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Harry Potter first edition auctioned off for $470,000

A copy of The Lord of the Rings went for $103,125, while The Chronicles of Narnia sold for $100,000.

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Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently oversees the CNET breaking news desk for the West Coast. Corinne covers everything from phones, social media and security to movies, politics, 5G and pop culture. In her spare time, she watches soccer games, F1 races and Disney movies.
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Corinne Reichert
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One of the first batch of 500 Harry Potter books has sold for just under $500,000.

Heritage Auctions

A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was sold for $471,000 at Heritage Auctions in Dallas on Thursday. The book was one of the first 500 hardcover copies of J.K. Rowling's novel published by Bloomsbury in 1997.

"It's the most expensive commercially published 20th-century work of fiction ever sold," said Joe Maddalena, Heritage Auctions executive VP. "This result shows the power of that combination of literature and cinema."

Read also: 20 Harry Potter gifts any Potterhead will love

Other copies from that batch sold for around $138,000 this year. Bidding for this copy opened at $75,000 but resulted in a "round of heated bidding," Heritage Auctions said. "When the final sale price was announced, the auction room erupted with applause."

It was part of Heritage Auction's Rare Books Signature Auction, where almost 70 first editions are being sold off from a single collector's library. The books featured were all literary works that have been translated into popular movies.

Also auctioned off Thursday was a copy of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy, which sold for $103,125. A lot of all seven books in C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia sold for $100,000.

Jane Austen's Sense and Sensibility sold for $37,500 while the author's Pride and Prejudice sold for $60,000; The Maltese Falcon sold for $47,500; and a copy of Casino Royale sold for $42,500.

A signed first edition of Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird sold for $35,000, while Charlie and the Chocolate Factory went for $23,750.