First edition Harry Potter sold for more than $19,000 US

A softcover copy of the first Harry Potter book by J.K. Rowling has sold for $19,120 US at a Dallas auction house.

The copy of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone is one of only 200 from the first printing issued with illustrated wrappers by London publisher Bloomsbury.

The 1997 book also included an illustrated card signed by Rowling.

Heritage Auction Galleries said Monday the winning bid at Friday's auction was from a vintage comic book collector from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates whose wife is a fan of the Harry Potter books.

The previous record for a softbound copy of the first edition of Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone was $10,750 US, according to the auction house.

Rowling's series of seven books on the teen wizard-in-training has sold more than 325 million copies worldwide and has been translated into 64 languages, according to Bloomsbury.

The last instalment, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was published in 2007.

It sold more than 812,000 copies in Canada on the first two days after its release on July 21, making it the fastest selling book of all time in Canada.