Hey guys, it's Carly from All The Pretty Books.
And today we're going to talk about this guy right here.
This book to me is SO cool, this particular print of this book is so cool!
And, no, it's not the 1st.
It's the 100th!
So many print runs before it.
For those who don't know what a print run is, a print run is a batch of books that have
been printed together.
So like this 1st print here was printed in a batch of about 30,000 - 35,000 copies -- that's
it.
And it's a large 1st print run, don't get me wrong.
Since since then, there have been 99 other print runs.
That's SO much!
This guy's the 100th print.
20 years after this guy!
To me that's just so cool!
Many books don't make it past the 1st print run, and let alone into the 100th.
To talk about how cool this book is, I thought we'd discuss some of the things about Harry
Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
So Arthur Levine, when he was very first starting out his literary imprint, knew he wanted a
book that was going to be a classic.
And he wanted it to be a book that you would think about 20 years after you read it.
You'd look at it on your shelf and go: that book changed my life.
And he had that idea when he went to the Bologna Book Fair in Italy in March of 1997.
And he was discussing with a Bloomsbury rep about what he wanted.
Ya know, what he wanted to bring to his imprint.
The lady, after discussing several books with him said that: well, they may have one but
they hadn't even bought the rights to sell it yet.
And it was Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
And I think that's so, so significant that even before Bloomsbury had produced, let alone
had the rights to sell the book, they were discussing that book with other publishers
about how special it would be.
So, when Arthur Levine returned home from his book fair experience he called Chris Little,
who was then Jo's agent, and he was told that there was going to be a bid or auction for
the rights and he would have to bid on them, and he did.
There were a few rounds and he won by only $5,000.00.
He paid $105,000 for the rights to this book right here.
And he thought it would be a special book.
He really loved the book.
He did not know that he would start making money on the book right away, and he did.
The book has sold and sold and sold.
Clearly enough to keep the 1st edition into its 100th print.
The book has sold very well for 20 years.
Over the years, Arthur Levine has received a lot of criticism for changing the title
of the book from Philosopher's Stone to Sorcerer for US audiences as well as making other changes
within the text.
To make it more -- he adapted the text essentially, or the text was adapted, I should say, for
the American audience.
Words like jumper were switched out with sweater and so on.
Ya know, at one point he'd mentioned Harry Potter and the Magic School or School of Magic
and Jo said no; she said it didn't feel quite right.
She came up with Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone; she felt that did it.
In later interviews, she feels, I've heard that she regrets the change.
And I can see that.
She just said she didn't feel like she had enough author clout to not change it.
And Arthur Levine, as far as like discussing the changes in the text, he points out that
every change that was made he had the OK with Jo, so that he didn't necessarily change anything
on his own volition.
Originally, Arthur Levine had planned to, and his sales team, had planned to print only
15,000 copies of the 1st print of this book, which 15,000 is still a very high print run
for those who don't know.
Some books only get 1,500 1st print run and that's it and then those books are distributed
around certain bookstores.
So 15,000 was still high.
But everyone was so enthusiastic in the sales meeting that the number kept being upped and
upped and upped to 30,000 to 35,000.
He said there's not real number recorded.
His memory thinks 35,000.
I've heard 30,000, so it's probably somewhere in there.
And they have on record that the book went on sale sometime in October.
They note it as October 1st just because that's what their notes said.
There really wasn't a hard sales date.
So October 1st is what they say.
20 years later, this 1st print book is still in play.
That it's still relevant, it's still being sold.
I bought my copy and they had many other copies there and people had them in their arms as
I was walking to the check out counter.
I bought it for $26.99, up from the original $16.95 that this guy sold for.
And it's still selling!
It's changed a little bit, but overall, still the same.
It feels like the colors on this jacket are sharper, but they should be; this is 20 years
old -- this is a 1st print and it really is 20 years old.
This guy's a few months.
And worldwide, there have been about, as of 2011, 400 million Harry Potter books had sold.
And we know it's just gone up from there.
There's been more translations since 2011.
At that time there were only 69; now we have 90.
They're still selling.
Still selling!
So, the books are incredible.
They're a phenomenon.
They have an amazing fandom that I certainly count myself lucky to be a part of.
And I just had to buy the 100th print book.
I feel like I'm buying history.
I feel like it's as much a part of history as the 1st print is of Harry Potter and the
Sorcerer's Stone.
I think it is so, so cool!
So, if you have a Barnes & Noble close to you, go buy your 100th print copy today!
And, if you have any questions about collecting Harry Potter books, you're certainly welcome
to find me on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.
You can send me an email through my website or you can put it in the comments below, and
i'll happily answer.
So with that, I'm going to say Thanks for Watching and Happy Collecting.
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