The first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997. Bloomsbury released the novel after editor Barry Cunningham acquired it for the children’s list. The book introduced Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Hogwarts and the wider wizarding world.
The novel was published in the United States under a different title, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, because the American publisher believed “philosopher” might be less immediately appealing to American readers. That U.S. edition appeared in 1998, so the two dates are often confused.
The first book became a major commercial and critical success, winning the Nestlé Smarties Book Prize and the British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year. Its success led to six sequels, eight feature-film adaptations of the seven novels, and a global publishing phenomenon.