View source for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

{{short description|1997 fantasy novel by J. K. Rowling}}
{{About|the book|the film|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film){{!}}''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' (film)|other uses}}
{{Good article}}
{{pp-move}}
{{pp-pc}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2011}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone <!-- The first edition was in the United Kingdom and was the Philosopher's Stone, NOT the Sorcerer's Stone. Read the second paragraph and do not change this! -->
| image             = Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Book Cover.jpg
| caption           = Cover for one of the earliest UK editions
| author            = [[J.&nbsp;K. Rowling]]
| country           = United Kingdom
| language          = English
| illustrator       = [[Thomas Taylor (artist)|Thomas Taylor]] (first edition)
| series            = ''[[Harry Potter]]''
| release_number    = {{ordinal|1}} in series
| genre             = [[Fantasy novel|Fantasy]]
| publisher         = [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]] (UK)<br>[[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic]] (US)
| pub_date          = 26 June 1997
| pages             = 223 (first edition)
| isbn              = 978-0-7475-3269-9
| preceded_by       =
| followed_by       = [[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]
| set_in            = United Kingdom
}}

'''''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''''' is a [[fantasy novel]] written by British author [[J. K. Rowling]]. It is the first novel in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series and was Rowling's debut novel. It follows [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]], a young [[Wizard (fantasy)|wizard]] who discovers his magical heritage on his eleventh birthday when he receives a letter of acceptance to [[Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]]. Harry makes close friends and a few enemies during his first year at the school. With the help of his friends, [[Ron Weasley]] and [[Hermione Granger]], he faces an attempted comeback by the dark wizard [[Lord Voldemort]], who killed Harry's parents but failed to kill Harry when he was just 15 months old.

The book was first published in the United Kingdom on 26 June 1997 by [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]. It was published in the United States the following year by [[Scholastic Corporation]] under the title '''''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'''''. It won most of the British book awards that were judged by children and other awards in the US. The book reached the top of the ''New York Times'' list of best-selling fiction in August 1999, and stayed near the top of that list for much of 1999 and 2000. It has been translated into at least 73 other languages and made into a [[Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)|feature-length film of the same name]], as have all six of its sequels. The novel has sold in excess of 120 million copies, making it the [[List of best-selling books#More than 100 million copies|fourth best-selling book of all time]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Chalton|first1=Nicola|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eF8HDgAAQBAJ&q=philosopher%27s+stone+120+million&pg=PA129|title=20th Century in Bite-Sized Chunks|last2=Macardle|first2=Meredith|date=15 March 2017|publisher=Book Sales|isbn=978-0-7858-3510-3|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|date=5 September 2018|title=Burbank Public Library offering digital copies of first 'Harry Potter' novel to recognize the book's 20th anniversary|url=https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-me-burbank-library-harry-potter-20180831-story.html|access-date=3 September 2020|website=Burbank Leader|language=en-US|archive-date=9 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201009114803/https://www.latimes.com/socal/burbank-leader/news/tn-blr-me-burbank-library-harry-potter-20180831-story.html/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Most reviews were very favourable, commenting on Rowling's imagination, humour, simple, direct style and clever plot construction, although a few complained that the final chapters seemed rushed. The writing has been compared to that of [[Jane Austen]], one of Rowling's favourite authors; [[Roald Dahl]], whose works dominated children's stories before the appearance of Harry Potter; and the ancient Greek story-teller [[Homer]]. While some commentators thought the book looked backward to Victorian and Edwardian [[boarding school]] stories, others thought it placed the genre firmly in the modern world by featuring contemporary ethical and social issues, as well as showing overcoming obstacles like bullying.

The ''Harry Potter'' series has been used as a source of object lessons in educational techniques, [[sociology|sociological analysis]], and marketing.

==Plot==
[[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]] lives with his abusive uncle and aunt, [[Vernon Dursley|Vernon]] and [[Petunia Dursley]], and their bullying, spoiled son, [[Dudley Dursley|Dudley]]. On Harry's 11th birthday, he learns that he is a wizard when a man named [[Rubeus Hagrid]] invites him to attend [[Hogwarts]], a school of magic. Hagrid explains that when Harry was an infant, a [[Dark arts (Harry Potter)|Dark]] wizard named [[Lord Voldemort|Voldemort]] murdered his parents and tried to kill him as well. However, Voldemort's [[Avada Kedavra|killing curse]] rebounded and seemingly destroyed him, leaving a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead.

Hagrid takes Harry to [[Diagon Alley]], where the latter discovers his fame among wizards while buying a [[Magical objects in Harry Potter#Wand|wand]], an owl named Hedwig, and other school supplies. A month later, Harry takes the [[Hogwarts Express]] to Hogwarts. He befriends [[Ron Weasley]], a first-year student, during the journey. He also meets [[Hermione Granger]] and has a confrontation with [[Draco Malfoy]]. At Hogwarts, a magical [[Sorting Hat]] assigns each first-year student to a [[Hogwarts#Houses|House]]. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are assigned to Gryffindor, although the Hat considers putting Harry in Slytherin.

Harry's [[Broomsticks in Harry Potter|broomstick flying]] ability earns him a place on the Gryffindor [[Quidditch]] team as the Seeker. He develops a dislike for the [[Potions (Harry Potter)|Potions]] professor [[Severus Snape]], who seems to hate Harry. Harry and Ron discover a gigantic three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor one night. The two boys later save Hermione from a [[troll]] and begin a friendship with her. During Harry's first Quidditch match, his broomstick attempts to throw him off. Snape's strange behaviour during the match convinces Hermione that he jinxed Harry's broom. On Christmas, Harry receives an anonymous gift – his father's [[Cloak of Invisibility (Harry Potter)|invisibility cloak]]. While using the cloak to explore the school undisturbed, he discovers the [[Mirror of Erised]], which shows the viewer what they most desire. Harry sees his family in the mirror.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione learn that the three-headed dog is guarding a magical object called the [[philosopher's stone (Harry Potter)|Philosopher's Stone]], which grants its user immortality. A centaur named [[Firenze (Harry Potter)|Firenze]] warns Harry that Voldemort is plotting to steal the Stone to restore his body. When the headmaster, [[Albus Dumbledore]], is lured away from Hogwarts, Harry and his friends fear the theft is imminent and descend through the trapdoor to retrieve the artefact. Various obstacles force Ron and Hermione to remain behind while Harry approaches the Stone. He encounters [[Quirinus Quirrell|Professor Quirrell]], the [[Defence Against the Dark Arts]] professor, who explains that he serves Voldemort and that it was he who jinxed Harry's broom; Snape was trying to save him during the match. Quirrell attempts to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised, but cannot figure out how. When Harry looks in the Mirror, he feels the Stone drop into his pocket. Quirrell then reveals that Voldemort has possessed his body, and shows Harry Voldemort's face on the back of his head. Quirrell attempts to seize the Stone, but his flesh burns upon contact with Harry. As Harry and Quirrell struggle, Harry's scar begins to burn, and he passes out.

Harry awakens in the school's infirmary. Dumbledore explains that Harry survived because he is protected by a magical charm created when his mother died trying to protect him. Quirrell's hatred and greed caused him to burn upon contact with Harry, and Voldemort abandoned him to die. Dumbledore also reveals that the Stone has been destroyed. During the school's year-end feast, Gryffindor is awarded the House Cup. Harry then returns to the Dursleys for the summer.

