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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (published in the United States as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) is the first novel in the Harry Potter series written by J. K. Rowling and featuring Harry Potter, a young wizard. It was published 30 June 1997 by Bloomsbury in London, and has been made into a feature-length film of the same name. This is also the most popular of the books in terms of number sold — an estimated 120 million copies worldwide. As of January 2008, the book is number twelve on the best selling book list of all time, and is the third best-selling non-religious, non-political work of fiction of all time.

Development

In 1990, author J. K. Rowling wanted to move together with her boyfriend to a flat in Manchester: "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." Then Rowling's mother died and, to cope with her pain, Rowling transferred her own anguish to the orphan Harry. After giving birth to her first child Jessica, she sent around the first chapters of her initial drafts, found an agent on her second try, and, in 1996, got her story accepted by Bloomsbury, which published the book in 1997. In May 2008, Scholastic announced the creation of a 10th Anniversary Edition of the book to be released September 2008 to mark the original American release.

Plot

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Beginning

The novel begins with the wizarding world's celebration of the downfall of Lord Voldemort, an evil, powerful and cruel Dark wizard. After he killed Lily and James Potter, Voldemort attempted to murder their one-year-old son, Harry. The magical curse rebounded and destroyed Voldemort's body, leaving only a lightning-bolt scar on Harry's forehead. Harry is placed in the care of his muggle relatives, the Dursley family.

The book skips the next ten years and resumes shortly before Harry's eleventh birthday. The Dursleys had kept Harry's heritage from him. However, the truth comes in the form of Rubeus Hagrid and Harry gets to know that he is a Wizard and has been accepted at Hogwarts and is to start at the school that fall. One month later, Harry takes the train to Hogwarts from Platform Nine and Three Quarters at King's Cross Station. On the train, Harry sits with Ron Weasley. They are visited briefly by Neville Longbottom and Hermione Granger who are in search of Neville's missing toad. Later on in the journey, Draco Malfoy comes into Harry and Ron's compartment with his friends Crabbe and Goyle and introduces himself to Harry. After Ron laughs at Draco's name, Draco offers Harry to be friends with him, but Harry declines.

Arrival at Hogwarts

Upon arrival, the Sorting Hat places Harry and Ron in Gryffindor House, one of the four houses at Hogwarts. After a broom-mounted game to save Neville's Remembrall, Harry joins Gryffindor's Quidditch team as their youngest Seeker player in over a century.

Shortly after they start school, they discover that someone had broken into the wizarding bank, Gringotts. The mystery deepens when they discover a monstrous three-headed dog, Fluffy, that guards a trapdoor in the forbidden third floor passageway. On Halloween, a troll enters the castle and traps Hermione in one of the girls' bathrooms. Harry and Ron rescue her, but are caught by Professor McGonagall. Hermione defends the boys and takes the blame, which results in the three becoming best friends.

Suspicions

Harry's broom becomes jinxed during his first Quidditch match, nearly knocking him off. Hermione believes that Professor Severus Snape has cursed the broom and distracts him by setting his robes on fire, allowing Harry to catch the Snitch to win the game for Gryffindor.

At Christmas, Harry receives his father's Invisibility Cloak by an unknown source. He also discovers the Mirror of Erised in an unused classroom, a strange mirror which shows not just Harry, but Harry surrounded by his entire family. Shortly thereafter, Harry gets to know that Nicolas Flamel is the maker of Philosopher's Stone, a stone that gives the owner eternal life..

Harry sees Professor Snape interrogating Professor Quirrell about getting past Fluffy which confirms Harry, Ron and Hermione's suspicion that Snape is trying to steal the Philosopher's Stone in order to restore Lord Voldemort to power. The trio discover that Hagrid is incubating a dragon egg, which shortly thereafter hatches a Norwegian Ridgeback dragon, Norbert. Since dragon breeding is illegal, they convince Hagrid to let Norbert go live with other dragons of his kind. Harry and Hermione are caught returning to their dormitories after sending Norbert off and they are forced to serve detention with Hagrid in the Forbidden Forest. Harry sees a hooded figure drink the blood of an injured unicorn. Firenze, a centaur, tells Harry that the hooded figure is in fact Voldemort.

