The 'real' Harry Potter's first edition book expected to fetch £30,000 at auction

The 'real' Harry Potter is selling his valuable first edition copy of The Philosopher's Stone.

Harry, 33, from Waterlooville in Hampshire, was gifted the book by his father in 1997. The hardback copy is one of only 500 in the first print run.

It is expected to fetch between £20,000 and £30,000 at auction on October 7.

Proceeds from the sale will be used to honour his late father.

Harry, a national sales manager, was eight when the first Harry Potter book was published.

He has spent the last 25 years trying to convince people his name really is Harry Potter.

Harry said: “People just don’t believe me. When I was a young footballer, a referee threatened me with a red card for saying my name was Harry Potter.

"When I met my wife Philippa on holiday in Greece, she didn’t believe me either. People think it’s a wind up."

Harry's sister Katie Sign, 36, has vivid memories of the book’s arrival at the family home in 1997.

Katie said: “I remember dad bursting through the front door after work brandishing a book,proclaiming ‘you’ll never believe what I’ve got!’.

"At first glance we were confused. Had someone written a book for Harry? Our Harry Potter?

"Dad explained that he’d heard it mentioned on the radio and he turned his van around, drove straight to Bay Tree Bookshop in Waterlooville and bought us a copy.

"The novelty and coincidence of the namesake was what made us open that first book but the magic of the story kept us turning the pages for years.

"Harry was eight and I was 12 when we first read the books together."

"Our dad, David James Potter, passed away at the age of 71 after a long battle with cancer in October 2017, and we love and miss him dearly.

"It was shortly after this we realised the old book we’d loved and treasured for 20 years was a sought-after first edition copy."

"With the proceeds from the sale, we would like to take dad’s ashes to Africa, the place he asked to finally rest, where we can make new and fantastic memories with our own children and families."

"I know there are one or two other Harry Potters in the UK but, as far as I’m aware, only a couple were given the name before the Potter books came out.

"I think my brother got national attention when he was younger because he was a similar age to the character in the book when it first came out."