Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

First edition. 8vo. Pp. 251, [4 (pubs. advts.)]. Publisher's laminated pictorial boards, with Smarties Book Prize 1997 blue 'sticker' and quote from The Bookseller to front and further blurbs from The Sunday Times and The Independent on Saturday to rear. Matching first issue dustjacket, illustrated by Cliff Wright and priced £10.99 to front flap, with all mentions of the title in paragraphs 5 and 6 not italicized, commas lacking after children's names, and their given 'age' beginning with a capital "A".

Full number sequence of 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 to the copyright page. With fan letter facsimiles and adverts at the rear. Book dedicated to Séan P.F. Harris, a former schoolmate of Rowling's and owner of a turquoise Ford Anglia. Printed on wove paper by Clays Ltd, St Ives. 1/706 copies published on 2 July 1998 (although online sources suggest a figure of 10,150), and certainly far more common at auction than the first edition of The Philosopher's Stone.

Light toning to textblock edges, hint of fading to dustwrapper spine gently creased to foot, else Fine.

Winner of the 1999 Children's Book of the Year, and the 1998 Gold Medal Smarties Prize. Nominated for the 1999 Whitbread Prize (Children's Book of the Year). Listed at number 23 in BBC's Big Read, 200 Best Novels, [2003]. The second instalment in the Harry Potter series where the title character is a trainee wizard at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

[Errington, Philip W., J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography, rev. ed. (London: Bloomsbury, 2017), A2(a)]