Finding the Philosopher's Stone

Harry, Hermione, and Ron soon discover that an intoxicated Hagrid told an unknown hooded stranger how to get past Fluffy. They rush to tell Dumbledore what they knew only to find that Dumbledore had been sent away from the school. Positive that Dumbledore's summons was a red herring to take him away from Hogwarts while the Philosopher's Stone is stolen, the trio set out to reach the Stone first. They navigate a series of complex magical challenges set up by the school's faculty. At the end of these challenges, only one person can move forward and hence Harry enters the inner chamber alone only to find that it is the timid Professor Quirrell, not Snape, who is after the Stone. The final challenge protecting the Stone is the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell forces Harry to look in the mirror to discover where the Stone is. Harry successfully resists, and the stone drops into his own pocket. Lord Voldemort now reveals himself; he has possessed Quirrell and appears as a ghastly face on the back of Quirrell's head. He tries to attack Harry, but merely touching Harry proves to be agony for Quirrel. Dumbledore arrives back in time to save Harry, Voldemort flees and Quirrell dies.

Aftermath

Dumbledore confirms to Harry that Lily died while protecting Harry as an infant. Her pure, loving sacrifice provides Harry with an ancient magical protection against Voldemort's lethal spells. Dumbledore also explains that the Philosopher's Stone has been destroyed to prevent future attempts by Voldemort to steal it. He then tells Harry that only those who wanted the Stone to protect it but not use it would be able to retrieve it from the mirror, which is why Harry was able to retrieve it. When Harry asks Dumbledore why Voldemort attempted to kill him when he was an infant, Dumbledore promises to tell Harry when he is older.

At the end-of-year feast, where Harry is welcomed as a hero, Dumbledore gives a few "last-minute additions," granting points to Harry, Ron, Hermione and Neville, so that Gryffindor wins the House Cup, ending Slytherin's six-year reign as house champions.

Characters

In the book, Rowling introduced an eclectic cast of characters. Most of the actions center around 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"," and says she transferred part of her pain about losing her mother to him. During the book, Harry makes two close friends, Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger. Ron, as the former is called, is described by Rowling as the ultimate best friend, "always there when you need him". 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".

Rowling also imagined a supporting cast of adults. Headmaster of Hogwarts is powerful but kind wizard Albus Dumbledore, who becomes Harry's confidant; Rowling described him as "epitome of goodness". His right hand is severe Minerva McGonagall, who is "under that gruff exterior... a bit of an old softy, really" according to the author, and Harry's saviour from the Dursley family, friendly half-giant Rubeus Hagrid. Also, teacher Professor Quirrell originally meets Harry in the Leaky Cauldron, prior to the school year beginning.

Main antagonists are Draco Malfoy, a racist, elitist classmate, drawn from Rowling's experience with real-life bullies,, cold-hearted professor Severus Snape, inspired from a disliked teacher from her own childhood, and Lord Voldemort, the most powerful evil wizard who for some reason has been disembodied when he tried to kill baby Harry: "According to a 1999 interview with Rowling, Voldemort was invented as a literary foil for Harry Potter, the main protagonist of the series, and that she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory at first. "The basic idea … Harry … didn't know he was a wizard … 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.… 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.… Harry has to find out, before we find out. 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."

Publication impact

In June 1997, Bloomsbury published Philosopher’s Stone with an initial print-run of one thousand copies, five hundred of which were distributed to libraries. Philosopher's Stone was a great critical success.

