Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Jan Maliepaard
Not all signed Harry Potter books are equal—some are significantly rarer than others. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is one such title. Due to J.K. Rowling’s limited public appearances in 2003 and the absence of a traditional book tour, signed first editions of this installment are among the hardest to find in the series. This article delves into the unique circumstances surrounding its release, the scarcity of signed copies, and why they are so highly sought after today.
A highly anticipated release with limited signing opportunities
After nearly three years of anticipation, fans of the young wizard’s adventures were finally rewarded with the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on June 21, 2003. The scale of the book’s launch reflected the full force of the Harry Potter phenomenon—while the first print run of its predecessor, Goblet of Fire, stood at a then-impressive 750,000 hardcover copies, Bloomsbury printed an astonishing 4 million copies of Order of the Phoenix right from the start.However, unlike the extensive promotional tour Rowling undertook for Goblet of Fire, she remained largely out of the public eye in the following years, focusing on writing the next installment. Later, she admitted that she missed interacting with young readers, which led to a rare and spontaneous appearance at the midnight release of the book. Fans gathered at Waterstones on Princes Street in Edinburgh were in for a surprise—J.K. Rowling arrived unannounced, took time to speak with children about the new book, and personally signed a limited number of copies.The next day, the official launch event took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London. This special occasion featured a reading and Q&A session with J.K. Rowling, hosted by Stephen Fry, the beloved actor and narrator of the UK Harry Potter audiobooks. 4,000 children were invited to attend, making it a major public event, which was broadcast live on BBC One and streamed on the BBC website. However, unlike previous book launches, this event did not include a formal signing session. After the reading, Rowling took some time on the red carpet to sign a handful of copies for lucky fans, but this was not an official book signing.The scarcity of copies signed in 2003
To compensate for the lack of in-person signings, Bloomsbury issued a very limited number of signed bookplates to a select group of booksellers, including WHSmith. These bookplates were often used as competition prizes, with one example being October Books’ poetry contest, where a child could win a first edition with a signed bookplate. Interestingly, October Books did not attach the bookplates to the book, but loosely inserted it—an unusual practice, as mostly these bookplates were affixed on the first free endpaper of the book.