Signed Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets first edition owned by Yorkshire fan could be worth £10,000

A Harry Potter fan who ditched JK Rowling for a trip to a toy shop has spoken of his shock at finding the book she signed for him as a four-year-old boy could now be worth £10,000.
Ruby Kitchen
By Ruby Kitchen
Published 30th Aug 2023, 07:23 BST
Updated 30th Aug 2023, 07:24 BST

Max Roe, originally from Pudsey in Leeds and currently living in Chapel Allerton, recently unearthed his old copy of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

The book is a first run, 1st edition, and signed by the world-famous author herself on a visit to Leeds City Varieties. It even comes with a little badge, saying: Friends of Potter.

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Mr Roe, now 28, explained that his mother had cottoned on early to the Harry Potter trend.

Max Roe, of Leeds, recently found a first run (first off the press), first edition, signed Harry Potter book that his publisher mum bought him when he was a little boy - it may now be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Picture By Yorkshire Post Photographer, James Hardisty.Max Roe, of Leeds, recently found a first run (first off the press), first edition, signed Harry Potter book that his publisher mum bought him when he was a little boy - it may now be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Picture By Yorkshire Post Photographer, James Hardisty.
Max Roe, of Leeds, recently found a first run (first off the press), first edition, signed Harry Potter book that his publisher mum bought him when he was a little boy - it may now be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Picture By Yorkshire Post Photographer, James Hardisty.

"My mum worked in book publishing, though for Penguin not Bloomsbury," he said. "She loved children's books and we got lots of early editions.

"She was always filling the house with books.

"It became a bedtime story book for my sister and I. When JK Rowling came to do a talk and book signing at Leeds City Varieties, my mum took us both along."

The author was to read excerpts from her then latest book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

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Max Roe, of Leeds, recently found a first run (first off the press), first edition, signed Harry Potter book that his publisher mum bought him when he was a little boy - it may now be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Picture By Yorkshire Post Photographer, James Hardisty.Max Roe, of Leeds, recently found a first run (first off the press), first edition, signed Harry Potter book that his publisher mum bought him when he was a little boy - it may now be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Picture By Yorkshire Post Photographer, James Hardisty.
Max Roe, of Leeds, recently found a first run (first off the press), first edition, signed Harry Potter book that his publisher mum bought him when he was a little boy - it may now be worth tens of thousands of pounds. Picture By Yorkshire Post Photographer, James Hardisty.

"I was about four years old," said Mr Roe. "I remember going - I remember her reading. But I couldn't be bothered to queue for the signing.

"To my shame, I got a bit bored so my dad took me to the toy shop."

It was Mr Roe's sister, older by four years, who secured the signature, while he went off in search of something more entertaining. Fittingly, she is now an English teacher in Leeds.

Mr Roe said his memories of his childhood home in Pudsey are of a house always filled with children's books, with lots from the early Harry Potter era in the late 1990s and early noughties.

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Now the family is having two valued - the first run copy of Chamber of Secrets, and a 1st edition paperback of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Both are signed.

"I always knew we had them," he said. "I just didn't know where they were. When I was around 11 years old I put them somewhere safe.

"They've just been sat there on a shelf for years. I used to be a bit of a comic book nerd so I'd put them in a bag to keep them safe."

Mr Roe came across the books recently when his mother, getting ready to redecorate, began clearing out some of his old stuff.

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The family is now awaiting a valuation, but one book alone could be worth a small fortune.

Some signed first editions in the UK can top £10,000, and this is a first run, meaning it was among the first off the printing press.

Earlier this year a battered copy of the Philosopher's Stone, bought for 50p from a charity shop, sold for £15,500 at auction.

The first edition was one of just 500 copies from the first run in 1997, and was filled with a child's scribbles. It was found among the dusty boxes of a Manchester charity shop.

Related topics:JK RowlingYorkshirePudseyChapel AllertonLeeds