Wonka’s top hat, signed by Wilder himself, is available for £1,173.51 and a Golden Ticket from the 2005 version of the film is currently on sale for £300. Memorabilia from the film can also fetch high prices. In the year marking the bicentenary anniversary of the Gene Wilder film, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory books can be worth £4,250. Meanwhile, a first edition, first impression presentation copy of dark fantasy novel The Witches is valued at £6,750. A first edition UK copy of the lesser-known work is worth £12,500.
The most desirable of Dahl’s offerings currently available is The Gremlins.
Classics from Roald Dahl’s children’s books have started to pick up a pretty penny on sale. Harry Potter mania isn’t the only craze taking contemporary literature auctions by storm. Hardbacks of The Prisoner of Azkaban sell at similar prices, after the initial print run was stopped as ‘Joanne’ rather than ‘JK’ was the attributed author. In 2016, a London-based businessman paid £43,750 for a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that had the word ‘philosopher’ misspelt on the back cover.Ī proof of the same book sold a year later for £10,000: it mistakenly detailed the author as JA rather than JK Rowling.
The first three books of the wizarding series tend to fetch the highest auction prices, due to their small print runs. The most exciting collector prospects of all are editions with typos and mistakes. While Rowling fans’ devotion is one reason signed first editions hold such value, rarity is what brings home the bacon. In 2018, Italian bookseller Rudolf Schönegger was found guilty of stealing a signed first edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, valued at £1,675. Signed editions, too, are usually lucrative.
For collectible books, first editions are usually the money spinners. It’s not just any much-loved books that will fetch a fortune on the market.