The Various Dust Jacket States of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Of some confusion, when people ask me about the value of their Harry Potter books (for which, I must reiterate that I am not an appraiser), are the various dust jackets that accompany Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

There are indeed a number of different dust jacket variations for the "First American edition," although the first four or five are the ones that best mark the book's value and time line.

First-state dust jacket (first printing only)
- was released with the first issue / first printing of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Arthur A. Levine / Scholastic, 1998).

• Features a quote from The Guardian on the back cover.
• Displays a white or cream ISBN box with two barcodes, a larger and a smaller.
• The smaller barcode displays the numbers 51695 above it.
• The spine lists the author as "J.K. Rowling" (the "J.K." is dropped later)
• No year badge appears on the spine
• The price, found on the upper right corner of the front flap, is $16.95
• "Harry Potter" is printed in raised, gold text

Second-state dust jacket (first through fifth printings)
- was issued mid-way through the first printing and went through the fifth printing.

• Identical to the first-state, except the quote on the back is now from Publishers Weekly.

Third-state dust jacket
- was introduced during the sixth printing.

• Identical to the second-state, except the "J.K." is dropped and the spine simply states "Rowling."

Fourth-state dust jacket
- was issued somewhere around the first price bump, between the 19th and 25th printings.

• Identical to the third-state, except the price is now $17.95 on the inner dust jacket flap, and above the small barcode on the back it now states 51795.

Fifth-state dust jacket
- was introduced shortly there after, showing the "Year 1" badge on the spine.

• Introduction of the "Year 1" badge on the spine. All else is the same.