Bargain bin Harry Potter book sells for £55,000

The book was sold at auction on Monday

A first edition Harry Potter book found in a shop's bargain bucket has sold for more than £55,000.

The hardback copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - the first book in JK Rowling's stories about a boy wizard - was published in 1997.

The seller - a Scottish woman, who lives near Edinburgh but has not been named - found the book during a family caravan holiday in Wester Ross in the late 1990s.

Hansons Auctioneers said the book was one of 200 copies distributed to shops from its first-ever print run, with a recommended retail price of £10.

Books expert Jim Spencer said: “It’s a great result for a great find.

"This was a genuine, honest first issue and a fantastically well-preserved example."

He added: "It was fresh to market and it deserved to go full steam like the Hogwart’s Express."

The book sold for a recommended retail price of £10 in 1997

The book sold for £55,104.

The seller, a 58-year-old retired manager, bought the book at a bookshop café at the end of a single-track road near Ullapool.

She recognised the author's name having previously read an interview with Rowling in The Scotsman newspaper.

Rowling had still to become a household name at the time, according to Hansons.

Since her purchase, the retired manager has kept the copy in a cupboard under stairs at her home.

In Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter sleeps in a cupboard under stairs in the house where he lives.

Hansons said the hardback was one of the rarest and most prized Potter books, and the "holy grail" for collectors.

The Harry Potter books are among the best-selling of all time, having sold more than 600 million copies worldwide.

They were turned into films, which starred Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter, and there are now plans for a TV series.