“Annette” (Leos Carax), “The Disciple” (Chaitanya Tamhane), “Flee” (Jonas Poher Rasmussen), “The Green Knight” (David Lowery), “The Hand of God” (Paolo Sorrentino), “King Richard” (Reinaldo Marcus Green), “Mogul Mowgli” (Bassam Tariq), “Parallel Mothers” (Pedro Almodóvar), “Passing” (Rebecca Hall), “El Planeta” (Amalia Ulman), “The Souvenir Part II” (Joanna Hogg), “Spencer” (Pablo Larraín), “The Tragedy of Macbeth” (Joel Coen).
MANOHLA DARGIS
The Best Film Was One in a Theater
In July, I watched one of the most mediocre movies that I’ve seen this year — and it was glorious. After more than 16 months of streaming at home, I went to a theater to watch Matt Damon sing the white-guy blues in “Stillwater.” The movie was poky and trite and irritating, and I reviewed it accordingly. And while I regretted it wasn’t better, I was still grateful because it sent me back to theaters, big screens and other moviegoers.
Those other people admittedly did give me pause. They were masked, well, most were, kind of, but could I be safe and feel at ease with these people for two or so hours? I was vaxed and masked but also still navigating being back in the world. But the room was great, the screen huge, and I decided that I could — though first I had to tell a guy near me that, yes, he did need to wear the mask he’d parked on his chin. He put it on. I settled in, back in the place that makes me supremely happy: I was at the movies.
Since then, I have watched many more new releases in person, including at two festivals where I gorged like a famished person (so many thanks to both the Toronto International Film Festival and the New York Film Festival). I had spent the first part of the year on book leave, and while I’d streamed plenty of new and old films then (hello, Marie Dressler!), I missed going out (anywhere). I missed really, really big bright images and I missed the rituals, including the quick search for the most perfect seat and the anticipatory wait for the movie to begin, for someone to hit the lights and start the show.
Let’s face it: Siri is great and all, but virtual assistants can get a little bit boring after a while. Well, it seems like Apple has realized just that, because they’ve introduced a fun way to control your iPhone — Harry Potter spells with Siri.
While you won’t be gaining any magical powers yourself, it’s nevertheless a way for Harry Potter fans to get a taste of what it would be like using magic to control their surroundings.
There are three spells baked into Siri, which you can do straight away to get enchanting without needing to set anything up yourself. If that’s not enough, and you love the books or movies and have a particularly good knowledge of Potter lore, you can also use any spell you can think of to do more by using custom shortcuts. We’ll show you how to do both below.
How to cast Harry Potter spells with Siri on iPhone
Using the standard spells
There are three enchantments waiting and ready to be used with Siri: Lumos, which turns on your torch; Nox, which turns it off again; and Accio, which opens an app.
To turn on your torch, say: “Hey Siri, Lumos”
To turn your torch off again, say: “Hey Siri, Nox”
To open an app (here, Spotify), say: “Hey Siri, Accio Spotify”
Note that Accio is pronounced “Ah-Kee-Oh”
While these spells are primarily just a fun feature, they do have their uses. If you need your torch but have your hands full, for example, it’s yet an other way to illuminate your surroundings without having to lift a finger.
Creating and using custom spells with Shortcuts
If you’re a real Harry Potter fan, having only three charms at your disposal may feel a little restrictive. In addition to being pretty fun, making your own can also be super useful, as you’ve access to a huge range of your iPhone’s functions using Shortcuts, meaning you can tailor specific spells to your very needs.
Here’s how to make your own Harry Potter spells using Shortcuts. In this example, we’ll create a shortcut for the spell Lumos Maxima, which we’ll use to turn on the Torch at its brightest setting.
