The first print run of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone contained 500 copies. Bloomsbury published the British hardback edition in June 1997, making this a remarkably small beginning for the book that launched one of the world’s biggest publishing franchises.
Of those 500 copies, 300 were distributed to libraries. The limited run was fairly typical for a first novel, and Bloomsbury initially relied on booksellers and librarians to discover the book and recommend it to young readers. Early copies are now highly valuable to collectors because they belong to the first British edition.
The book’s title creates another source of confusion. Philosopher’s Stone is the original British title, while the first American edition, published in 1998, was called Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. The British copyright page also used Rowling’s original first name, Joanne, in early editions.
The number is sometimes mistakenly remembered as 5,000 or 1,000. The canonical figure for the initial British hardback print run is 500, with 300 sent to libraries.