Catalan Edition

The first Catalan edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published in March 1999, just over three months after the Spanish translation. The origins of the Catalan edition trace back to April 1998, when Ernest Folch, then director of Editorial Empúries, attended the Children’s and Youth Book Fair in Bologna, Italy. There, he encountered the English edition of Philosopher’s Stone and was intrigued. After reading the book in his hotel room, Folch made an offer of 100,000 pesetas for the Catalan translation rights—an offer that was accepted.

The first edition was published in two print runs totaling 1,500 copies. However, initial sales were disappointing, with only 700–800 copies sold, resulting in a financial loss. But with the growing global popularity of the series, the Catalan edition quickly gained momentum. By 2016, over 400,000 copies had been sold across various formats, including a deluxe collector’s edition.

The translation was completed by Laura Escorihuela Martínez, a student on an Erasmus language and interpretation course at the University of Lyon. Folch deliberately chose someone young and new to the literary scene, hoping for a translation that would feel fresh and relevant. Interestingly, Escorihuela translated the book using a French keyboard, as she was living and studying in France at the time.

The first edition is instantly recognizable and much talked about among collectors due to its plain cover featuring a generic stock image of a wizard. Designed by Enric Jardí, the cover was part of a broader template used by Editorial Empúries for various fiction and non-fiction titles unrelated to Harry Potter. At the time, the publisher had no idea the book would become a cultural phenomenon, so the design was kept simple: colorful stripes, neutral typography, and a wizard image sourced from PhotoDisc, a now-defunct stock image company that distributed content via CD-ROM.

Subsequent Catalan editions featured bespoke illustrations more in line with the Harry Potter universe and its characters, reflecting the franchise’s growing cultural significance.

While it’s unclear how many copies were included in each of the two original print runs, the first printing appears to be more common among collectors today. However, both are extremely desirable due to the low print numbers and unique design, making the Catalan first edition a standout item for serious Harry Potter translation collectors.