1. Open Shortcuts from your Home Screen or App Library. Select All Shortcuts, and tap on the plus icon in the top right of the screen. Long press to select one of your folders, if you have any already made.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
2. In the bar at the top, enter a name for your spell, in this case Lumos Maxima, then tap Add Action.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
3. A pull up menu will appear, with categories of actions and suggestions. What you select is up to you, but as we’re doing Lumos Maxima, we’ll be tapping Scripting.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
4. Scroll down the Scripting menu and tap Set Torch.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
5. The actions menu will drop down, allowing you to customise the action. Tap the blue chevron and a drop down menu will appear. Scroll the brightness up to maximum.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
6. Hit the Play arrow in the bottom right to test out your new spell. Otherwise, close out of the Shortcut using by tapping X. Cast your spell and turn on your Torch at full by saying “Hey Siri, Lumos Maxima”.
(Image credit: Tom’s Guide)
7. Now you’ve done one, you can play around with other spells, enchantments, and even curses!
Ben Affleck and his ex Ana de Armas play complicated lovers in a Hulu erotic thriller based on a Patricia Highsmith novel, while Lily Collins and Jesse Plemons are a couple hounded by Jason Segel in a Hitchcockian Netflix movie. Regina Hall headlines an Amazon Prime social horror film (and Sundance Film Festival highlight) that explores witchy history and systemic racism, and Oscar winner Mark Rylance headlines a period crime drama alongside Dylan O’Brien.
Here’s a guide to new movies that’ll satisfy every cinematic taste, plus some noteworthy theatrical films making their home video debut on demand:
Oscar movies:Stream these best picture contenders now
If you want to see the movie that won’t be part of a Ben Affleck/JLo date night: ‘Deep Water’
“Flashdance” and “Fatal Attraction” filmmaker Adrian Lyne hasn’t directed a movie in 20 years but for some reason came back for this. This throwback to ludicrous ’90s thrillers stars Affleck and de Armas as a snail-loving rich guy and his boundary-pushing wife. They have an open relationship to keep their marriage together, she seduces dudes in front of him, and her lovers have a tendency to go missing and/or wind up dead. Let’s just say Affleck has better chemistry with the snails.
If you enjoy terrific and thoughtful horror flicks: ‘Master’
Set at an elite New England college, director Mariama Diallo’s sinister, twisty and thought-provoking delight stars Hall as a new dean of students (aka “master”) who sees ghosts and terrifying images while Zoe Renee is a freshman placed in a supposedly haunted dorm room. Spooky things are afoot in the locale, which was the site of a Salem-era gallows, though the scariest matters are the microaggressions and non-supernatural obstacles both Black women face.
‘Master’:Regina Hall co-stars with ‘some very diva maggots’ in new horror film
If you dig old-school gangster films: ‘The Outfit’
Oscar-winning writer Graham Moore (“The Imitation Game”) makes his directorial debut with this intriguing and intimate 1950s-set crime story, starring Rylance as Leonard, an Englishman who runs a Chicago tailor shop frequented by gangsters. When young hoods (O’Brien and Johnny Flynn) seek shelter during a turf war, Leonard has to outwit a crew of mobsters hunting for a rat among them as his own secretive backstory is revealed.
Where to watch: In theaters
If you like to watch rich people squirm: ‘Windfall’
Written and directed by Charlie McDowell (“The One I Love”), the quirky thriller stars Segel as a mysterious stranger who invites himself into the vacant desert getaway of a high-profile CEO (Plemons) and his wife (Collins, who is McDowell’s real-life spouse). When the couple suddenly shows up, however, the intruder is put into an awkward position and takes them hostage. The situation grows out of hand from there for all three, as repressed feelings bubble up, things turn bloody and escape begins to look different for each character.
Next time you want to film porn at elderly couple’s place, just don’t. Director Ti West’s latest horror jam starts as a ’70s-era gore-fest, with Brittany Snow, Scott “Kid Cudi” Mescudi, Jenna Ortega and Mia Goth as members of a DIY adult-film crew who rent out a Texas farmhouse as a movie set and are forced into a killer scenario, but sneakily shifts into a well-crafted (and bloody) piece about lust, longing and growing old.
