A softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book has sold for just over $19,000, according to a Dallas auction house.
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" was one of only 200 copies from the first printing issued with illustrated wrappers by London publisher Bloomsbury.
The 1997 work about the boy wizard was published in the United States as "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and includes an illustrated card signed by author J. K. Rowling.
The winning bid of $19,120 was nearly double the previous record for a softcover Harry Potter book, Heritage Auction Galleries says.
The bidder was a vintage comic book collector from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates whose wife is a Harry Potter fan.
Rowling went on to write seven books in the Potter series, which ended in 2007 and has sold more than 300 million copies worldwide.
