Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, London, 1997
FIRST HARDCOVER Edition, SECOND Printing The extremely scarce second printing HARDCOVER copy. A very clean book in a very good plus hardcover. NOT Ex-library, Not the Australian edition, Not the Ted Smart edition, Not the Canadian edition, but the scarce true first/second Bloomsbury Hardcover edition with the complete number line of 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2. The 1st and 2nd Impression Hardback printings of this book were issued without a dust jacket with most printed in softcover and only a scarce few printed in hardcover format.
The book has ‘very good plus’ pictorial boards with strong vibrant colors with some of the common fading along the spine. The boards have only a few very small spots of laminate lift (located just under the words Hogwart Express on the front cover, and lower front edge. The book has no edgewear but to the outer corner tips. The binding is tight with a slight bit of cant, otherwise the boards are in excellent shape for this title considering the very few hardcovers that remain were more abused and well-loved. The end papers are clean, and flat with no marks, no inscriptions, no book plates and no bookstore stamps. The internal pages are clean with an inscription on the title page dated in the year of publication, otherwise the pages are extremely clean and flat with but the common age toning. but no scribbles, no bent pages, no stains, no handling marks and no foxing except to the first two pages of the book. An incredibly clean, hardcover that is NOT Ex-library!, Extremely scarce as such, discounted only due to the inscription as otherwise this book would be priced closer to $25,000.
No dust jacket as issued (this title was not issued with a dust jacket until the third printing).
A very handsome example of this title at a great price, with an usually crisp, clean interior, discounted only due to the inscription. Please note, very few second printings in hardback ever appear on the market, however first printing in hardback have now sold for over $470,000 in near fine condition.