Where to watch: In theaters
Jenna Ortega:Why the star of ‘Scream’ and ‘X’ is ‘drawn to the darker things’
If you haven’t seen ‘Antebellum’ yet: ‘Alice’
The 2020 Janelle Monáe horror movie shares a key plot point with “Alice,” though here, the fact that an enslaved woman (Keke Palmer) working on an 18th-century Georgia plantation discovers it’s actually 1973 isn’t a spoiler – it’s where the disco-era thriller begins. Palmer’s Alice gets a crash course in culture and civil rights from a helpful truck driver (Common) and yearns for revenge on her sadistic keeper (Jonny Lee Miller) as she reclaims her identity in cathartic fashion.
Where to watch: In theaters
Also on streaming
For those who haven’t had the chance to see theatrical mega-hit “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” bask in the multiverse-spanning glory of not one but three Spideys – Tom Holland, Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield – now on Apple TV and other on-demand platforms.
Channing Tatum’s directorial debut “Dog,” a buddy dramedy about an Army Ranger and a war-hero pooch on a road trip, is also on demand.
And for those who need to catch up before the Oscars, best international film contender “The Worst Person in the World” is another on demand addition to check out – especially if you love unconventional rom-coms.
The Harry Potter movies were an intrinsic part of many Londoners’ childhoods.
An entire generation grew up alongside Harry, Ron and Hermione, dreaming of receiving our Hogwarts letters.
But as we fantasised about spending the summer holidays with the Weasleys, JK Rowling was plotting a much more sinister ending for one beloved character.
READ MORE:Harry Potter: The beloved main character you probably didn’t know was played by several people
One iconic wizard got severely injured during Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix but was supposed to meet an entirely different fate.
Arthur Weasley, played by Mark Williams, was the father of Ron Weasley and his siblings.
He was happily married to Molly Weasley and was loyal to the Order of the Phoenix, the organisation that helped fight Voldemort.
Arthur Weasley was played by Mark Williams (Image: chuff media)
In the fifth movie, Arthur is on patrol at the Ministry of Magic when he gets attacked and seriously hurt by Voldemort’s snake Nagini.
Harry sees the attack in a vision and Arthur ends up in hospital, where he recovers in time for Christmas.
But JK Rowling initially planned to have Arthur die in the Ministry.
Arthur was the patriarch of the Weasley family (Image: Warner Bros)
She said in various interviews that she wanted to kill off parents in the universe to show just how frightening Lord Voldemort’s rule was.
And she did just that – Remus Lupin and Tonks, Harry’s Parents and Voldemort’s own parents are among the ones she killed off.
But the author said she kept Arthur Weasley alive for several reasons.
One was that she didn’t want to affect Ron too much.
JK Rowling nearly killed off the beloved father of seven (Image: PA)
The storyline of how the death of a parent affects a child was already being explored in Harry himself and could have been repetitive.
She also said in an interview with the Today Show in 2007 that she couldn’t bear to part with Arthur: “If there’s one character I couldn’t bear to part with, it’s Arthur Weasley.
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“I think part of the reason for that is there were very few good fathers in the book.
“In fact, you could make a very good case for Arthur Weasley being the only good father in the whole series.”
Ultimately, she let him live and he went on to be an advocate for Muggle rights.
Have a Harry Potter story you think we should cover? If so, email lea.seeberg@reachplc.com
“What do you think really happened to the Denmark expedition?”Netflix has revealed the first trailer for an epic historical expedition thriller titled Against the Ice, which is produced by, co-written by + starring Danish actor Nikolaj Coster-Waldau. In 1909, two explorers fight to survive after they are left behind while on a Denmark expedition in ice-covered Greenland. Their goal was to find proof that Greenland is one big island, not broke into two. But after they succeed on this part of their journey, they return to find their ship crushed in the ice and the camp abandoned. Now they must stave off every last hardship to survive. “Against the Ice is a true story of friendship, love and the awe-inspiring power of companionship.” Based on a true story, of course! Coster-Waldau stars as Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen; he’s joined by Joe Cole, Charles Dance, Heida Reed, Ed Speleers, Diarmaid Murtagh, Gísli Örn Garðarsson, and Sam Redford. “They say there’s truth in every dream.” Damn this looks intense! Those cold climates are so harsh brutal.