== Characters ==
<!-- All page nums are UK p/b edition anno 1997; {{cite book|last=Rowling|first=J.&nbsp;K.|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|publisher=Bloomsbury|location=London|year=1997|isbn=0-7475-3274-5}} -->
* [[Harry Potter (character)|Harry Potter]] is an orphan whom Rowling imagined as a "scrawny, black-haired, green eyed and bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard."<ref name="jkrbio">{{cite web|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm| title=J.K. Rowling Official Site: Biography |access-date=11 January 2009 |publisher=J.&nbsp;K. Rowling |year=2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217022342/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/biography.cfm|archive-date=17 December 2008 }}</ref> She developed the series' story and characters to explain how Harry came to be in this situation and how his life unfolded from there.<ref name="RehmInterviewRowling">{{cite episode|title=Interview with J.K. Rowling|series=[[The Diane Rehm Show]]|station=[[WAMU]]|date=20 October 1999}}</ref> Apart from the first chapter, the events of this book take place just before and in the year following Harry's eleventh birthday.<!-- p 19, 28, 40, 45 --> Voldemort's attack left a lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead,<!-- p 45 --><ref name="RehmInterviewRowling" /> which produces stabbing pains whenever Voldemort is present.<!-- p94, 187 --> Harry has a natural talent for Quidditch and became the first person in a century to get on their team in their first year.<!-- p 126 -->
* [[Ron Weasley]] is Harry's age, and Rowling describes him as the ultimate best friend "always there when you need him".<ref name="Harry Potter and Me">{{cite episode|title=Harry Potter and Me|series=BBC Christmas Specials|network=BBC|date=28 December 2001}}</ref> He is freckled, red-haired, and quite tall. He grew up in a fairly large pure-blood family as the sixth born of seven children. Although his family is quite poor, they still live comfortably and happily. His loyalty and bravery in the face of a game of Wizard Chess plays a vital part in finding the Philosopher's Stone.
* [[Hermione Granger]], the daughter of an all-[[Muggle]] family, is a bossy girl<!-- p 79–80 --> who has apparently memorised most of the textbooks before the start of term.<!-- p 79–80, 102–103 --> Rowling described Hermione as a "very logical, upright, and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".<ref name="EBF 2004">{{cite web|url=https://www.jkrowling.com/news_view.cfm?id=80|title=J.K. Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival|date=15 August 2004|publisher=J. K. Rowling Official Site|access-date=10 May 2022|archive-date=7 January 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050107091241/https://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/news_view.cfm?id=80|url-status=dead}}</ref> Despite her nagging efforts to keep Harry and Ron out of trouble,<!-- pp115–116, 121 --> she becomes a close friend of the two boys after they save her from a troll<!-- pp 131–132 --> and her magical and analytical skills play an important role in finding the Philosopher's Stone.<!-- pp 202, 206–208 --> She has bushy brown hair and rather large front teeth.
* [[Neville Longbottom]] is a plump, diffident boy,<!-- p79–80 --> so forgetful that his grandmother gives him a [[Remembrall]], to remind him if he forgets something.<!-- p 108, 116 --> Neville's magical abilities are weak and appeared just in time to save his life when he was eight.<!-- p 93 --> Despite his timidity, Neville will fight anyone after some encouragement<!-- p 164–166 --> or if he thinks it is right and important.<!-- p 198–199, 221 -->
* [[Rubeus Hagrid]], a half-giant nearly {{convert|12|ft|m}} tall, with tangled black hair and beard,<!-- p 16 --> who was expelled from Hogwarts and his [[magic wand|wand]] was snapped in half (resulting in him never to use a wand again), though Professor Dumbledore let him stay on as the school's [[gamekeeper]],<!-- p48 --> a job which enables him to give lavish affection, care and even pet names (such as Norbert the dragon) on even the most dangerous of magical creatures.<!-- p 141, 172–173 --> Hagrid is fiercely loyal to Dumbledore<!-- p 48 --> and quickly becomes a close friend of Harry, Ron<!-- pp 104–106 --> and, later, Hermione,<!-- pp 141–142 --> but his carelessness makes him unreliable.<!-- p 16, 142, 193–194 -->
* Professor [[Albus Dumbledore]], a tall, thin man who wears half-moon spectacles and has silver hair and a beard that tucks into his belt,<!-- p12 --> is the headmaster of Hogwarts,<!-- p 77 --> and thought to be the only wizard Voldemort fears.<!-- p 14, 45 --> Dumbledore, while renowned for his achievements in magic,<!-- p 77 --> shrugs off praise,<!-- p14 --> though he is aware of his own brilliance.<!-- p217 --> Rowling described him as the "epitome of goodness".<ref name="Solomon">{{cite episode|title=J. K. Rowling Interview|series=[[Hot Type]]|network=[[CBC Newsworld]]|date=13 July 2000}}</ref>
* Professor [[Minerva McGonagall]], a tall, severe-looking woman with black hair tied in a tight bun,<!-- p13 --> teaches [[Transfiguration (Harry Potter)|Transfiguration]] and is able to transform herself into a cat.<!-- p13 --> She is Deputy Headmistress and Head of Gryffindor House.
* [[Petunia Dursley]], the sister of Harry's mother Lily, is a thin woman with a long neck that she uses for spying on the neighbours.<!-- p 7 --> As a Muggle, she regards her magical sister as a freak<!-- p44 --> and tries to pretend that she never existed.<!-- p7 -->
* [[Vernon Dursley]], the husband of Petunia Dursley, is a heavily built man whose irascible bluster<!-- p9 --> covers a narrow mind and a fear of anything unusual.
* [[Dudley Dursley]] is an overweight, spoilt bully and Harry's cousin.<!-- pp 20–21, 23 -->
* [[Draco Malfoy]] is a slim, pale boy<!-- pp 59–60 --> who speaks in a bored drawl.<!-- p 60 --> He is arrogant about his skill in Quidditch,<!-- p60, 107 --> and despises anyone who is not a pure-blood wizard<!-- p60–61 --> and wizards who do not share his views.<!-- p81 --> His parents had supported Voldemort, but changed sides after the dark wizard's disappearance, claiming they had been [[Imperius Curse|bewitched]].<!-- p82 --> Draco avoids direct confrontations and tries to get Harry and his friends into trouble.<!-- p115–116 -->
* [[Oliver Wood (Harry Potter)|Oliver Wood]] is Harry's Quidditch captain and keeper for the Gryffindor Quidditch team.
* [[Professor Quirrell]] is a twitching, stammering, and nervous man who teaches Defence Against the Dark Arts.<!-- p55 --> Reputedly he was a brilliant scholar, but his nerve was shattered by an encounter with vampires.<!-- p55 --> Quirrell wears a turban<!-- p94 --> to conceal the fact that he is voluntarily possessed by Voldemort,<!-- p 211 --> whose face appears on the back of Quirrell's head.<!-- p 212 -->
* Professor [[Severus Snape]], who has a hooked nose, sallow complexion, and greasy black hair,<!-- p 94 --> teaches Potions, but would prefer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. Snape favours pupils in his own House of Slytherin, and appears to delight in humiliating those from other houses, especially Harry.<!-- p 102–104 --> Several incidents, beginning with the shooting pain in Harry's scar during the start-of-term feast,<!-- p 94 --> lead Harry and his friends to think Snape is aiding Voldemort.<!-- pp 196–197 -->
* [[Argus Filch]], the school caretaker who knows the school's [[Hogwarts#Passages|secret passages]] better than anyone else except, perhaps, the Weasley twins.<!-- p99 --> His cat, Mrs. Norris, aids his constant hunt for misbehaving pupils.<!-- p 117 -->

Other members of staff include: the dumpy [[Magic in Harry Potter#Herbology|Herbology]] teacher and Head of Hufflepuff House [[Professor Sprout]], <!-- p99 --> [[Professor Flitwick]], the tiny and excitable [[Magic in Harry Potter#Charms|Charms]] teacher and Head of Ravenclaw House,<!-- p99 --> the soporific [[Magic in Harry Potter#History of magic|History of magic]] teacher, [[Professor Binns]], a ghost who does not seem to have noticed his own death,<!-- p99 --> and [[Madam Hooch]], the Quidditch coach, who is strict, but a considerate and methodical teacher.<!-- p 109–110;<ref name="Conn2002ClinicalTeachers" /> --> The poltergeist [[Peeves]] wanders around the castle causing trouble wherever he can.<!-- p. 96, 118–119 -->

In the book, Rowling introduces an eclectic cast of characters. The first character to be introduced is Vernon Dursley, Harry's uncle. Most of the actions centre on the eponymous hero, Harry Potter, an orphan who escapes his miserable childhood with the Dursley family. Rowling imagined him as a "scrawny, black-haired, bespectacled boy who didn't know he was a wizard"<ref name="jkrbio"/> and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him.<ref name=hilary/> During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him".<ref name="Harry Potter and Me"/> Rowling has described Hermione as a "very logical, upright and good" character with "a lot of insecurity and a great fear of failure beneath her swottiness".<ref name="EBF 2004"/>

Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. The headmaster of Hogwarts is the powerful, but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant. Rowling described him as "the epitome of goodness".<ref name="Solomon" /> His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, the friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid, who saved Harry from the Dursley family and the sinister Severus Snape. Professor Quirrell is also featured in the novel.

The main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, an elitist, bullying classmate,<ref>{{cite episode|title=J. K. Rowling Interview|series=The Connection|station=WBUR Radio|date=12 October 1999}}</ref> and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who becomes disembodied when he tries to kill baby Harry. According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, the character of Voldemort was created as a literary foil for Harry and his backstory was intentionally not fleshed-out at first:

{{blockquote|The basic idea... Harry, I saw Harry very very very clearly. Very vividly. And I knew he didn't know he was a wizard.&nbsp;... And so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was.&nbsp;... When he was one year old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry—he tried to curse him.&nbsp;... And—so—but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since.<ref name="RehmInterviewRowling" />}}

== Development, publication and reception ==
=== Development ===
The book, which was Rowling's debut novel, was written between approximately June 1990 and some time in 1995. In 1990, Jo Rowling, as she preferred to be known,{{efn|1=J.&nbsp;K. Rowling was christened Joanne Rowling, without a middle name, and adopted the [[nom de plume]] J.&nbsp;K. Rowling for publication.<ref name="mugglenet-bbc" /> She says that she was always known as "Jo".<ref name="CBC">{{cite episode|title=Interview: J.K. Rowling|series=[[This Morning (radio program)|This Morning]]|station=[[CBC Radio One]]|date=23 October 2000 }}</ref> The book's copyright page gives her name as "Joanne Rowling".<ref name="PSCopyright">{{cite book|last=Rowling|first=J.&nbsp;K.|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|publisher=Bloomsbury|year=1997|page=copyright notice| isbn=978-0-7475-3274-3}}</ref>}} wanted to move with her boyfriend to a flat in [[Manchester]] and in her words, "One weekend after flat hunting, I took the train back to London on my own and the idea for Harry Potter fell into my head... A scrawny, little, black-haired, bespectacled boy became more and more of a wizard to me... I began to write ''Philosopher's Stone'' that very evening. Although, the first couple of pages look nothing like the finished product."<ref name=hilary>{{cite web|url=http://www.hilary.com/career/harrypotter.html|title=Interview with JK Rowling, Author of Harry Potter|last=Riccio|first=Heather|date=1995–2009|publisher=Hilary Magazine|access-date=12 January 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131195036/http://www.hilary.com/career/harrypotter.html|archive-date=31 January 2009}}</ref> Then, Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry.<ref name=hilary/> Rowling spent six years working on ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''.

