Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, 1997
First Hardcover Edition, Fourth Printing, SCARCE VARIANT: Fine, crisp book and Fine condition dust jacket. Not bookclub, Not the Australian edition, Not the Ted Smart edition, Not the Canadian edition, but the scarce true first/fourth Bloomsbury edition with the complete number line of 10 9 8 7 6 5 4. The 1st and 2nd Hardback printings of this book were issued without a dust jacket, the third printing was historically significant as it was the first printing which included a dust jacket. This is the very scarce fourth printing hardback edition, especially scarce in this condition. The rear wrapper has the very early picture of Dumbledore as a young man. The publisher page credits Joanne Rowling and contains no space between “r” and “1” on Thomas Taylor1997 in error.
The book has near fine pictorial boards displaying the same image as on the dust jacket (and the same image as on the first edition, first printing). The boards are in stunning condition with no edgewear with sharp corners, and one extremely tiny tip bump. The boards have their nice original sheen with no stains, and still retain their bright vibrant colors. The binding is tight and square. The end papers are clean, bright and flat with no marks, no inscriptions, no book plates and no bookstore stamps. The internal pages are clean, bright and flat, the pages are crisp with no stains, no writing, no bent pages, and no foxing. Stunning beautiful book appearing as unread!
The stunning original first edition dust jacket is in near fine unrestored condition with strong vibrant colors with No edgewear, No rips, No chips, No stains, No rubbing, with but a hint of fading to spine, and No foxing. The dust jacket is NOT price clipped and is of the scarce variant with no price printed on the dust jacket. We have only seen this variant occur on the fourth printing of this title. The rear wrapper has the very early picture of Dumbledore as a young man.
A very handsome example of this title at a great price, presenting very well with the stunning jacket and crisp, clean interior.