Here’s the first official trailer (+ poster) for Peter Flinth’s Against the Ice, direct from YouTube:
Back in 1909, Denmark’s Arctic Expedition led by Captain Ejnar Mikkelsen (Nikolaj Coster-Waldau) was attempting to disprove the United States’ claim to Northeast Greenland. This old claim was based on the assumption that Greenland was broken up into two different pieces of land. Leaving his crew behind with the ship, Mikkelsen embarks on a journey across the ice with his inexperienced crew member, Iver Iversen (Joe Cole). The two men succeed in finding the proof that Greenland is one island, but returning to the ship takes longer and is much harder than expected. Battling extreme hunger, fatigue and a polar bear attack, they finally arrive to find their ship crushed in the ice and the camp abandoned. Hoping to be rescued, they now must fight to stay alive. As the days grow longer, their mental hold on reality starts to fade, breeding mistrust and paranoia, a dangerous cocktail in their fight for survival.Against the Ice is directed by Danish filmmaker Peter Flinth, of the films The Other Side, Olsen Banden Junior, Der Fakir, Arn 1 2, Nobel’s Last Will, Beatles, and Below Zero previously. The screenplay is by Nikolaj Coster-Waldau and Joe Derrick, adapted from the novel by Ejnar Mikkelsen. It’s produced by Coster-Waldau Baltasar Kormákur. Netflix will debut Against the Ice streaming on Netflix starting March 2nd, 2022 coming soon. Who’s in?
A: Many of the [climate] actions I was taking were in public spaces, whether that was marches or direct actions with Greenpeace. But at home, I was also quietly implementing changes. I began thinking maybe those quieter practices were almost as interesting as the public actions. The book is about enabling us to make better, more informed choices when we’re faced with so many options. The title, “Go Gently,”is [saying] we should be gentle so we can sustain these actions over time.
“Mountains always listen… and never talk back.” Bleecker Street has debuted a trailer for Infinite Storm, the true story of a woman who found a man lost in the snow on a mountain. Based on the beloved article “High Places: Footprints in the Snow Lead to an Emotional Rescue” by Ty Gagne, originally published in Reader’s Digest. An experienced hiker attempts to save a stranger during a blizzard on Mount Washington. Naomi Watts stars as Pam Bales, who goes out for a hike on a day where a storm hits but before she comes back she finds a man and takes it upon herself to get them both down the mountain before nightfall arrives and they succumb to the storm. In addition to Watts, the cast includes Billy Howle, Denis O’Hare, and Parker Sawyers. This isn’t really a mountain climbing film, it’s a tale of perseverance and determination, not only about Pam out in this storm – it’s also about the will to live and how powerful compassion can be.
Official trailer (+ poster) for Malgorzata Szumowska Michal Englert’s Infinite Storm, from YouTube:
As an experienced climber (Naomi Watts) ascends Mt. Washington, she turns back before she reaches the summit as a huge blizzard approaches. But on her way down, she encounters a lone, stranded man, and takes it upon herself to get them both down the mountain before nightfall arrives and they succumb to the storm. Infinite Storm is based on a true story.Infinite Storm is co-directed by filmmakers Malgorzata Szumowska (Polish director of the films Happy Man, Stranger, Elles, In the Name Of, Body, Mug, The Other Lamb, and Never Gonna Snow Again previously) Michal Englert (a cinematographer making his feature directorial debut). The screenplay is written by Joshua Rollins, adapted from an article by Ty Gagne (titled “High Places: Footprints in the Snow Lead to an Emotional Rescue”). Bleecker Street Films will debut Infinite Storm in select US theaters starting March 25th, 2022 this month. First impression? Look good?