Awards

Five months after publication the initial book won its first award, a Nestlé Smarties Book Prize. In February, the novel won the prestigious British Book Award for Children’s Book of the Year, and later, the Children’s Book Award. The Mail on Sunday rated it as "the most imaginative debut since Roald Dahl"; a view echoed by the Sunday Times ("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".

Rowling's book was also shortlisted many other awards including the 1997 Carnegie Award and the Guardian Children's Award. In October 1998, Scholastic published Philosopher’s Stone in the US under the title of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone: a change Rowling claims she now regrets and would have fought if she had been in a better position at the time. The book became an unprecedented smash hit, selling over five million copies by 2001. In time, so-called Pottermania swept the globe, setting up a hitherto unknown hype for the following six Harry Potter books and making it one of the best-selling works of fiction of all time. As a homage to the books, the odd "Platform 9¾" from the book was commemorated in the real-life King's Cross railway station with a sign between tracks 9 and 10.

Financial rewards

In 2001 a film based on the book was released and after becoming the highest grossing film ever in the UK it went on to earn $976.5 million at the worldwide box office making it the second highest grossing film in history at the time. As of 2008, it is the fourth highest-grossing film of all-time, behind Titanic, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Further films based on the subsequent books have made Harry Potter the highest grossing film series of all time, ahead of the James Bond and Star Wars franchises. The success of the series and its tie-in merchandise, have led the Harry Potter brand to be valued at $15 billion, and J.K. Rowling becoming the UK's richest woman, thought to be worth more than one billon US dollars.

mistakes threw out the first harry potter book: In the first book:1: In the first chapter, Professor MacGonagall asks Professor Dumbledore how he knew that the cat was her. All Animagi, or magic people who can turn into animals, must normally be registered with the Ministry of Magic. McGonagall should have been on this list. McGonagall should have been aware that Dumbledore knew she could turn into a cat, because of his position of authority allows him access to a lot of information. It does not seem probable that Dumbledore had never seen her before in cat form, although this is remotely possible.

2: During the sorting ceremony, Professor McGonagall states there are three people left to sort. She then calls four more: Dean Thomas, Lisa Turpin, Ron Weasley and Blaise Zabini. This occurred because of an editing error for the American edition. Dean Thomas is in the original UK edition, as Ron, Harry and Neville's roommate, but his year in school is never identified. He was not sorted with Harry and the other first years. In the U.S. version, Dean becomes a first year and was added to the Sorting. The editor also should have changed Rowling's wording to "And now there were only four people left to be sorted." Another thing: his race is never indicated in the UK book, but he was made black in the U.S. edition. He also was played by a black actor in the Warner Bros. movie.

3: In some editions, Harry was required to buy the text One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi, but the title changes later to One HUNDRED Magical Herbs and Fungi when he looks up “dittany.”

4: Hagrid and Harry leave the isolated cottage in the boat with which Vernon Dursley took his family and Harry out to it. Many fans asked how the Dursleys then get back to shore. Perhaps the man who rented them the cottage noticed they could not return, or that his boat turned up empty at the shore and was not properly returned. If he began an investigation, he would have still found the Dursleys stuck at the little hovel.

5: In Diagon Alley a witch complains that 17 sickles an ounce is a ridiculous price for dragon liver. Seventeen sickles equal a galleon, so it should have read, “Pay one galleon an ounce for dragon liver? They’re mad!” This is like saying “pay 100 cents for a candy bar” instead of $1. Or “pay 100 pence” instead of “pay one pound.”

6: Students are told in their admissions letter that they can have an owl, a cat or a toad as a pet, but Ron has Scabbers the rat. Are these the only animals, or can students get special permission to bring animals other than those listed? Perhaps Mr. Weasley arranged this, since he has some power in the Ministry of Magic?

7: Dean Thomas’ poster for the West Ham team says “soccer,” an Americanization from the British edition, where it was referred to as “football.” This is what soccer is called outside the U.S. In Book 4, which had many more of the British terms untouched, “football” is used to refer to the West Ham club.

