First edition Harry Potter stolen in Norfolk

Valuable books, including a £40,000 first edition of J K Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, have been stolen from a bookshop in Norfolk, according to news reports.

Other titles taken from SN Books include a signed, hardcover first edition of Terry Pratchett’s Colour of Magic, worth around £9,000, and a first edition of The Hobbit, worth around £7,000.

Two men broke into the shop in Thetford between 11.50pm on 8th January and 1.30am on 9th January.

P.C. Gideon Weigelt-Holmes of Norfolk Police said: “These books are very rare and in some cases unique and not the sort of thing you see every day. I am urging people, especially book dealers or those working in specialist book shops to be vigilant in case they are offered for sale.”

A set of four first editions of Winnie the Pooh and a paperback copy of A Brief History of Time with a thumbprint signature by Stephen Hawking were also stolen.

Anyone with information should contact Thetford Police Station on 101 or call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

Bloomsbury only printed 500 first copies of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, 300 of which went to libraries, in 1997.

Last year London-based Peter Harrington sold two of the first editions for more than £10,000.