Harry may be the hero of the “Harry Potter” series, but not that much is known about his family.
Harry’s grandfather made his fortune from a hair potion, which Hermione used for the Yule Ball.
James and Lily were recruited to be Death Eaters, and they defied Voldemort at least three times.
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James and Lily Potter, Harry’s parents, were murdered at the very beginning of the fantasy series, so information about their lives and characteristics are largely shared through stories and the occasional flashback.
Because of this, there are likely some major details that fans may not remember about the Potter family.
With this information and the original series in mind, read on for some facts about James, Lily, and Harry that even the biggest “Harry Potter” fans might not know.
Lily and James were recruited to become Death Eaters
During an interview at the 2004 Edinburgh Book Festival, originally transcribed on JKRowling.com, Rowling said, “Muggle-borns are not allowed to be Death Eaters, except in rare circumstances.”
During a 2005 interview with The Leaky Cauldron and Mugglenet, Rowling said the pair had struggled to conceive for years and were “elderly” when they found out they were pregnant with James.
The miraculous nature of it, along with being an only child, led Fleamont and Euphemia to dote on James. But they died of natural causes before Harry was born.
There’s a reason Harry’s eyes are different in the books and the movies
Daniel Radcliffe’s eyes are blue.
Warner Bros.
Harry hears that he has his “mother’s eyes” multiple times throughout the series.
The books describe Lily and Harry’s eyes as being bright green. But in the films, Harry, played by Daniel Radcliffe, has blue eyes.
James’ first meeting with the Dursleys didn’t go so well
Lily’s relationship with her sister, Petunia, was strained from the moment Lily began developing her powers — and the pair never truly recovered.
And the relationship between James and Petunia’s husband, Vernon Dursley, was apparently no better.
In a 2015 feature on Pottermore (now called Wizarding World), Rowling said that the first meeting between the two men was disastrous, with Vernon taking offense at everything from James’s broom to his family fortune being held at Gringotts.
The evening ended in tears, and the men never reconciled.
Rowling gave Harry her own birthday
Authors often embed bits of themselves into their characters, and it was no different with Rowling and “Harry Potter.”
The titular character was born on June 31, the same date as Rowling’s own birthday.
Harry’s grandfather, and his fortune, are connected to Hermione Granger
Hermione was much more relatable to me.
Warner Bros.
The Potter family got its wealth, in part, due to Fleamont Potter’s Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion, which was said to tame “even the most bothersome” hair, according to Wizarding World.
The potion was wildly popular and quadrupled the family fortune.
While primping for the Yule Ball in “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” Hermione uses Sleekeazy’s Hair Potion to tame her frizzy mane.
James and Lily defied Voldemort 3 times
The infamous prophecy Sybil Trelawney made mentions a child “born to those who have thrice defied him.”
In the same 2007 podcast interview with “PotterCast,” Rowling clarified the portion of the prophecy, which could’ve been true about Harry or Neville Longbottom’s parents.
“If you’re counting, which I do, any time you arrested one of his henchmen, any time you escaped him, any time you thwarted him. That’s what he’s looking for,” she said. “And both couples qualified because they were both fighting.”
The author also said James and Lily’s refusal to join the Death Eaters counted as a strike against them.
James and Lily were Head Boy and Head Girl at Hogwarts
Each year at Hogwarts, two seventh-year students are named Head Boy and Head Girl. These students are usually chosen from the previous batch of prefects and have miscellaneous duties and responsibilities throughout the school.
When he meets Harry, Hagrid tells him that his parents were “Head boy an’ girl at Hogwarts in their day.”
Although Lily was a Gryffindor prefect, Remus Lupin was the male prefect their year, so it’s a little confusing to understand how James became Head Boy.
But Hermione tells Harry in “Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” that his status as quidditch captain puts him on par with the prefects, and since James was also the captain in his years at Hogwarts, that could’ve helped land him the role.