Rowling sent the book to a [[literary agent]] and a publisher and then the second agent she approached spent a year trying to sell the book to publishers, most of whom thought it was too long at about 90,000&nbsp;words. [[Barry Cunningham (publisher)|Barry Cunningham]], who was building a portfolio of distinctive fantasies by new authors for [[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury Children's Books]], recommended accepting the book<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> and the eight-year-old daughter of Bloomsbury's chief executive said it was "so much better than anything else".<ref>{{cite journal|date=3 July 2005|title=Revealed: the eight-year-old girl who saved Harry Potter|journal=[[The Independent]]|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/revealed-the-eightyearold-girl-who-saved-harry-potter-296456.html|access-date=20 May 2009|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131206130553/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/revealed-the-eightyearold-girl-who-saved-harry-potter-296456.html|archive-date=6 December 2013}}</ref>

After it was accepted by Bloomsbury, she obtained a grant of £8,000 from the [[Scottish Arts Council]], which enabled her to plan the sequels.<ref>{{cite book|last=Kirk|first=Connie Ann|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|date=1 January 2003|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0313322051|page=[https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000kirk/page/62 62]|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GJgbW9c9mpwC&q=rowling+grant+8%2C000&pg=PA62|access-date=14 March 2014|chapter=Early Career|url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000kirk/page/62}}</ref>

=== Publication and reception in the United Kingdom ===
[[File:Harry Potter Platform Kings Cross.jpg|thumb|Imitation of the fictional [[Places in Harry Potter#Platform Nine and Three-Quarters|Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}]] at the real [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross railway station]], with a luggage trolley apparently halfway through the magical wall]]

Bloomsbury accepted the book, paying Rowling a £2,500 advance<ref>{{cite journal|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill]]|url=http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935414.htm|journal=[[Bloomberg Businessweek]]|title=Nigel Newton|first=John|last=Lawless|access-date=9 September 2006|date=29 May 2005|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060827032307/http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_22/b3935414.htm|archive-date=27 August 2006}}</ref> and Cunningham sent [[Galley proof|proof copies]] to carefully chosen authors, critics and booksellers in order to obtain comments that could be quoted when the book was launched.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> He was less concerned about the book's length than about its author's name, since the title sounded like a boys' book to him and he believed boys preferred books by male authors. Rowling therefore adopted the [[pen name]] J. K. Rowling just before publication.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published ''Philosopher's Stone'' with an initial print run of 500 copies in hardback, three hundred of which were distributed to libraries.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tomfolio.com/publishers/HarryPotter.html|title=The Phenomenon of Harry Potter|last=Elisco|first=Lester|publisher=TomFolio.com|access-date=22 January 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170412095537/http://www.tomfolio.com/publishers/HarryPotter.html|archive-date=12 April 2017}}</ref> Her original name, "Joanne Rowling", can be found on the copyright page of all British editions until September 1999. (The 1998 first American edition would remove reference to "Joanne" completely.)<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Mystery of the Author's Name|url=https://blogs.princeton.edu/cotsen/2014/09/harry-potter-and-the-mystery-of-the-authors-name/|website=Cotsen Children's Library|publisher=Princeton University|access-date=16 September 2014|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141014144527/http://blogs.princeton.edu/cotsen/2014/09/harry-potter-and-the-mystery-of-the-authors-name/|archive-date=14 October 2014|date=15 September 2014}}</ref> The short initial print run was standard for first novels and Cunningham hoped booksellers would read the book and recommend it to customers.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Examples from this initial print run have sold for as much as US$471,000 in a 2021 [[Heritage Auctions|Heritage]] auction.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/harry-potter-first-edition-sells-smashing-471000-2021-12-09/ |title='Harry Potter' first edition sells for smashing $471,000 |publisher=[[Reuters]] |date=9 December 2021 |access-date=13 December 2021 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211211045010/https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/harry-potter-first-edition-sells-smashing-471000-2021-12-09/ |archive-date=11 December 2021  }}</ref> [[Thomas Taylor (artist)|Thomas Taylor]] created the cover for the first edition.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing"/>

Lindsey Fraser, who had previously supplied one of the blurb comments,<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing">{{cite book|last=Eccleshare|first=Julia|author-link=Julia Eccleshare|title=A guide to the Harry Potter novels|publisher=Continuum International|year=2002|pages=7–14|chapter=The Publishing of a Phenomenon|isbn=978-0-8264-5317-4|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/guidetoharrypott0000eccl}}</ref> wrote what is thought to be the first published review, in ''[[The Scotsman]]'' on 28 June 1997. She described ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' as "a hugely entertaining thriller" and Rowling as "a first-rate writer for children".<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /><ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews">{{cite book|last=Nel|first=Philip|author-link=Philip Nel|title=J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels: a reader's guide|publisher=Continuum International|year=2001|chapter=Reviews of the Novels|pages=53–55|isbn=978-0-8264-5232-0|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qQYfoV62d30C&pg=PA53|access-date=15 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113203617/http://books.google.com/books?id=qQYfoV62d30C&pg=PA53|archive-date=13 November 2013|url-status=live}}</ref> Another early review, in ''[[The Herald (Glasgow)|The Herald]]'', said: "I have yet to find a child who can put it down." Newspapers outside Scotland started to notice the book, with glowing reviews in ''[[The Guardian]]'' and ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' and in September 1997 ''[[Books for Keeps]]'', a magazine that specialised in children's books, gave the novel four stars out of five.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> ''[[Sunday Times]]'' said: "comparisons to Dahl are, this time, justified", while ''The Guardian'' called it "a richly textured novel given lift-off by an inventive wit" and ''The Scotsman'' said it had "all the makings of a classic".<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />

In 1997 the UK edition won a [[Specsavers National Book Awards|National Book Award]] and a gold medal in the 9- to 11-year-olds category of the [[Nestlé Smarties Book Prize]].<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP">{{cite journal
|last=Knapp|first=N.F.|year=2003|title=In Defense of Harry Potter: An Apologia|journal=School Libraries Worldwide
|publisher=International Association of School Librarianship|volume=9|issue=1|pages=78–91
|url=http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110309051050/http://www.iasl-online.org/files/jan03-knapp.pdf|access-date=14 May 2009|archive-date=9 March 2011}}</ref> The ''Smarties'' award, which is voted for by children, made the book well known within six months of publication, while most children's books have to wait for years.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> The following year, ''Philosopher's Stone'' won almost all the other major British awards that were decided by children.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />{{efn|1=The Children's Book Award, The Young Telegraph Paperback of the Year Award, the Birmingham Cable Children's Book Award and the Sheffield Children's Book Award.}} It was also shortlisted for children's books awards adjudicated by adults,<ref>{{cite web| publisher=[[Arthur A. Levine Books]]| url=http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp| title=Awards| access-date=21 May 2006| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060429093544/http://www.arthuralevinebooks.com/awards.asp| archive-date=29 April 2006| df=dmy-all}}</ref> but did not win. Sandra Beckett commented that books that were popular with children were regarded as undemanding and as not of the highest literary standards&nbsp;– for example, the literary establishment disdained the works of Dahl, an overwhelming favourite of children before the appearance of Rowling's books.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover" /> In 2003, the novel was listed at number 22 on the [[BBC]]'s survey [[The Big Read]].<ref>[https://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml "BBC&nbsp;– The Big Read"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031065136/http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/bigread/top100.shtml |date=31 October 2012 }}. BBC. April 2003, Retrieved 12 December 2013</ref>

''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' won two publishing industry awards given for sales rather than literary merit, the [[British Book Awards]] Children's Book of the Year and the Booksellers' Association / ''Bookseller'' Author of the Year.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> By March 1999 UK editions had sold just over 300,000 copies<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/childrens-books-bestsellers-1083288.html |title=Children's Books: Bestsellers |date=27 March 1999 |work=The Independent |location=UK |access-date=16 May 2009 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804080805/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/childrens-books-bestsellers-1083288.html |archive-date=4 August 2009  }}</ref> and the story was still the UK's best-selling title in December 2001.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/harry-potter-hides-fall-in-number-of-books-sold--a-downturn-in-book-sales-748142.html|title=Harry Potter hides fall in number of books sold a downturn in book sales|last=Jury|first=J.|date=22 December 2001|access-date=16 May 2009|work=The Independent|location=London|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707082907/http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/harry-potter-hides-fall-in-number-of-books-sold--a-downturn-in-book-sales-748142.html|archive-date=7 July 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref> A [[Braille]] edition was published in May 1998 by the Scottish Braille Press.<ref>{{cite book|last=Thomas|first=Scott|title=The Making of the Potterverse: A Month-by-Month Look at Harry's First 10 Years|publisher=[[ECW Press]]|year=2007|page=5|isbn=978-1-55022-763-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f6y2_oFOcjQC&pg=PA5|access-date=28 May 2009|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316064118/https://books.google.com/books?id=f6y2_oFOcjQC&pg=PA5|url-status=live}}</ref>

Platform {{frac|9|3|4}}, from which the Hogwarts Express left London, was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign and a trolley apparently passing through the wall.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/Content/Detail.asp?ReleaseID=4177&NewsAreaID=2&SearchCategoryID=8|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120722082347/http://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/content/detail.aspx?releaseid=4177&newsareaid=2&searchcategoryid=8|title=Platform alteration for Hogwarts Express as King's Cross upgrade steps up a gear|date=17 February 2009 |publisher=[[Network Rail]]|location=London|archive-date=22 July 2012|access-date=15 May 2009}}</ref>
{{Clear}}

