Have you seen the Harry Potter typo?

You might have recently seen the recent story about the first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone – it’s been reported that it may be worth thousands of pounds thanks to a typo that exists in 500 hardback copies of the first novel in J.K. Rowling’s wizarding world series.

As reported by the Independent, the error lies within a passage on page 53 in which “1 wand” is repeated twice in a list of supplies first-year wizards are expected to bring with them to Hogwarts. One book that includes the misprint is even expected to bring in more than £25,000 when it is sold at London’s Bonhams Fine Books and Manuscripts in November.

So, does this mean that if you happen to have a book with a typo in it, you’re sitting on a secret gold mine?

Well, we’re sorry to break the bad news, but probably not.

One of the most common misconceptions about books is that misprints make them rare or valuable. Unfortunately, while certain types of errors can contribute to a book’s collectability, these alone aren’t enough to skyrocket the value of an otherwise inexpensive book – certainly not to Bonhams-worthy prices anyway.

Let’s look at an example. The Sun Also Rises by Ernest Hemingway is one of the most noteworthy, admired novels of the twentieth century. Widely considered to be Ernest Hemingway’s best book, it is also the founding text of the “Lost Generation” of writers who came of age during the First World War.

This alone would make the book significant, but consider the small number of first editions that are available today. Only 5,090 copies were printed and few have survived in collectible condition – and this is what makes the first edition valuable.

So where do misprints come in?

If you happen to get your hands on a first edition copy of The Sun Also Rises, skip to page 181. Here, you’ll find a misprint – the text reads “stoppped” instead of “stopped”. This typo appears in only the earliest issue of the book and was quickly corrected by the printer. Study the book itself and check for the following signs; the correct date, publisher, and binding, and once you have all of these, well, you are holding something very valuable indeed.

In fact, it’s said that a first edition of that book, in excellent condition, with a dust jacket, would be worth around £30,000-£45,000.

While first editions alone are often worth a pretty penny, they’re never Lotto-win level. Misprints alone, unfortunately, aren’t enough to guaranteed cash at all. If the edition is not particularly interesting or uncommon, and the order in which the book was published is not important, then the misprint is just a nuisance. It isn’t the typo alone that makes a book valuable, it’s what the typo indicates: how early a specific copy was published and how rare it is.

So next time you spot a spelling mistake, you’ll know not to get your hopes up… But maybe check the publication date just in case!