Harry’s parents married young
Lily and James got married soon after leaving Hogwarts. Harry Potter/Warner Bros.
Although there is no exact wedding anniversary for James and Lily in “Harry Potter” canon, we know that their nuptials took place sometime between the summer of 1978, when they graduated from Hogwarts, and the fall of 1979, when Harry was conceived.
That means the pair was married before they turned 20.
Harry eventually lost his ability to speak Parseltongue
When Voldemort tried to kill Harry as a baby and instead unknowingly turned him into a Horcrux, Harry was left with the ability to speak to snakes in Parseltongue — an innate, hereditary skill that’s rare outside of the bloodline of Salazar Slytherin.
But according to Wizarding World, when the bit of Voldemort’s soul inside Harry was destroyed during the Battle of Hogwarts, Harry stopped being a Parselmouth.
Harry and Voldemort are distantly related through the Peverell family
Harry Potter receiving the invisibility cloak gift from Dumbledore in “Harry Potter The Sorcerer’s Stone.”
Warner Bros.
The Peverell family is very important in the Wizarding World. The three Peverell brothers — Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus — were the original owners of the Deathly Hallows.
Although not necessarily surprising given the small community of wizarding families in the UK, both Harry and Voldemort are distantly connected to the Peverell line.
Harry is related to Ignotus on his father’s side, which is how he ended up with the invisibility cloak. And Cadmus’s line led to the Gaunt family, which is Voldemort’s mother’s bloodline.
Harry eventually got his own Chocolate Frog trading card
On Harry’s first trip on the Hogwarts Express in “Sorcerer’s Stone,” Ron introduced him to Chocolate Frogs, and the collectible trading cards featuring historically significant witches and wizards that come with them.
Given everything that Harry did to protect Hogwarts and defeat Voldemort, it makes sense that he’d eventually get his own Chocolate Frog card.
“For all the things I’ve done, for all the things I’m about to do… may God have mercy on my soul.” Saban Films has revealed an official trailer for an action crime thriller titled There Are No Saints, which is an especially generic title for a film that looks entirely derivative. Aside from Ron Perlman (who always kick ass) in the cast, the other exciting detail about this is that the screenplay is written by fellow filmmaker Paul Schrader (known for writing Taxi Driver, and also for directing the films First Reformed and The Card Counter recently). A man nicknamed “the Jesuit,” is imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit. When his wife is murdered and his son kidnapped and taken to Mexico, he devises an elaborate dangerous plan to rescue his son and avenge the murder. Perlman co-stars with Jose Maria Yazpik, Neal McDonough, Brian Cox, Tommy Flanagan, Paz Vega, and Karla Souza. This looks like yet another of these direct-to-video junk thrillers that they’re making a dime a dozen of recently. Perhaps he will get his vengeance…?
Here’s the first trailer (+ poster) for Alfonso Pineda Ulloa’s There Are No Saints, direct from YouTube:
Looking to start a new life, a former hitman nicknamed “The Jesuit” (Jose Maria Yazpik) is still unable to escape the sins of his past. With enemies on both sides of the law, he has nowhere to turn when his only son is kidnapped by a ruthless cartel boss (Ron Perlman). He’ll stop at nothing to save his boy in this gritty action thriller.There Are No Saints is directed by filmmaker Alfonso Pineda Ulloa, director of the films Going Down, Love Pain and Vice Versa, Restos, Demon Inside, Tales of Mexico, and Dos Más Dos previously, as well as lots of TV work. The screenplay is written by filmmaker Paul Schrader. Produced by Santiago Garcia Galvan, Alex Garcia, and Jose Martinez Jr. Saban Films will debut There Are No Saints in select US theaters + on VOD starting May 27th, 2022 this summer season. Who’s interested in watching?
A rare first edition Harry Potter book bought from a store in Surrey could make a six figure sum when it goes under the hammer.
