This may be the rarest original UK Bloomsbury paperback edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in existence. The sixth UK Bloomsbury printing is so scarce that many collectors believe this print run — similar to the hardback — may have been skipped entirely by the publisher.
This is not the common Canadian sixth edition paperback, but a genuine 1997 Bloomsbury edition, printed by Clays in England and issued only a few months after the book’s original release.
This well-loved copy shows typical signs of use. The laminate layer of the original wrapper is partially missing, with creasing to the front cover and wear to the lower spine. The spine shows some fading. There is a closed tear to the half-title page, along with foxing to the edges and title pages. The page margins have browned, as is common with age. There are no names, stamps, or other inscriptions.
As with the first five printings, the copyright text appears on the upper half of the copyright page. In later printings, this text was moved to the lower half.
The reason this sixth UK Bloomsbury printing barely reached the market remains unclear. It may relate to changes in the cover design: after the fifth printing, the Wendy Cooling quote was replaced with one from The Sunday Telegraph. Most notably, the background colour of the spine lettering was changed to pink — particularly noticeable at the lower portion. It is possible that this design variation was rejected and the print run subsequently withdrawn.
