First edition Harry Potter book sells for £350,000!

boy looking shocked next to first edition of harry potter bookImage source, Getty Images / PA Wire

One of the first ever printed editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has sold for over £350,000!

That's more than the cost of the average house in the UK.

First editions of popular books like this one are very rare, and this copy attracted a lot of interest at an auction in the United States.

Heritage Auctions described the book as being "near pristine" - which means it looked almost brand new - and said only 500 copies existed in the world with its specific binding.

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The Harry Potter books are loved worldwide

It was expected to sell for around £53,000, but was sold for nearly 7 times that amount.

The buyer snatched the book for a hefty $471,000 US dollars, which is £355,955.90.

Previous first editions of Harry Potter books have sold for much less - so this price is record-breaking.

It means this edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is not only the most expensive Harry Potter book ever sold, it's also the most expensive work of fiction first published in the 20th-century.

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Harry Potter is the most popular book series of all time and made a celebrity of its author, JK Rowling

The Harry Potter series, written by British author JK Rowling, is the best-selling book series of all time.

It's thought that there have been as many as 500 million Harry Potter books sold worldwide!

Imagine you had a first edition Harry Potter book at home that might be worth a pretty penny... if you did - would you sell it?

Let us know in the comments!