===US publication and reception===
{| class="wikitable floatright" style="border:darkgrey;"
|+ UK to American translation examples<ref name="Nel2004JellyJello" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html|title=Differences in the UK and US Versions of Four Harry Potter Books|date=7 May 2010|publisher=[[University of Tampere]]|access-date=17 August 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150319041313/http://www15.uta.fi/FAST/US1/REF/potter.html|archive-date=19 March 2015}}</ref>
!UK!!American
|-
|mum, mam || mom
<!--|-
|[[muffin]]||[[crumpet]]-->
|-
|[[sherbet lemon]]||[[Lemon drop (candy)|lemon drop]]
|-
|motorbike||motorcycle
|-
|chips||fries
|-
|crisp||chip
|-
|jelly||[[Jell-O]]
|-
|jacket potato||baked potato
|-
|jumper||sweater
|}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone original paperback cover.jpg|thumb|upright|150px|The 2001 mass market paperback cover<ref>{{cite book|author=J.&nbsp;K. Rowling|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)|isbn= 9780439362139 |publisher=Amazon.com }}</ref> for ''Sorcerer's Stone'']] -->
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone 10th Anniversary.jpg|thumb|upright|left|150px|10th anniversary US cover of ''Sorcerer's Stone'']] -->
[[Scholastic Corporation]] bought the US rights at the [[Bologna Children's Book Fair|Bologna Book Fair]] in April 1997 for US$105,000, an unusually high sum for a children's book.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Scholastic's Arthur Levine thought that "philosopher" sounded too archaic for readers<ref name="fansided">{{cite web |last1=Gumm |first1=Callum |title=Why is it Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone and not the Philosopher's Stone? |url=https://wizardsandwhatnot.com/2018/08/01/sorcerers-stone-philosophers-stone/ |website=Fansided |access-date=31 January 2019 |date=August 2018 |archive-date=31 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145543/https://wizardsandwhatnot.com/2018/08/01/sorcerers-stone-philosophers-stone/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and after some discussion (including the proposed title "Harry Potter and the School of Magic"<ref name="vox">{{cite web |last1=Grady |first1=Constance |title=The first Harry Potter book wasn't perfect, but it was magic |url=https://www.vox.com/2016/7/29/12311072/harry-potter-sorcerers-stone-reread-20th-anniversary |website=Vox |access-date=31 January 2019 |date=1 September 2018 |archive-date=31 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190131145440/https://www.vox.com/2016/7/29/12311072/harry-potter-sorcerers-stone-reread-20th-anniversary |url-status=live }}</ref>), the American edition was published in September 1998<ref>{{cite web|url=http://harrypotter.scholastic.com/jk_rowling/|title=Meet Author J.K. Rowling|publisher=[[Scholastic Press|Scholastic Inc]]|access-date=14 December 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131212084906/http://harrypotter.scholastic.com/jk_rowling/|archive-date=12 December 2013}}</ref> under the title Rowling suggested, ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone''.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> Rowling later said that she regretted this change and would have fought it if she had been in a stronger position at the time.<ref name="mugglenet-bbc">{{cite web|title=BBC "Red Nose Day" Online Chat Transcript|url=http://www.mugglenet.com/books/bbcchat1.shtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214105613/http://www.mugglenet.com/books/bbcchat1.shtml|work=[[BBC]]|publisher=[[MuggleNet]]|access-date=2 August 2013|archive-date=14 December 2013|date=12 March 2001}}</ref> [[Philip Nel]] has pointed out that the change lost the connection with [[alchemy]] and some other changes lost the meaning of other terms changed in translation, for example from "[[crumpet]]" to "muffin". While Rowling accepted the change from both the British English "mum" and Seamus Finnigan's Irish variant "mam" to the American variant "mom" in ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'', she vetoed this change in the later books, which was then reversed in later editions of ''Philosopher's Stone''. However, Nel considered that Scholastic's translations were considerably more sensitive than most of those imposed on British English books of the time and that some other changes could be regarded as useful copyedits.<ref name="Nel2004JellyJello">{{cite book|last=Nel|first=Philip|title=The ivory tower and Harry Potter|editor-last=Whited|editor-first=Lana A.|publisher=[[University of Missouri Press]]|year=2004|pages=261–269|chapter=You Say "Jelly", I Say "Jell-O"?|isbn=978-0-8262-1549-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&pg=PA261|access-date=15 May 2009|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316063919/https://books.google.com/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&pg=PA261|url-status=live}}</ref> Since the UK editions of early titles in the series were published months prior to the American versions, some American readers became familiar with the British English versions owing to having bought them from online retailers.<ref>{{cite news|last=Cowell|first=Alan|author-link=Alan Cowell|date=18 October 1999|title=Harry Potter and the Magic Stock; A Children's Book Series Helps Rejuvenate a British Publisher|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/18/business/harry-potter-magic-stock-children-s-book-series-helps-rejuvenate-british.html|access-date=16 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804185753/http://www.nytimes.com/1999/10/18/business/harry-potter-magic-stock-children-s-book-series-helps-rejuvenate-british.html|archive-date=4 August 2009}}</ref>
<!--
Rowling gives this explanation:
{{blockquote|Arthur Levine, my American editor, and I decided that words should be altered only where we felt they would be incomprehensible, even in context, to an American reader... The title change was Arthur's idea initially, because he felt that the British title gave a misleading idea of the subject matter. In England, we discussed several alternative titles and Sorcerer's Stone was my idea.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saunalahti.fi/frog1/trivia/harrypotter.htm|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001)|date=2004|access-date=5 January 2009|publisher=Jon Haglund}}</ref>}}
-->

At first the most prestigious reviewers ignored the book, leaving it to book trade and library publications such as ''[[Kirkus Reviews]]'' and ''[[Booklist]]'', which examined it only by the entertainment-oriented criteria of children's fiction. However, more penetrating specialist reviews (such as one by ''Cooperative Children's Book Center Choices'', which noted complexity, depth and consistency in the world that Rowling had built) attracted the attention of reviewers in major newspapers.<ref name="UnsworthCoursesHPAndSorcerersStone" /> Although ''[[The Boston Globe]]'' and Michael Winerip in ''The New York Times'' complained that the final chapters were the weakest part of the book,<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" /><ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/14/reviews/990214.14childrt.html|title=Children's Books|last=Winerip|first=Michael|date=14 February 1999|work=The New York Times|access-date=12 January 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081209170509/http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/14/reviews/990214.14childrt.html|archive-date=9 December 2008}}</ref> they and most other American reviewers gave glowing praise.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /><ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />
<!--
''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was generally well received by critics. ''The New York Times'' writer Michael Winerip praised the novel saying, "''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' is as funny, moving and impressive as the story behind its writing."<ref name="NYT">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/99/02/14/reviews/990214.14childrt.html |title=Children's Books|last=Winerip|first=Michael|date=14 February 1999|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=12 January 2009}}</ref> However he felt that the story-telling in the last few chapters was poor, and also did not appreciate characters behaving unlike themselves to advance the plot.<ref name="NYT" /> In 1998, [[Publishers Weekly]] described the novel as "A delightful award-winning debut from an author who dances in the footsteps of P.L. Travers and Roald Dahl."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/product-description/0747573603/ |title=Editorial Reviews|year=1998|publisher=Reed Business Information, Inc.|access-date=12 January 2009}}</ref>
-->A year later, the US edition was selected as an [[American Library Association Notable Book]], a ''[[Publishers Weekly]]'' Best Book of 1998 and a [[New York Public Library]] 1998 Best Book of the Year and won ''[[Parenting Magazine]]''{{'s}} Book of the Year Award for 1998,<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP" /> the ''[[School Library Journal]]'' Best Book of the Year and the American Library Association Best Book for Young Adults.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" /> In 2012 it was ranked number 3 on a list of the top 100 children's novels published by ''School Library Journal''.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |title= Top 100 Chapter Book Poll Results |author= Bird, Elizabeth |publisher= A Fuse #8 Production. Blog. [[School Library Journal]] (blog.schoollibraryjournal.com) |date= 7 July 2012 |access-date= 8 December 2021 |archive-date= 13 July 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120713031015/http://blog.schoollibraryjournal.com/afuse8production/2012/07/07/top-100-chapter-book-poll-results |url-status= dead }}</ref>

In August 1999, ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' topped the ''New York Times'' list of best-selling fiction<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hawes.com/no1_f_d.htm|title=New York Times Best Seller Number Ones Listing Fiction By Date|publisher=Hawes Publications|access-date=16 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090209040712/http://hawes.com/no1_f_d.htm|archive-date=9 February 2009}}</ref> and stayed near the top of the list for much of 1999 and 2000, until the ''New York Times'' split its list into children's and adult sections under pressure from other publishers who were eager to see their books given higher placings.<ref name="Beckett2008Crossover">{{cite book|last=Beckett|first=Sandra L.|title=Crossover Fiction|publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]]|year=2008|pages=112–115|chapter=Child-to-Adult Crossover Fiction|isbn=978-0-415-98033-3|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9ipnQ2ryU7IC&pg=PA112|access-date=16 May 2009}}</ref><ref name="UnsworthCoursesHPAndSorcerersStone">{{cite web|url=http://www3.isrl.illinois.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=Harry+Potter+and+the+Sorcerer%27s+Stone|title=20th-Century American Bestsellers|last=Unsworth|first=John M.|access-date=16 May 2009|publisher=[[UIUC Graduate School of Library and Information Science]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120820014315/http://people.lis.illinois.edu/~unsworth/courses/bestsellers/search.cgi?title=Harry+Potter+and+the+Sorcerer%27s+Stone|archive-date=20 August 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> ''Publishers Weekly''{{'s}} report in December 2001 on cumulative sales of children's fiction placed ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' 19th among hardbacks (over 5 million copies) and 7th among paperbacks (over 6.6&nbsp;million copies).<ref>{{cite journal|url=http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20011217/28595-all-time-bestselling-children-s-books.html|title=All-Time Bestselling Children's Books|date=17 December 2001|volume=248|journal=[[Publishers Weekly]]|access-date=22 January 2009|issue=51|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130121013558/http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/print/20011217/28595-all-time-bestselling-children-s-books.html|archive-date=21 January 2013}}</ref>

