sotheby’s expert demonstrated by showing a valuable book, adding: “This is JK Rowling’s first book and the first in the Harry Potter series. Because she was a completely unknown author, they only issued 500 copies of this first edition.”

If you don’t have a novel from the first print run, don’t fret. There are other factors that make books valuable – including limited editions, signed copies and special printings.

2) See how many were made available

If there are less of the books out there, they’ll probably be more valuable as they’re harder for collectors to get their hands on. The example shown in the Sotheby’s video is deemed very valuable as just 200 were released to sellers.

The expert explains: “The initial print run of 500 copies, 300 were sent to libraries and 200 to bookstores. This is from a bookstore.”

3) Check for specific printing code

By looking at your books’ number line, you can learn more about when it was printed. You’ll typically find it on your novel’s copyright page.

The Sotheby’s expert explained: “This is a first edition, first printing of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. And we know this by going to the publisher’s imprint page because this is a first printing, this number line will go down from 10 to 1.

“In later printings, this will change. For example, for a third printing it would go down from 10 to 3.”

4) Hunt for mistakes

Printing errors don’t make books undesirable – they actually can make them a lot more valuable. Collectors enjoy buying novels that are as unique as possible – so these errors can actually be deemed very appealing.

Sotheby’s said: “Mistakes are often prized when collecting rare books. In later editions, they’re corrected. For example, on page 53 listing Harry’s school equipment, 1 wand is on there twice.”