Rare Harry Potter bought for 30p may fetch up to £5,000

Bloomsbury printed only 500 hardback copies of the book in 1997, with 300 of those issued to public libraries. Photograph: Henry Nicholls/Reuters

It is a book that has certainly lived up to its name: a rare edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone bought for 30p could fetch up to £5,000 at auction.

The first novel of JK Rowling’s Harry Potter series was rejected by a dozen publishers before Bloomsbury printed just 500 hardback copies in 1997.