In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book<ref name="muggle">{{cite web|url=http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1638|title=Scholastic Reveals Sorcerer's Stone Anniversary Edition|date=20 May 2008|publisher=[[MuggleNet]]|access-date=12 January 2009 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080531033153/http://www.mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1638 | archive-date=31 May 2008}}</ref> that was released on 1 October 2008<ref name="10than">{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, 10th Anniversary Edition|isbn = 978-0545069670|last1 = Rowling|first1 = J. K.|year=2008|publisher=A.A. Levine Books }}</ref> to mark the tenth anniversary of the original American release.<ref name="muggle"/> For the fifteenth anniversary of the books, Scholastic re-released ''Sorcerer's Stone'', along with the other six novels in the series, with new cover art by [[Kazu Kibuishi]] in 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-potter-gets-new-book-covers-for-15th-anniversary/|title="Harry Potter" gets new book covers for 15th anniversary|last=Derschowitz|first=Jessica|date=13 February 2013|work=[[CBS News]]|publisher=CBS Interactive Inc|access-date=14 December 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214210344/http://www.cbsnews.com/news/harry-potter-gets-new-book-covers-for-15th-anniversary/|archive-date=14 December 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/new-harry-potter-cover-_n_2676932.html|title=Scholastic Reveals New Book Cover For 'Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone'|date=13 February 2013|newspaper=[[The Huffington Post]]|publisher=AOL Lifestyle|access-date=14 December 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140325145921/http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/13/new-harry-potter-cover-_n_2676932.html|archive-date=25 March 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/new-harry-potter-covers/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140105092310/http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2013/02/new-harry-potter-covers|title=New Harry Potter Covers by Kazu Kibuishi|last=Liu|first=Jonathan|date=13 February 2013|magazine=Wired Magazine|access-date=14 December 2013|archive-date=5 January 2014}}</ref>

=== Translations ===
{{Main|Harry Potter in translation}}

By mid-2008, official translations of the book had been published in 67 languages.<ref name="Translations for Harry Potter">{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7649962.stm|title=Rowling 'makes £5 every second'|date=3 October 2008|publisher=BBC|access-date=17 October 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006041211/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7649962.stm|archive-date=6 October 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/jun/18/harrypotter.artsandentertainment|title=Harry Potter breaks 400m in sales|date=18 June 2008|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|access-date=17 October 2008|location=London|first=Guy|last=Dammann|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131031062921/http://www.theguardian.com/business/2008/jun/18/harrypotter.artsandentertainment|archive-date=31 October 2013}}</ref> By November 2017, the book had been translated into 80 languages, the 80th being [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]].<ref name="BBCScots">{{cite web |author1=BBC |title=First book in Harry Potter series translated into Scots |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41944136 |website=[[BBC News]] |access-date=28 March 2019 |date=10 November 2017 |archive-date=28 March 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190328204444/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-41944136 |url-status=live }}</ref> Bloomsbury have published translations in [[Latin]] and in [[Ancient Greek]],<ref>{{cite book|last=Rowling|first=J.&nbsp;K.|title=Harrius Potter et Philosophi Lapis|url=https://archive.org/details/harriuspotteretp00jkro|url-access=registration|author2=Needham, P.|publisher=Bloomsbury USA Children's Books|year=2003|isbn=978-1-58234-825-4|language=la}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Rowling|first=J.&nbsp;K.|author2=Wilson, A.|script-title=el:Άρειος Ποτηρ καὶ ἡ τοῦ φιλοσόφου λίθος|publisher=Bloomsbury USA Children's Books|year=2004|isbn=978-1-58234-826-1|language=grc|url=https://archive.org/details/areiospoterkaihe00rowl}}</ref> with the latter being described as "one of the most important pieces of Ancient Greek prose written in many centuries".<ref name="Brennan2005ReviewAncientGreek">{{cite journal|last=Brennan|first=Tad|date=7 August 2005|title=J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Translated into Ancient Greek by Andrew Wilson|journal=[[Bryn Mawr Classical Review]]|publisher=[[Bryn Mawr College]]|url=http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2005/2005-08-07.html|access-date=16 May 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804162345/http://bmcr.brynmawr.edu/2005/2005-08-07.html|archive-date=4 August 2009}}</ref>

==Style and themes==
{{see also|Harry Potter influences and analogues}}

Philip Nel has drawn attention to [[Jane Austen]]'s influence on Rowling, whom the writer has admired since the age of twelve. The styles of both novelists encourage rereading, as details that appear insignificant are discovered, upon revisiting, to foreshadow important events or characters much later in the story (for example, the brief mention of Sirius Black near the beginning of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' foreshadows his importance as a major character in the third to fifth books). Like Austen's heroines, Harry often finds himself re-examining his beliefs as the books draw to a close. Also reminiscent of Austen is the lively social custom of the communal reading of letters. Furthermore, both authors satirise social behaviour and give characters names that reinforce their personalities. However, for Nel, one point of divergence here between the two authors is that Rowling's humor tends towards [[caricature]], with names resembling those found in [[Charles Dickens]].<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />{{rp|13–15}} [[Amanda Cockrell]] further noted that names invoke the dominant trait of their owners through allusions drawn from sources as varied as [[Roman mythology]] and [[German literature#18th century|eighteenth-century German literature]].<ref name="Cockrell2004Password">{{cite book|last=Cockrell|first=Amanda|author-link=Amanda Cockrell|title=The ivory tower and Harry Potter|editor-last=Whited|editor-first=Lana A.|publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004|pages=23–24|chapter=Harry Potter and the Secret Password|isbn=978-0-8262-1549-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&pg=PA23 | access-date=15 May 2009}}</ref> Rowling, like [[C. S. Lewis]] (author of the [[The Chronicles of Narnia|Narnia]] series'), blurs the distinction between juvenile and adult fiction. Nel also noted that, like many good writers for children, Rowling combines several literary genres{{nsmdns}}[[fantasy]], [[young adult fiction]], [[boarding school]] stories, and ''[[Bildungsroman]]'' among others.<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />{{rp|51–52}}

Some reviewers compared ''Philosopher's Stone'' to the stories of [[Roald Dahl]], who died in 1990. Many writers since the 1970s had been hailed as his successor, but none had attained anything near his popularity with children and, in a poll conducted shortly after the launch of ''Philosopher's Stone'', seven of the ten most popular children's books were by Dahl, including the one in top place. The only other children's author of comparable popularity in the late 1990s was an American, [[R. L. Stine]]. Some of the story elements in ''Philosopher's Stone'' resembled parts of Dahl's stories. For example, the hero of ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]'' lost his parents and had to live with a pair of unpleasant aunts{{nsmdns}}one fat and one thin rather like Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, who treated Harry as a servant. However Harry Potter was a distinctive creation, able to take on the responsibilities of an adult while remaining a child inside.<ref name="Eccleshare2002GuidePublishing" />

Librarian Nancy Knapp and marketing professor Stephen Brown noted the liveliness and detail of descriptions, especially of shop scenes such as Diagon Alley.<ref name="Knapp2003InDefenseOfHP" /><ref name="Brown2002MarketingForMuggles" /> [[Tad Brennan]] commented that Rowling's writing resembles that of [[Homer]]: "rapid, plain, and direct in expression".<ref name="Brennan2005ReviewAncientGreek" /> [[Stephen King]] admired "the sort of playful details of which only British fantasists seem capable" and concluded that they worked because Rowling enjoys a quick giggle and then moves briskly forward.<ref>{{cite news|author=King, Stephen|author-link=Stephen King|title=Wild About Harry|date=23 July 2000|work=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html|access-date=16 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=http://archive.wikiwix.com/cache/20100809050706/https://www.nytimes.com/books/00/07/23/reviews/000723.23kinglt.html|archive-date=9 August 2010}}</ref>

[[Nicholas Tucker]] described the early ''Harry Potter'' books as looking back to [[Victorian literature|Victorian]] and [[Edwardian]] children's stories: Hogwarts was an old-style boarding school in which the teachers addressed pupils formally by their surnames and were most concerned with the reputations of the houses with which they were associated; characters' personalities were plainly shown by their appearances, starting with the Dursleys; evil or malicious characters were to be crushed rather than reformed, including [[Argus Filch]]'s cat Mrs Norris; and the hero, a mistreated orphan who found his true place in life, was charismatic and good at sports, but considerate and protective towards the weak.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Tucker|first=Nicholas|author-link=Nicholas Tucker|date=December 1999|title=The Rise and Rise of Harry Potter |journal=Children's Literature in Education|volume=30|issue=4|pages=221–234|doi=10.1023/A:1022438704330|s2cid=141023445|issn=0045-6713 }}</ref> Several other commentators have noted that the books present a rigidly stratified society and include many social stereotypes.<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination">{{cite journal|last=Fields|first=Joyce W.|year=2007|title=''Harry Potter'', Benjamin Bloom, and the Sociological Imagination|journal=International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education|volume=19|issue=2|pages=167–177|url=http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|access-date=15 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100818204930/http://www.isetl.org/ijtlhe/pdf/IJTLHE160.pdf|archive-date=18 August 2010}}</ref> However, Karin Westerman drew parallels with 1990s Britain: a class system that was breaking down but defended by those whose power and status it upheld; the multi-ethnic composition of Hogwarts' students; the racial tensions between the various intelligent species; and school bullying.<ref>{{cite book|last=Westman|first=Karin E.|title=The ivory tower and Harry Potter|editor-last=Whited|editor-first=Lana A.|publisher=University of Missouri Press|year=2004|pages=306–308|chapter=Specters of Thatcherism|isbn=978-0-8262-1549-9|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&pg=PA306|access-date=15 May 2009|archive-date=16 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316063918/https://books.google.com/books?id=iO5pApw2JycC&pg=PA306|url-status=live}}</ref>

