Monday 14 December 2009

How to spot a UK First Edition of Harry Potter & The Goblet Of Fire


This is book 4 in the Harry Potter series and was published in July 2000.

Published by Bloomsbury, the First Edition print run was over one million copies. To manage the huge increase in volume the printing was split between two print houses, Clays Ltd (who produced seven hundred and fifty thousand copies) and Omnia Press in Scotland (who printed the remaining quarter). This automatically makes the Omnia printing a harder book to find. The text in each book is identical other than that of the print house details on the copyright page.

This is the first of the UK Harry Potter books to carry the words “First Edition”. This replaced the familiar 10 down to 1 print line on the copyright page seen in previous titles. A First Edition therefore clearly states “FIRST EDITION” on the copyright page. A later printing would be indicated by a run of numbers, the lowest indicating that particular print.

Issued with a dustwrapper illustrated by Giles Greenfield and a retail price of £14.99, this book has illustrated boards which matches that of the dustwrapper.

This book has "storyline errors" on pages 503 and 579 that were supposedly corrected during the first print run. However, these "points of issue" were still appearing in the seventh printing, so it is doubtful that these are actually errors or misprints.

Goblet Of Fire is the first UK Harry Potter book to have a mass produced First Edition, it is therefore more common to find and less valuable than previous First Editions in the series. It is however a good starting point for those on a limited budget and beginning their collection.

For more information about Harry Potter and other rare first edition books visit our website rareandsigned.com

How to spot a UK First Edition of Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets


This is book 2 in the Harry Potter series and was published in July 1998.


Published by Bloomsbury, the First Edition print run was ten thousand one hundred and fifty copies.


The First Edition hardback has the full number line of 10 down to 1 on the copyright page.


It was issued with a dustwrapper illustrated by Cliff Wright, with a retail price of £10.99. This book has illustrated boards which matches that of the dustwrapper.

The front wrapper and board show a blue circle indicating a 1997 Smarties Award winner and Carnegie medal shortlisting.

The black band along the bottom should read “Inventive and action packed - The Bookseller"

Though the number of First Edition’ is greater than that of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, it was still a very low print run by today’s standards and thus remains highly collectible.

For more information about Harry Potter and other rare first edition books visit our website rareandsigned.com