Potters go under the hammer

JK Rowling has sold millions of Harry Potter books

A copy of the first edition of JK Rowling's Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has fetched more than £9,700 at auction in London.

It went under the hammer at Bonham's in Knightsbridge, along with a host of other children's books, maps and natural history pieces.

Among the lots was a set of deluxe editions of all four of the Potter books, signed by the author, which raised £3,000 for the Leukaemia Research Fund charity.

A rare first edition of Beatrix Potter's The Tale of Peter Rabbit also went under the hammer for more than £5,000.

It was a privately printed edition, one of only 250 copies.

JK Rowling is one of Britain's richest women

The price will be seen as a bargain because in December a first edition of the second issue of The Tale of Peter Rabbit beat its estimated value to be sold for £14,050.

The appeal of Potter's books continues to this day, although Peter Rabbit has just had undergone an image makeover to help him appeal to modern children.

And last year, it was discovered that Potter may have taken the names of her characters from those of people buried in Brompton Cemetery, west London.

Names on headstones included Mr Nutkin, Mr McGregor, Jeremiah Fisher, Tommy Brock - and even a Peter Rabbett.

Success

Rowling is one of the richest women in Britain thanks to her four books on Harry Potter.

The first novel, Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, was recently made into a blockbusting movie starring Daniel Radcliffe as the boy wizard.

Rowling dreamed up the story of Harry Potter, the bespectacled orphan blessed with magical powers, on a train trip between London and Manchester.

Less than eight years ago she was on the dole, scribbling away her first Potter draft in an Edinburgh café dreaming of the day she could take up writing full time.

Now the 36-year-old has an estimated £24m annual income.