As you may know, some people often buy “books” as alternative assets. Book sales around the world are still much higher than e-books. The reality remains…that people like the idea of “possessing” stuff, something that they can hold, show around and simply take pride in “owning it”!
Since JK Rowling wrote her first Harry Potter book, she has sold hundreds of millions of them, and a fast-growing fanbase has formed around anything Harry Potter-related. In the last few years, book collectors around the world spent hundreds of thousands of dollars picking up some of the first-edition and early-print copies for the first published books, with one selling on auction for over $90,000. As you can imagine, a first edition copy in excellent condition is always a coveted buy because only a few hundred to a few thousands of copies are published. As there are more and more reprints, the first edition books become more and more valuable and hard to find.
In the last few years, I noticed the market for these books have become quite big with Harry Potter book-collector fans growing everywhere in the world. Therefore, as the books were also translated in dozens of languages, even some foreign language editions have become extremely rare and valuable, thereby making some first prints making extremely difficult to impossible to find.
However, you must do your due diligence and read up a lot of content around this if this collection game intrigues you. Many sellers online often scam unsuspecting buyers by advertising a book as “rare”, “first edition first print” etc. You must learn to detect and pick the right book. I’d recommend you visit AllThePrettyBooks where the editor posts frequently and also uploads videos on YouTube which you will help you understand this space a little better if you are new to this.
I do own some “rare” Harry Potter books myself. But, it took me a lot of time and effort to collect them. Rare foreign edition books are hard to find even in the country where the book was published. Sometimes, you’d be lucky to pick one up at a foreign-based website if something is up for sale, and figure out a way to get it shipped to your country. I see Harry Potter as a good investment long term as the “craze” around it keeps growing. Besides, as the collector community becomes more international, you will always find a good buyer.
If you’re interested in starting your early edition collection right away, Book-1 2nd edition translation in Yiddish is now available for pre-order as I type. The first edition already being sold out days after its release!