Susan Hall wrote that there is no [[rule of law]] in the books, as the actions of [[Ministry of Magic]] officials are unconstrained by laws, accountability or any kind of legal challenge. This frees Voldemort to offer his own horrific version of order. As a side-effect, Harry and Hermione, who were brought up in the rigidly regulated Muggle world, find solutions by thinking in ways unfamiliar to wizards. For example, Hermione notes that one obstacle to finding the Philosopher's Stone is a test of logic rather than magical power, and that most wizards have no chance of solving it.<ref name="Hall2003RuleOfLaw">{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Susan|title=Reading Harry Potter|editor-last=Anatol|editor-first=Giselle Liza|publisher=Greenwood Publishing|year=2003|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675/page/147 147–162]|chapter=Harry Potter and the Rule of Law|isbn=978-0-313-32067-5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-__ICQemqaEC&pg=PA147|access-date=15 May 2009|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780313320675/page/147}}</ref>

Nel suggested that the unflattering characterisation of the dully conventional, status-conscious, materialistic Dursleys was Rowling's reaction to the family policies of the British government in the early 1990s, which treated the married heterosexual couple as the "preferred norm", at a time when the author was a single mother. Harry's relationships with adult and juvenile wizards spring from affection and loyalty. This is evident from his pleasure in being an occasional temporary member of the Weasley family, and in his treatment of first Rubeus Hagrid and later [[Remus Lupin]] and [[Sirius Black]] as father-figures.<ref name="Nel2001GuideReviews" />{{rp|13–15, 47–48}}<ref name="Cockrell2004Password" />

== Legacy ==
=== Sequels ===
The second book, ''[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'', was originally published in the UK on 2 July 1998 and later, in the US on 2 June 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates">{{Cite news |date=14 July 2007 |title=A Potter timeline for muggles |url=https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081220001353/http://www.thestar.com/entertainment/article/235354 |archive-date=20 December 2008 |access-date=27 September 2008 |work=Toronto Star }}</ref><ref name="Harry Potter US&nbsp;— Scholastic">{{cite web|url=http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080822142647/http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/books/author/index.htm|archive-date=22 August 2008|title=Harry Potter: Meet J.K. Rowling|publisher=Scholastic Inc|access-date=27 September 2008}}</ref> ''[[Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' was then published a year later in the UK on 8 July 1999 and in the US on 8 September 1999.<ref name="Harry Potter UK Release Dates" /><ref name="Harry Potter US&nbsp;— Scholastic" /> ''[[Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire]]'' was published on 8 July 2000 at the same time by Bloomsbury and Scholastic.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling|title=Speed-reading after lights out|date=19 July 2000|publisher=[[Guardian News and Media Limited]]|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231101931/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2000/jul/19/jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=31 December 2013}}</ref> ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'' is the longest book in the series at 766 pages in the UK version and 870 pages in the US version.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/business/harry-potter-and-the-internet-pirates.html | title=Harry Potter and the Internet Pirates | newspaper=The New York Times | access-date=21 August 2008 | first=Amy | last=Harmon | author-link=Amy Harmon | date=14 July 2003 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090403074718/http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/14/business/harry-potter-and-the-internet-pirates.html | archive-date=3 April 2009 | df=dmy-all }}</ref> It was published worldwide in English on 21 June 2003.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|title=Harry Potter and the hottest day of summer|last=Cassy|first=John|date=16 January 2003|publisher=Guardian News and Media Limited|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=27 September 2008|location=London|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131231091101/http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2003/jan/16/harrypotter.books|archive-date=31 December 2013}}</ref> ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'' was published on 16 July 2005 and sold 11 million copies in the first 24 hours of its worldwide release.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|title=July date for Harry Potter book|date=21 December 2004|publisher=BBC|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081229024606/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/arts/4113663.stm|archive-date=29 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm |title=Harry Potter finale sales hit 11&nbsp;m |work=BBC News |access-date=21 August 2008 |date=23 July 2007 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225034725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm |archive-date=25 December 2008  }}</ref> The seventh and final novel, ''[[Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', was published on 21 July 2007.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|title=Rowling unveils last Potter date|date=1 February 2007|publisher=BBC|access-date=27 September 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081228101051/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6320733.stm|archive-date=28 December 2008}}</ref> The book sold 11 million copies within 24 hours of its release: 2.7 million copies in the UK and 8.3 million in the US.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|title=Harry Potter finale sales hit 11&nbsp;m|date=23 July 2007|publisher=BBC|access-date=20 August 2008|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225034725/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6912529.stm|archive-date=25 December 2008}}</ref>

=== Illustrated version ===
An illustrated version of ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was released on 6 October 2015, with illustrations by [[Jim Kay]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-9781408845646/|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Illustrated Edition|publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]]|access-date=26 December 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623022326/http://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/harry-potter-and-the-philosophers-stone-9781408845646|archive-date=23 June 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/224132/illustrated-edition-offers-harry-potter-fans-a-unique-reading-experience-2/|title=Illustrated edition offers 'Harry Potter' fans a unique reading experience|last=De Vera|first=Ruel S.|website=lifestyle.inquirer.net|date=6 March 2016|language=en|access-date=25 March 2017|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170326051018/http://lifestyle.inquirer.net/224132/illustrated-edition-offers-harry-potter-fans-a-unique-reading-experience-2/|archive-date=26 March 2017}}</ref> The book carries over 100 illustrations and will be followed by illustrated versions of all seven books from the series by the same artist.

===Audio books===
On 20 November 2015, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was released in audio book format simultaneously   both in the UK and the US by [[Pottermore]] Publishing.<ref>https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Harry-Potter-and-the-Philosophers-Stone-Book-1-Audiobook/B017V568SY?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp</ref><ref>https://www.audible.com/pd/Harry-Potter-and-the-Sorcerers-Stone-Book-1-Audiobook/B017V4IM1G?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp</ref> The UK edition is narrated by [[Stephen Fry]] and the US edition is narrated by [[Jim Dale]]. On 4 November 2025, ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was released as a full-cast audio edition internationally by [[Pottermore]] Publishing and [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]]'s subsidiary, [[Audible (service)|Audible]].<ref>https://www.audible.com/pd/Harry-Potter-and-the-Philosophers-Stone-Full-Cast-Edition-Audiobook/B0F14XST77?source_code=ASSGB149080119000H&share_location=pdp</ref>

=== Podcast version ===
In May 2020, a reading podcast by [[Spotify]] was created and entitled ''Harry Potter at Home: Readings''. Each chapter is narrated by a celebrity guest from the ''Harry Potter'' and ''Wizarding World'' franchises.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Harry Potter At Home Readings|url=https://www.wizardingworld.com/chapters|access-date=6 August 2020|website=www.wizardingworld.com|language=en|archive-date=5 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200805051531/https://www.wizardingworld.com/chapters|url-status=live}}</ref>

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
! Chapter !! Title !! Release date !! Runtime !! Narrated by
|-
| 1 || ''The Boy Who Lived'' || 5 May 2020 || 25 mins, 54 secs || [[Daniel Radcliffe]]
|-
| 2 || ''The Vanishing Glass'' || 8 May 2020 || 27 mins, 27 secs || [[Noma Dumezweni]]
|-
| 3 || ''The Letters from No One'' || 12 May 2020 || 26 mins, 14 secs || [[Eddie Redmayne]]
|-
| 4 || ''The Keeper of the Keys'' || 14 May 2020 || 26 mins, 54 secs || [[Stephen Fry]]
|-
| 5 || ''Diagon Alley'' || 19 May 2020 || 48 mins, 1 sec || [[Simon Callow]], [[Bonnie Wright]] and [[Evanna Lynch]]
|-
| 6 || ''The Journey from Platform Nine and Three-Quarters'' || 20 May 2020 || 41 mins, 47 secs || [[Jamie Parker]] and cast of ''[[Harry Potter and the Cursed Child]]''
|-
| 7 || ''The Sorting Hat'' || 27 May 2020 || 27 mins, 1 sec || [[Olivia Colman]], [[Jonathan Van Ness]] and [[Kate McKinnon]]
|-
| 8 || ''The Potions Master'' || 28 May 2020 || 18 mins, 36 secs || [[Alia Bhatt]], [[Alec Baldwin]] and Carmen Baldwin
|-
| 9 || ''Midnight Duel'' || 3 June 2020 || 33 mins, 21 secs || [[Alison Sudol]] and [[Dan Fogler]]
|-
| 10 || ''Hallowe'en'' || 4 June 2020 || 29 mins, 06 secs || [[Whoopi Goldberg]]
|-
| 11 || ''Quidditch'' || 10 June 2020 || 22 mins, 27 secs || [[David Tennant]] and [[David Beckham]]
|-
| 12 || ''The Mirror of Erised'' || 3 July 2020 || 39 mins, 14 secs || [[Matthew Lewis (actor)|Matthew Lewis]], Helen Howard and [[Imelda Staunton]]
|-
| 13 || ''Nicolas Flamel'' || 7 July 2020 || 22 mins, 2 secs || [[Hugh Bonneville]]
|-
| 14 || ''Norbert the Norwegian Ridgeback'' || 8 July 2020 || 26 mins, 6 secs || [[Jason Isaacs]], [[Tom Felton]] and [[Helen McCrory]]
|-
| 15 || ''The Forbidden Forest'' || 13 July 2020 || 33 mins, 3 secs || [[Claudia Kim]] and [[Dakota Fanning]]
|-
| 16 || ''Through the Trapdoor'' || 14 July 2020 || 51 mins, 35 secs || [[Kenneth Branagh]], [[Ruth Wilson]] and [[Helena Bonham Carter]]
|-
| 17 || ''The Man with the Two Faces'' || 16 July 2020 || 41 mins, 29 secs || Three families of ''Harry Potter'' fans, with a surprise appearance from [[J.&nbsp;K. Rowling]]
|}

