Harry Potter book with rare typo could conjure you up some cash

Owners of the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone will want to check for a specific error, as a copy containing it could be worth up to £20,000 (close to $26,000).

British auction house Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts will sell a copy containing the rare mistake in London on Nov. 9. The first entry of the best-selling Harry Potter series, published in June 1997 by Bloomsbury in the U.K., was released with 500 copies containing a typo on page 53 of the book.

“This copy is in excellent condition – one of the very best I’ve seen,” Bonhams Head of Books and Manuscripts, Matthew Haley, states in a release.

In the portion of the page explaining what equipment Hogwarts students will need, the entry “1 wand” is listed twice.

“As the first book in the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has a special place in the affections of the millions of readers across the world and the proof reading error about the wand in the first edition has, of course, become a treasured piece of Harry Potter arcana,” Haley says. “Like most enduring books aimed at younger readers, the Harry Potter books also have wide appeal to adults and there is a strong market among collectors for first editions.”

The U.S. version of Philosopher’s Stone was released in 1998, with the title changed to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. Currently a standard edition of Philosopher’s Stone sells for around £140 (roughly $180), marking a stark difference in value compared with the typo version.

Bloomsbury has not returned EW’s request for comment.