Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone

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)

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.