The first ever translation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published on 29 May 1998 by Milan based publishing house Salani Editore. The Italian translation of Philosopher’s Stone has become famous for a few reasons beyond the fact that it was the first translation to be published—in fact, it was the first ever Harry Potter book to be published outside the United Kingdom and by a publisher other than Bloomsbury; the first American edition wasn’t published until September 1998, over three months later. The dust jacket for the first Italian edition is probably the most famous jacket out of all the translations of Harry Potter. Most conspicuously it depicts Harry without his glasses (the original illustration also depicted Harry with auburn hair and without his scar, this was corrected for the first edition). Rowling felt this depiction was in effect sending the message that the hero of a story can’t wear glasses. They were quickly asked to change this and the second edition of the dust jacket depicts Harry wearing his glasses.

An unknown number of copies of the first edition were released with a red band around the book which displayed a quote from Book Trust Scotland which read [in Italian] “Mystery, magic, a spectacular cast of characters and a perfect plot: this is the debut of a wonderful writer and storyteller.”

First edition copies of this book are fairly common to find on sites like eBay.it, which would be expected given the demand and a print run of 20,000 copies. Copies which are in truly fine condition aren’t as common to find and would be valued—with the band present—between £2,500-3,500. It’s status as being the first book published outside of the United Kingdom is not very well known among collectors. Indeed, its status as being the first Harry Potter translation wasn’t even known by Massimo Battista, the author of Collezionare Harry Potter. For those looking to invest in a copy I would recommend acquiring a truly fine condition copy with the red band still present on the book.

The matter of the first edition and dust jacket:

The first printing of Harry Potter e la pietra filosofale can be identified by checking the copyright page where there will be no reference to any further reprints of the book. The colophon also states that the book was finished printing in May 1998.

The dust jacket for the first Italian edition is probably the most famous jacket out of all the translations of Harry Potter. The first printing jacket depicts Harry without his glasses (the original unpublished illustration also showed Harry with auburn hair and without his scar which were both corrected for the first edition). Rowling felt this depiction was in effect sending the message that the hero of a story can’t wear glasses. They were quickly asked to change this and the second edition of the dust jacket was corrected to have Harry wearing his glasses.

There is some confusion, however, about the publication history of the first edition—referring to the “without glasses” jacket and the first printing of the book. According to Massimo Battista in his book Collezionare Harry Potter (the bibliography of the Italian Harry Potter books), the variations of Harry with and without his glasses were published on the same day—29 May 1998—meaning that the glasses were added prior to publication and that 20,000 copies combined of both variations were offered for sale. Battista, however, has also stated subsequent to the publication of his book that 20,000 copies of the “without glasses” edition arrived in bookstores and these were “retired” when the request was made to add the glasses. The dust jackets of these retired copies, according to Battista, were then replaced by the “with glasses” artwork. That is, the books remained the same but there was a switch out of the dust jackets.

I have been unable to find any solid evidence in the books themselves to support Battista’s claims, either that 20,000 copies combined of both variations were published on the same day in May 1998 or that 20,000 copies of the “without glasses” edition were sent to bookstores and an unknown number of them were removed and the dust jackets replaced with the “with glasses” artwork. There have been a lot of copies of both the “without glasses” and “with glasses” variations for sale on e-commerce sites such as eBay.it, typically many dozens at any one time and in my years of searching I have never come across a copy of the “with glasses” dust jacket variation with the same copyright page—indicating it’s the same book—as the “without glasses” copy. Dust jackets can be easily changed so it wouldn’t be definitive in and of itself to find one or even a few editions where the copyright pages were the same, however, I’ve probably searched as much as anyone in the world looking for a copy with a first printing copyright page the “with glasses” jacket and I am yet to come across a single one (if you own one and you acquired it that way please do get in touch with me using the details below). The earliest edition of the “with glasses” dust jacket I have been able to find shows a copyright page which states both “Prima edizione: maggio 1998” [First edition: May 1998] and “Prima ristampa: ottobre 1999” [First reprint (second printing): October 1999]. This confirms that the second printing, one we know has a jacket depicting Harry with glasses, wasn’t printed until October 1999, over a year after the publication of the first printing. There is a problem, however, it seems that the months quoted on the copyright pages of later editions cannot be completely relied upon, for instance, the fourth printing also lists the date of the first printing but changes it to “Prima edizione: ottobre 1998” [First edition: October 1998] which we know to be inaccurate. This is changed back in later reprints, for example the seventh printing [“Sesta ristampa: luglio 2000”] states the first edition was from May 1998. So, there is no evidence in the books themselves of the “with glasses” dust jacket variation being issued any earlier than October 1999.

Without definitive information from the publisher and a lack of conclusive evidence from the books themselves, combined with the apparently contradictory information coming from the author of the Italian bibliography, it’s difficult to work out what exactly happened back then with regards to the changes in dust jackets and when it took place. I have included below my best estimate of what took place based on my research for those interested in learning my opinion. I will of course change my opinion with new and compelling information.

Based on my own research into the matter it is my belief that both variations were not available on publication day and that there were in fact 20,000 copies of the “without glasses” variation printed and made available to the public on 29 May 1998. Subsequently, once the request came in from Rowling’s agent to make the change and show Harry wearing his glasses, the jacket was redesigned with new title font and the author’s name “Joanne K. Rowling” replaced with “J. K. Rowling”, his glasses were added and this was in effect from the second printing released in October 1999. In my opinion, this would be the most likely scenario of what happened. For those who cite the publishers statement that both editions came out on the same day I would remind them of how notoriously unreliable information such as this from publishers can be. Indeed, from my two years of research into the translations of Harry Potter I have found in my conversations with the publishers that very few of them have detailed and accurate records of things from twenty years ago, even information as simple as the publication dates of the book—for instance Scholastic, the American publisher, can only narrow it down to within a month. Even information given by the U.K. publisher Bloomsbury, as quoted in the J. K. Rowling bibliography, has in parts been shown to be spurious and incomplete.

If anyone reading this has further information they’re like to share please do feel free to contact me.