8: In The Sorcerer’s Stone,Harry said his birthday was on a Tuesday, one day after The Great Humberto, Dudley’s favorite TV show. The Chamber of Secrets is set in 1992-93 (see below), so Sorcerer’s begins in 1991. The date 31 July fell on a Wednesday that year, not a Tuesday. This would be a mistake only if strictly sticking to the timeline established by the 1992 Death Day Party.

9: Petunia complains that Lily would come home on school breaks with pockets full of frog spawn and turn teacups into rats. If she really had been doing that, she would have faced expulsion from Hogwarts, because use of magic by underage wizards outside of school is illegal.

10: Marcus Flynt, the Slytherin Quidditch team captain, is a sixth year in the book, but turns up in Book 3, has been called a mistake. Rowling has said in interviews that he flunked and repeated sixth year, which would have been the one portrayed in Book 2.

11: Hagrid said he won the dragon egg at the Hogshead tavern in Hogsmeade, but in Book 3 everyone goes to the Three Broomsticks. It could be there is more than one pub in the village.

12: In Book 1, on page 27 (American paperback), it mentions that the snake in the zoo winked at Harry. Harry can't be blamed for being so surprised, as snakes don't have movable eyelids.

13: On Harry's equipment list in the letter from Hogwarts, "1 wand" is listed twice. This was corrected quickly and only appears in the earlier versions.

14: On the fourth paragraph of page 133, it says that Hermione lent Harry Quidditch Through the Ages: "She had also lent him Quidditch Through the Ages, which turned out to be a very interesting read." On page 46, paragraph three of QTTA, it says "The most successful Japanese team, The Toyohashi Tengu, narrowly missed a win over Lithuania's Gorodok gargoyles in 1994." However, Harry borrows QTTA in Book 1, which is set in 1991.

15: On page 153 of the hard-cover US version of Sorcerer's Stone, Fred says: "We haven't won since Charlie left..." However, according to JKR, Charlie is three years older than Percy (who is in his 5th year at the time), so Charlie should still have been in Hogwarts the year before. This makes Fred's statement "We haven't won since last year!"

16: On page 236 of the US hardback version of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, it reads: "Wednesday night found Hermione and Harry sitting alone in the common room... The clock on the wall had just chimed midnight when the portrait hole burst open. Ron appeared..." But on page 133, it says: "They had to study the night skies through their telescopes every Wednesday at midnight..." So are they cutting class to discuss Norbert?

17: On pages 274-275 of the hardback American edition of Sorcerer's Stone, the trio, who are coming from Gryffindor Tower, go up two flights of stairs to get to the third floor. Gryffindor Tower is on the 7th floor, so they should have gone down, not up.

18: On pages 297 and 302 in the paperback version of Sorcerer's Stone, Dumbledore said that he and Hermione's owl crossed in mid-air. However, on page 302, Hermione said that they ran into Dumbledore on the way to the Owlery to send him the owl.

19: On page 205 of the UK SS, Ron says, "Well Harry, you take the place of that bishop, and Hermione, you go next to him instead of that castle." But the castle is next to the knight, not the bishop.

20: In the Sorcerer's stone, page 2, how could Petunia gossip away happily AND wrestle a screaming Dudly in a high chair?!

21: In book 1, pg. 31 it says Dudley's stupid friend Piers, Dennis, Malcom & Gordon were all Big and Stupid, though on pg.25 , it says Peir was scrawny and like a rat

22: In the first book it says Flint is in his 6th year, but he ends up staying in the next two books.

23: Just a thought but... security for the Sorcerer's Stone could have been much better. If three first-years can get to the stone than you can bet any fully-trained wizard can do it. They could have just had a password that nobody but Dumbledore knew. Then he could tell Flamel if he had to use it than change the password right away.

