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Librarians at the University of B.C. have waved their magic wand and conjured up a rare U.K. first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone.

But there was a fair bit of gold dust on the wand. The book cost US$36,500. In today’s exchange rate, that’s the equivalent of about $46,490 Cdn.

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And as strange as that may sound, UBC got a good deal.

Chelsea Shriver, UBC Rare Books and Special Collections librarian, said the university had been watching one rare book auction where the most expensive copy of the first U.K. edition went for US$81,000 (about $105,000 Cdn).

“As soon as (the auction) started, we realized that we were completely out of it and watched it with our mouths sort of agape,” she said. “At that point, we already knew that auctions probably weren’t going to be possible for us.”

The original print run of the first Harry Potter book 20 years ago in the U.K. was 500. Of those, 300 went to libraries.