Bloomsbury released the UK edition of J.K. Rowling’s first Harry Potter novel.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in the United Kingdom by Bloomsbury on 26 June 1997. The book introduced Harry, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley and the wizarding school Hogwarts, and it quickly attracted attention from reviewers and booksellers.
Bloomsbury was a relatively young independent publisher when it acquired the manuscript. The editor Barry Cunningham worked with Rowling on the book, and the company’s publication helped launch one of the most commercially successful children’s series in publishing history.
Readers sometimes confuse the UK publisher with Scholastic, which published the American edition. In the United States, the book appeared under the title Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, while Bloomsbury retained “Philosopher’s Stone” for the original English edition.