How to tell if your Harry Potter book could be worth £70,000

So it is more than likely that you have at least one copy sitting on a shelf in your home gathering dust.

If you own the first book in the series - Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone – you could be sitting on a gold mine as rare copies could fetch up to £70,000.

Rare early copies of the novel with a few mistakes printed in them are highly desired by collectors.

Only 500 versions of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone were printed and 300 of these are believed to be in libraries, the Independent reports, meaning very few mint condition copies are out there.

One of these books sold for £68,000 at Bonhams Auction House in Knightsbridge, London recently and a similar first edition copy fetched £60,000 at an auction in Texas in America.

But how can you tell if your copy of the book is worth a small fortune?

Here’s what you need to look out for

The rare copies of the Philosopher’s Stone have a number of key features to look out for – they must be a first edition of the novel.

On the back cover they have a misspelling of the books name - Harry Potter and the Philospher’s Stone.

Author J.K Rowling’s name appears as Jo Rowling and they also include her signature.

The book’s publisher must be Bloomsbury and must have been printed in 1997, the first year the novel was published in the UK.

On the page where the copyright date of 1997 is printed, it must read – 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1.

And last but not least on page 53 it must include the following error: On the list of school supplies Harry needs for Hogwarts, ‘1 wand’ must be printed twice. This mistake was later corrected and so very few copies of the book feature it.