Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
First US Edition, First Printing, Scholastic 2005, Hardback, Signed by J.K. Rowling, Pristine
It is notoriously difficult for collectors to find signed copies of the American editions of books 4, 5 and 6. Rowling didn’t travel to the United States for her previous book and it looks like no signing events were to take place for book 6 either. However, at the beginning of August 2006, Rowling attended an event in New York City titled ‘An evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp’ which was also attended by authors Stephen King and John Irving. VIP seats were available for the event, a limited number of ‘family packages’ were offered at $1000 per package which included 4 premium orchestra seats and a set of 3 signed books- one from each of the authors. As Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince had just been released the year before there were copies in the offices at Scholastic which were brought along to be signed at the event.
The copy presented here was originally owned by the Director of Publicity for Scribner, NY, who arranged for their author, Stephen King, to attend the event. A hand written note accompanies the book- ‘It’s my pleasure to confirm the provenance of this signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling. I was VP, director of publicity for Scribner in New York from 2004-2006. During this time we arranged for out author Stephen King to appear at Radio City Music Hall in an evening entitled ‘An evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp.’ J.K. Rowling and John Irving being the other authors in attendance. Ms Rowling had just published The Half Blood Prince in the US and copies were in the office from Scholastic, which we took to the event. Ms Rowling signed this copy. I’m delighted its going to a serious collector and wish you only joy and happiness from your pursuit of great books! Warmly Suzanne Balaban.’
The book and dust jacket are in pristine condition with no fading at all, the pages are clean with no inscriptions or marks of any kind. The book is unread, the boards are square with sharp corners with no foxing to the text block at all. A beautiful example of a book and dust jacket in perfect condition. It comes housed in a green clamshell box made purposely for this book, with the title and author’s name printed in gold leaf to the spine.
The signature comes fully authenticated by Adam Houston ‘theHarryPotterspecialist’ the world’s leading expert in authenticating Jo’s signature. It comes with a full authentication package including a letter of authenticity, collector card and provenance letter as detailed above.
