The rare first edition of
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which J.K. Rowling donated to benefit English PEN and the Lumos Foundation, was auctioned at Sotheby's on Tuesday and brought it over 150,000 pounds ($228,000). A few photos of the first edition, which contains 43 pages of personal annotations by Rowling, about new 22 illustrations and 1100 words of original content, was released a few days ago, and can be seen
here.
Quote:
J.K. Rowling: I wrote the book... in snatched hours, in clattering cafés or in the dead of night. For me, the story of how I wrote Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is written invisibly on every page, legible only to me. Sixteen years after it was published, the memories are as vivid as ever as I turn these pages.
The Associated Press
reported that a private buyer purchased the first edition book via phone on Tuesday in London. Two thirds of the money made from the purchase (100,000 pounds) will go towards English Pen, an organisation that promotes the "freedom to read and write," while the final third will go to Rowling's personal charity, the Lumos Foundation. Lumos was founded by Rowling and works to support the eight million children in institutions worldwide to regain their right to a family life and to end the institutionalisation of children.
For those hopeful fans wondering, there are restrictions on how the purchased book may be displayed by the owner (if they choose to at all), as noted on English PEN's site. More information on that can be read
here.
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J.K. Rowling's annotated Philosopher's Stone first edition sold for $228K at auction 