24: In the first book it said that by drinking the Elixir of Life it would make the drinker immortal, but later in the story Dumbledore says to Harry that the Flamel's had enough Elixir stored in them to set their affairs straight.. But, if by drinking the Elixir of Life makes you immortal then you would never die, ever. You can't just be immortal as long as you have a certain item, then that would mean you could die. You would be like Achilles, you could still die. Immortal means you can NEVER die. In the first book it said that by drinking the Elixir of Life it would make the drinker immortal, but later in the story Dumbledore says to Harry that the Flamel's had enough Elixir stored in them to set their affairs straight.. But, if by drinking the Elixir of Life makes you immortal then you would never die, ever. You can't just be immortal as long as you have a certain item, then that would mean you could die. You would be like Achilles, you could still die. Immortal means you can NEVER die.

25: In the first Harry Potter movie, all those letters that came for him. Well if the Durslys and Harry went on a small island of rock with no way of getting off how could they get rid of all those letters so quickly without any one in their neighbor hood noticing. And why wouldnt more letters come when they were there?

26:In the 1st book Snape takes away harry's "Quidditch through the Ages" saying libary boooks are not alowed outside the libary but hermoine gave it to him to read.

27: In book one, Harry shakes hands with Quirrell in his first time in the Leaky cauldron, but isn't Quirrell suposed tu burn when Harry Touches him?

28: In the harrypotter books 1,2and three the quiditch captain for the slytherin team(marcus flint) was mentioned as a sixth year in the first book. In the second book Marcus flint is in his final year at hogwarts. However in the third book when harry faces slytherin crabbe goyle Malfor and marcus flint try to scare harryby dressing up as dementor. ther are only 7 yars in hogwarts and marcus is still in the third when his final year was in the second book.

29: when harry was a baby he witnessed his mother die. shouldn't he see the thestrals before the fourth year. well we knwo he went in the boats in the 1st year. 2nd year he crashed into a tree with mr. weasleys car. but the third year..... he should have seen them

References

1. ^ Interview with JK Rowling, Author of Harry Potter, www.hilary.com
2. Scholastic Reveals Sorcerer's Stone Anniversary Edition
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. J. K. Rowling. pg. 237-238. ISBN 1-55192-700-4
4. This occurs in the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of Phoenix.
5. "J. K. Rowling Official Site  – Section Biography". Retrieved 2007-08-15.
6. "Harry Potter and Me" (BBC Christmas Special, British version), BBC, 28 December 2001
7. ^ J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival, Sunday, August 15, 2004. Accio-quote.org Retrieved on 23 April 2007.
8. 2000: Accio Quote!, the largest archive of J.K. Rowling interviews on the web
9. "About the Books: transcript of J.K. Rowling's live interview on Scholastic.com," Scholastic.com, 16 October 2000
10. Lydon, Christopher. J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999
11. J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999
12. ""J.K. Rowling on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU Radio Washington, D.C., October 20, 1999"".
13. J. K. Rowling (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Bloomsbury. p. 253.
14. Arthur, Levine. "Awards". Arthur A. Levine Books. Retrieved 2006-05-21.
15. J.K. Rowling: BBC Online Chat. BBC. March 2001. Accessed 19 March 2006.
16. All-Time Bestselling Children's Books
17. BBC NEWS Business | How Rowling conjured up millions
18. "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
19. "Potter makes movie chart history". Newsround. 2002-02-19. Retrieved 2007-07-11. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
20. "Worldwide Grosses". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2007-05-29.
21. BBC NEWS Entertainment | Potter takes film franchise crown
22. India media news marketing India advertising Indian brands tv media newspapers
23. CBBC Newsround UK | Potter author UK's richest woman
24. BBC NEWS Entertainment | Rowling unveils last Potter date

External links

• Background information and storylines from the Harry Potter Lexicon
• Identify first edition copies of Philosopher's Stone

• Misplaced Pages articles with plot summary needing attention from March 2008
• 1997 novels
• British Book Awards
• Harry Potter books
• Novels by J. K. Rowling