=== Film adaptation ===
{{Main|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)}}

In 1999, Rowling sold the film rights of the first two ''Harry Potter'' books to [[Warner Bros.]] for a reported £1&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Gunelius|2008|pp=8, 37}}{{sfn|Smith|2002|p=210}} Rowling demanded that the principal cast be kept strictly British, but allowed for the casting of Irish actors such as [[Richard Harris]] as Dumbledore and of foreign actors as characters of the same nationalities in later books.<ref name="Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone">{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|work=The Guardian|location=UK|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|date=16 November 2001|access-date=26 May 2007|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130930184717/http://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/nov/16/jkjoannekathleenrowling|archive-date=30 September 2013}}</ref> After [[List of Harry Potter films cast members|extensive casting]],<ref>{{cite news|url=http://movies.warnerbros.com/pub/movie/releases/harrycast.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070404184713/http://movies.warnerbros.com/pub/movie/releases/harrycast.html|archive-date=4 April 2007|publisher=Warner Brothers|title=Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson bring Harry, Ron and Hermione to life for Warner Bros. Pictures' 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'|date=21 August 2000|access-date=26 May 2007}}</ref> filming began in September 2000 at [[Leavesden Film Studios]] and in London, with production ending in July 2001.<ref name=greg>{{cite web|url=https://movies.yahoo.com/feature/comingsoon.html |title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) |access-date=30 May 2007 |author=Schmitz, Greg Dean |publisher=Yahoo! Movies |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070529214251/http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/comingsoon.html |archive-date=29 May 2007 }}<!-- Not exactly a dead link, but the page updates frequently and I have not been able to find anything archived. --></ref> ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'' was released in London on 14 November 2001.<ref name="BBCFilmPreview">{{cite news |url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1634408.stm |title=Potter Casts Spell at World Premiere |access-date=23 September 2007 |date=15 November 2001 |work=BBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070312191433/http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/film/1634408.stm |archive-date=12 March 2007  }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034103p1.html |title=Bewitched Warner Bros. Delays Potter |access-date=8 July 2007 |date=17 May 2000 |website=IGN |last=Linder |first=Brian |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081206110507/http://uk.movies.ign.com/articles/034/034103p1.html |archive-date=6 December 2008  }}</ref> Reviewers' comments were positive, as reflected by an 81% Fresh rating on [[Rotten Tomatoes]]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harry_potter_and_the_sorcerers_stone/ |title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (2001) |access-date=8 July 2007 |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131203134925/http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/harry_potter_and_the_sorcerers_stone/ |archive-date=3 December 2013  }}</ref> and by a score of 65% at [[Metacritic]], representing "generally favourable reviews".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/harrypotterandthesorcerersstone |title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone |access-date=20 July 2007 |website=[[Metacritic]] |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090711202402/http://www.metacritic.com/video/titles/harrypotterandthesorcerersstone |archive-date=11 July 2009  }}</ref>

=== Video games ===
{{Main|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (PlayStation video game)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (PC video game)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Game Boy Advance video game)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Game Boy Color video game)|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (2003 video game)}}

Five independent video games by different developers were released between 2001 and 2003 by [[Electronic Arts]], that were loosely based on the film and book:

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Developer !! Release date !! Platform !! Genre !! [[GameRankings]] !! [[Metacritic]] !! class="unsortable"| Notes
|-
| [[KnowWonder]] || rowspan="4"| 15 November 2001 || [[Microsoft Windows]] || [[Adventure game|Adventure]]/puzzle || style="text-align:center;" | 67.35%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PC|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/516702-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=[[GameRankings]]|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100705131317/http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/516702-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=5 July 2010}}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 65/100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/critic-reviews/?platform=pc|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PC)|website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=26 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110325092746/http://www.metacritic.com/game/pc/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone|archive-date=25 March 2011}}</ref> || &nbsp;
|-
| [[Argonaut Games|Argonaut]] || [[PlayStation (console)|PlayStation]] || [[Action-adventure game|Action-adventure]] || style="text-align:center;"| 66.98%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PlayStation|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/ps/516645-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=GameRankings|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906030559/http://www.gamerankings.com/ps/516645-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=6 September 2010}}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 64/100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PSX)|website=Metacritic|access-date=26 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101123203536/http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone|archive-date=23 November 2010}}</ref> || &nbsp;
|-
| rowspan="2"| [[Griptonite Games|Griptonite]] || [[Game Boy Color]] || [[Role-playing game]] || style="text-align:center;"| 73%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Game Boy Color|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/gbc/565542-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=GameRankings|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906030702/http://www.gamerankings.com/gbc/565542-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=6 September 2010}}</ref> || {{N/A}} || &nbsp;
|-
| [[Game Boy Advance]] || Action puzzle || style="text-align:center;" | 68.37%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Game Boy Advance|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/gba/516672-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=GameRankings|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906030656/http://www.gamerankings.com/gba/516672-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=6 September 2010}}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 64/100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/critic-reviews/?platform=game-boy-advance|title=Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (GBA)|website=Metacritic|access-date=26 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714041053/http://www.metacritic.com/game/game-boy-advance/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone|archive-date=14 July 2011}}</ref> || &nbsp;
|-
| [[Aspyr]] || 28 February 2002 || [[OS X|Mac OS X]] || Adventure/puzzle || {{N/A}} || {{N/A}} || Port of Windows version<ref name="CVG2002HPSS">{{cite web|url=http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=27945|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Mac)|date=15 April 2002|publisher=Future Publishing Limited|access-date=25 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090804123113/http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=27945|archive-date=4 August 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|-
| rowspan="3"| [[Warthog Games|Warthog]] || rowspan="3"| 9 December 2003 || [[GameCube]] || rowspan="3"| Action-adventure || style="text-align:center;"| 63.31%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for GameCube|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/gamecube/917863-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=GameRankings|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100821062303/http://www.gamerankings.com/gamecube/917863-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=21 August 2010}}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 62/100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/critic-reviews/?platform=gamecube|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Cube)|website=Metacritic|access-date=26 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101218181714/http://www.metacritic.com/game/gamecube/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone|archive-date=18 December 2010}}</ref> || &nbsp;
|-
| [[PlayStation 2]] || style="text-align:center;"| 57.90%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for PlayStation 2|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/ps2/917861-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=GameRankings|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906030728/http://www.gamerankings.com/ps2/917861-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=6 September 2010}}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 56/100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/critic-reviews/?platform=playstation-2|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (PS2)|website=Metacritic|access-date=26 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121018011313/http://www.metacritic.com/game/playstation-2/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone|archive-date=18 October 2012}}</ref> || &nbsp;
|-
| [[Xbox (console)|Xbox]] || style="text-align:center;"| 61.82%<ref>{{cite web|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for Xbox|url=http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox/917862-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|publisher=GameRankings|access-date=7 June 2010|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100906030740/http://www.gamerankings.com/xbox/917862-harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/index.html|archive-date=6 September 2010}}</ref> || style="text-align:center;"| 59/100<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/critic-reviews/?platform=xbox|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Xbox)|website=Metacritic|access-date=26 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110714050052/http://www.metacritic.com/game/xbox/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone|archive-date=14 July 2011}}</ref> || &nbsp;
|}

=== Uses in education and business ===
Writers on education and business subjects have used the book as an {{Linktext|object lesson}}. Writing about clinical teaching in medical schools, Jennifer Conn contrasted Snape's technical expertise with his intimidating behaviour towards students. Quidditch coach Madam Hooch on the other hand illustrated useful techniques in the teaching of physical skills, including breaking down complex actions into sequences of simple ones and helping students to avoid common errors.<ref name="Conn2002ClinicalTeachers">{{cite journal|last=Conn|first=Jennifer J.|year=2002|title=What can clinical teachers learn from ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''?|journal=Medical Education|volume=36|issue=12|pages=1176–1181|doi=10.1046/j.1365-2923.2002.01376.x|pmid=12472752|citeseerx=10.1.1.463.8854|s2cid=22560995}}</ref> Joyce Fields wrote that the books illustrate four of the five main topics in a typical first-year sociology class: "sociological concepts including culture, society, and [[socialisation]]; stratification and [[social inequality]]; [[social institutions]]; and [[social theory]]".<ref name="Fields2007HPSociologicalImagination" />

