A novel which is just just three years-old sold for £5,400 at a Swindon auctioneers.

But this was no ordinary novel, this was a highly sought after first edition of the first JK Rowling Harry Potter book.

A member of staff at the Lon-don antique bookstore which bought the book said it was a bargain at £5,400, plus commission for Dominic Winter Book Auctions, which comes to a total of £6,075.

Peter Harrington, who works for his father's Chelsea store, Peter Harrington Anti-quarian Book Seller, said the book could easily have been sold for more than £10,000.

"The Harry Potter books are the most important piece of children's literature of recent times," he said. "It's up there with Tolkien and Carroll."

Mr Harrington was bidding for the book by phone under instruction from a private buyer, who will add it to a collection which includes a number of the Harry Potter books.

Mr Harrington said the Harry Potter books are becoming collectors items.

As more collectors buy them the more rare they become and therefore more valuable.

"I wish I had bought a few of them three years ago when they were just £11," said Mr Harrington.

The hardback edition of Harry Potter and the Philoso-pher's Stone, was one of only 300 printed in 1997.

Most of them went to libraries or schools and were consequently not kept in a very good condition.

The Dominic Winter's Max-well Street auctioneers also sold a less well kept edition of the same Harry Potter edition, for £620.

Another one of the first editions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, was sold for £1,000.

The slightly more worn edition of the Philosopher's Stone was sold to Adrian Harrington.

He is another London based book dealer, who is the uncle of Peter Harrington, was also buying for a private client.

Nathan Winter, one of the auctioneers at Dominic Winter Book Auctions, said the amount paid for a book only three years old is unprecedented.

"We are very happy with the price the book sold for and with the current phenomenon of the Potter books, the forthcoming film and the American interest, I think it is a good investment for the future."