The first Hebrew translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published by Tel Aviv based boutique publisher Books in the Attic, owned by Ilai Melzer. Their main focus is on works of philosophy and only small amounts of children’s literature—it perhaps caught their eye because of the word “Philosopher” in the title. They also partner with larger publishing houses for production and distribution purposes.

Gili Bar-Hillel was selected as the translator as she had previously done some work for the owner of the publishing house and she was known for being bilingual and seeking work as a translator having a penchant for children’s fantasy. The owner had also known her since birth and she was given the opportunity to produce the translation which she spent a year working on. She is now a very well established translator having translated books such as Peter Pan and The Catcher in the Rye.

The first edition of the translation was released in January 2000, however, the books were printed earlier and a small number of them were given out to friends of Yediot Acharonot—the biggest newspaper conglomerate in Israel—and guests of their 2000 millennium party in December 1999. This book is the same as the first trade edition sold to the public. The publisher isn’t sure about the initial print run of the book but estimates that it was most likely 2,000-3,000 copies, but no more than 5,000.