Stephen Brown noted that the early ''Harry Potter'' books, especially ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', were a runaway success despite inadequate and poorly organised marketing. Brown advised marketing executives to be less preoccupied with rigorous statistical analyses and the "analysis, planning, implementation, and control" model of management. Instead he recommended that they should treat the stories as "a marketing masterclass", full of enticing products and brand names.<ref name="Brown2002MarketingForMuggles">{{cite journal|last=Brown|first=Stephen|year=2002|title=Marketing for Muggles: The Harry Potter way to higher profits|journal=Business Horizons|volume=45|issue=1|pages=6–14 | doi=10.1016/S0007-6813(02)80004-0 }}</ref> For example, a real-world analogue of [[Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans]] was introduced [[Licence#Trademark and brand licensing|under licence]] in 2000 by toymaker [[Hasbro]].<ref name="Brown2002MarketingForMuggles" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.timewarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/2000/02/Hasbro_Wins_Wide_Range_Rights_for_Harry_Potter_from_02-11-2000.php|title=Hasbro Wins Wide Range of Rights for Harry Potter from Warner Bros. Consumer Products|date=11 February 2000|publisher=[[Time Warner]]|location=Burbank, California|access-date=14 May 2009|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131029203833/http://www.timewarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/2000/02/Hasbro_Wins_Wide_Range_Rights_for_Harry_Potter_from_02-11-2000.php|archive-date=29 October 2013}}</ref>

== Release history ==
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Country
! Release date
! Edition<br /><small>(Hardback/Paperback)</small>
! Publisher
! Pages
|-
|rowspan="14"|United Kingdom
|rowspan="2"|26 June 1997<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747532699|country=uk}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747532745|country=uk}}}}</ref>
|Hardback Children's Edition
|rowspan="14"|[[Bloomsbury Publishing|Bloomsbury]]
|rowspan="5"|223
|-
|Paperback Children's Edition
|-
|11 September 1998<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747542988|country=uk}}}}</ref>
|Paperback Adult Edition <small>(Original)</small>
|-
|27 September 1999<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747545723|country=uk}}}}</ref>
|Hardback Signature Special Edition
|-
|8 October 2001<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747558191|country=uk}}}}</ref>
|Paperback Special Edition
|-
|10 July 2004<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747574472|country=uk}}}}</ref>
|Hardback Adult Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|336
|-
|4 October 2004<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|0747573603|country=uk}}}}</ref>
|Paperback Adult Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|rowspan="3"|223
|-
|1 November 2010<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|id= {{ASIN|1408810549|country=uk}}|edition= Harry Potter Signature}}</ref>
|Paperback Harry Potter Signature Edition
|-
|18 July 2013<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter 1 Adult Cover) |id= {{ASIN|1408834960|country=uk}} }}</ref>
|Paperback Adult Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|-
|rowspan="2"|1 September 2014<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, 1) |id= {{ASIN|1408855895|country=uk}} }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter, 1)| id= {{ASIN|1408855658|country=uk}} }}</ref>
|Hardcover Children's Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|rowspan="2"|352
|-
|Paperback Children's Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|-
|6 October 2015<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Illustrated Hardcover) |id= {{ASIN|1408845644|country=uk}} }}</ref>
|Hardcover Illustrated Edition <small>(Illustrated by Jim Kay)</small>
|256
|-
|20 October 2020<ref>{{cite book|title=Harrry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone| id= {{ASIN|1526626586|country=uk}} | edition= MinaLima }}</ref>
|MinaLima Edition
|368
|-
|9 June 2022<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |id= {{ASIN|152664665X|country=uk}} |edition= 25th Anniversary }}</ref>
|Hardcover Children's Edition <small>(25th Anniversary Edition)</small>
|352
|-
|rowspan="9"|United States
|1 September 1998<ref>{{cite magazine|url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jk-rowling/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|magazine=[[Kirkus Reviews]]|date=1 September 1998|access-date=14 December 2013|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214105044/https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/jk-rowling/harry-potter-and-the-sorcerers-stone/|archive-date=14 December 2013}}</ref>
|Hardback
|rowspan="9"|[[Arthur A. Levine Books|Arthur A. Levine]]/<br />[[Scholastic Corporation|Scholastic]]
|rowspan="3"|309
|-
|8 September 1999<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)|isbn=978-0590353427|url=https://archive.org/details/harrypottersorce00rowl|last1=Rowling|first1=J. K.|year=1998|publisher=A.A. Levine Books }}</ref>
|Paperback
|-
|1 November 2000<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone|isbn = 978-0439203524|last1 = Rowling|first1 = J. K.|date = October 2000| publisher=Scholastic }}</ref>
|Hardback Collector's Edition
|-
|1 November 2001<ref>{{cite book|title = Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone (mm)|isbn = 978-0439362139|last1 = Rowling|first1 = Joanne K.|year = 1997| publisher=Scholastic Incorporated |url = https://archive.org/details/harrypottersorce00jkro}}</ref>
|Mass Market Paperback
|400
|-
|September 2008<ref>{{cite web|url=http://mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1894|title= New cover for Sorcerer's Stone paperback edition|date=29 September 2008|publisher=[[MuggleNet]]|access-date=14 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081205061144/http://mugglenet.com/app/news/full_story/1894|archive-date=5 December 2008}}</ref>
|Paperback <small>(Exclusive Scholastic School Market Edition)</small>
|rowspan="2"|309
|-
|1 October 2008<ref name="10than"/>
|Hardback 10th Anniversary Edition
|-
|27 August 2013<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)|isbn = 978-0545582889|last1 = Rowling|first1 = J. K.|year = 2013| publisher=Scholastic }}</ref>
|Paperback <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|336
|-
|6 October 2015<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Book 1)|isbn = 978-0545790352|last1 = Rowling|first1 = J. K.|year = 2015| publisher=A.A. Levine Books }}</ref>
|Hardcover Illustrated Edition <small>(Illustrated by Jim Kay)</small>
|256
|-
|20 October 2020<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Harry Potter, Book 1) (MinaLima Edition) (1)| id={{ASIN|1338596705|country=com}} }}</ref>
|MinaLima Edition
|368
|-
|rowspan="9"|Canada
|rowspan="2"|1 December 1998<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone British Children's Cloth Edition|id= {{ASIN|0747532699|country=ca}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and Philosopher's Stone|id= {{ASIN|0747542988|country=ca}}}}</ref>
|Hardback Children's Edition
|rowspan="6"|[[Raincoast Books|Raincoast]]
|rowspan="5"|223
|-
|Paperback Adult Edition <small>(Original)</small>
|-
|1 November 1999<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone: Deluxe Gift Edition|id= {{ASIN|0747545723|country=ca}}}}</ref>
|Hardback Signature Special Edition
|-
|31 August 2000<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone Children's Paperback Edition|id= {{ASIN|155192398X|country=ca}}}}</ref>
|Paperback Children's Edition
|-
|16 October 2002<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|id= {{ASIN|1551926121|country=ca}}|edition= Magic}}</ref>
|Paperback Magic Edition
|-
|4 October 2004<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Book 1)|id= {{ASIN|1551927284|country=ca}}}}</ref>
|Hardback Adult Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|336
|-
|rowspan="2"|12 January 2011<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone|id= {{ASIN|0747574472|country=ca}}}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone|id= {{ASIN|1408810549|country=ca}}}}</ref>
|Paperback Adult Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|rowspan="3"|Bloomsbury
|rowspan="3"|223
|-
|Paperback Harry Potter Signature Edition
|-
|27 August 2013<ref>{{cite book|title=Harry Potter And The Philosopher's Stone|id= {{ASIN|1408834960|country=ca}}}}</ref>
|Paperback Adult Edition <small>(Re-issue with new cover)</small>
|}

== Notes ==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

== Works cited ==
* {{cite book |last=Gunelius |first=Susan |title=Harry Potter: The Story of a Global Business Phenomenon |publisher=[[Palgrave Macmillan]] |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-230-59410-4 |doi=10.1057/9780230594104}}
* {{Cite book|last=Smith|first=Sean|url=https://archive.org/details/jkrowlingbiograp0000smit_j1n9|url-access=registration|title=J.K. Rowling: A Biography|year=2002|publisher=[[Random House|Arrow Books]]|isbn=978-0-09-944542-5}}

== External links ==
{{wikibooks|Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter|Books/Philosopher's Stone|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone}}
* {{wikiquote-inline|Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone|''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone''}}
* {{ISFDB title|id=19763|title=Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone}}
* {{OL work}}

{{Harry Potter}}
{{J. K. Rowling}}
{{authority control}}

[[Category:Harry Potter novels|01]]
[[Category:1997 British novels]]
[[Category:1997 children's books]]
[[Category:1997 debut novels]]
[[Category:1997 fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Bloomsbury Publishing books]]
[[Category:British Book Award–winning works]]
[[Category:British children's novels]]
[[Category:British fantasy novels]]
[[Category:British novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Children's books adapted into films]]
[[Category:Children's books set in boarding schools]]
[[Category:Children's fantasy novels]]
[[Category:Fantasy novels adapted into films]]
[[Category:Fiction about magic schools]]
[[Category:Fiction about wizards]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1981]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1991]]
[[Category:Fiction set in 1992]]
[[Category:Novels about alchemy]]
[[Category:Novels about spirit possession]]
[[Category:Novels set in boarding schools]]
[[Category:Novels set in the 20th century]]
[[Category:Scholastic Corporation books]]