Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Advanced Reader Copy (ARC), J.K. Rowling, Scholastic, 1999
An Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) is an uncorrected proof of a book about to be published. They are usually sent to book sellers, editors and reviewers prior to public release. Many of these books were read and often thrown away or damaged due to Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling being fairly unknown at that time, particularly before the release of the first book. There is an estimated 3000 of each of the US ARC books printed.
The Prisoner of Azkaban ARC, you may notice that it doesn’t not bear the usual cover art and instead has a purple and black diamond pattern. This is because Mary GranPre the illustrator os the US books had not finished the cover art by the time this ARC was published, because Scholastic changed the publishing date to earlier than expected. The publishing information on the rear cover shows us that there were 500,000 first printing copies to be printed. By this time, Harry Potter was getting more and more popular and therefore more printings of the book were needed to supply the growing demand.
This book is in very good condition with full colours to the spine, front and back covers. It has some obvious shelf wear, some creasing to the front and back cover. The binding is square and fairly tight and there are no creases at all down the spine. Internally clean with no ownership inscriptions or any unwanted pen marks. Overall a fantastic addition to anyone’s collection.