Bought from the former Bookworm in Leatherhead, the edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone has sat unread, unopened and in a protective sleeve since 1997.
And while Hanson Auctioneers hopes to make over £100,000 from the book, it was almost returned for £12.99 after its Sussex-based owner believed it had a fatal flaw.
“It didn’t have a dust jacket and I thought it should,” said the seller, who pre-ordered the book.
“I was really disappointed when I went to pick it up. I’m a collector and, being a first edition, I expected it to have one. I decided to keep the book on the toss of a coin. It was a moment of destiny.”
It wasn’t until years later the owner discovered that Philosopher’s Stone hardback first issues don’t come with a dust jacket.
The 68-year-old said: “Leatherhead Bookworm, one of those magical old books shops, no longer exists but I still hear from the man who sold me the book. He likes to remind me that I nearly had my money back just because it didn’t have a slip cover. I remember standing in the doorway debating whether to keep it.
“I took it home and tucked it away in darkness on a high book shelf to keep it from prying eyes but, more importantly, because the paper in the book is poor quality. I was told to keep it away from sunlight to prevent it going brown.
“I bought that first issue of Philosopher’s Stone because I noticed an advert for it in a magazine called Bookseller in 1997. It compared JK Rowling’s book to the Famous Five novels and predicted it could be a prize winner. I loved reading Enid Blyton’s Famous Five books when I was a child – and I liked them to have a dust jacket.”
The book has now been kept in perfect condition after the owner borrowed a dust jacket from his daughter’s fourth edition of the book.
He added: “I’ve really looked after it. It’s in the best condition it possibly can be – almost perfect I would say. It’s never been read. A year after I bought it, with Harry Potter excitement growing at my daughter’s school, she asked if she could read it. I said no, absolutely not.
“Instead, I bought her another copy and a later issue of The Chamber of Secrets – both in the Harry Potter Gift Set slipcase. By that time, I’d also acquired a mint first issue of Chamber of Secrets, which I am also auctioning.
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“My daughter’s copy of Philosopher’s Stone was a fourth issue – with a dust jacket. So, I put that on my first edition to protect it and tucked it away together with my Chamber of Secrets first edition, also protected by the slipcase. They have always been kept separate from my main books collection and hidden in the house.
“I started collecting books in my 40s. I worked for a paper company and mixed with people in the books fraternity. I used to go out at lunchtime looking for rare finds and got hooked. I have quite a big books collection.”
It was only when the owner considered selling the book that he realised a dust jacket was not specified on first editions.
Jim Spencer has built up a reputation for selling rare books. (Image: Hansons)
He said: “N ow I’ve reached the time of life when it would be useful to pay off the mortgage so I’ve decided to sell. It’s not easy to part with. Collectors have difficulty selling their prized possessions.”
Jim Spencer, from Hansons, has built up a global reputation for selling rare Harry Potter books.
He said: “The owner travelled a long way to see me. We sat down and made ourselves comfortable, but I was nervous about removing the book’s jacket. I receive countless Potter enquiries every single day, but this one had grabbed me and I hoped it would be right.
“My only fear was that it was too good to be true. I inspected the book closely, again and again, comparing it with two other first issues of the same work, studying the covers and text with a magnifying glass. Everything added up perfectly. I couldn’t believe it. It was like stepping back in time to 1997.”
In December 2021, a near pristine edition of the Philosopher’s Stone sold for around £349,186 at an auction house in Dallas, USA. It is the highest price paid for an edition of the book.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: “It would be amazing to beat the price achieved in America with this near perfect, as-good-as-new Potter first edition. Our guide price is £40,000-£60,000, roughly the same as the estimate put on the book sold in Dallas. I’d like to think our copy could achieve £100,000 – or, better still, smash the world record.”
The Harry Potter hardback first editions will be offered as one lot in Hansons Auctioneers’ Library Auction on March 9, estimate £40,000-£60,000. Catalogue due live March 2. To find out more, email jspencer@hansonsauctioneers.co.uk.
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