Harry Potter collection goes to auction

LONDON, Feb. 18 (UPI) -- A "Harry Potter" fan who has collected 553 first editions of J.K. Rowling's wizard works plans to auction them off in London.

Tim Toone, 33, began collecting a copy of every version of Rowling's works in October 2002, spending up to $8,800 on a single book, Britain's the Daily Mirror reported Monday.

His collection, which spans 63 languages, was given a preliminary value of about $78,000.

"No one has ever amassed such a collection. It has cost him a pretty penny. It is almost obsessive," said Roddy Newlands of Bloomsbury Auctions, which is scheduled to handle the Feb. 28 sale in London.

Toone has copies of the Harry Potter books from India, China and the Faroe Islands, including first editions in Gujarati, Hindi, Malayalam and Urdu, the Daily Mirror said.

The stash also includes braille, Latin and Ancient Greek versions as well as a first edition of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the obscure West Frisian language from Holland, the report said.