A HARRY Potter book containing a never-before-seen printing error has emerged for sale in Dorset.

The copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the third instalment in the series, contains an error meaning that page 48 is followed directly by page 97 - missing out a full 47 pages.

The text then continues as normal up to page 144 but then jumps back to page to page 97 before continuing to the end of the story.

This is is the only known example of this misprint and the book is expected to sell for £500 when it goes under the hammer.

However, with a huge market of Potter fans out there, there is a high possibility of that figure being exceeded.

The book was originally published in 1999 and its current owner has been aware of the misprint for some years, but it is only now he has decided the time is right to sell.

Timothy Medhurst, of Duke's Auctioneers of Dorchester, said: "There are a lot of Harry Potter collectors out there and only so many books for them to collect.

"As far as I know, this is the first example of a book with this error to come on the market so I can really see it picking up some interest.

"It's hard to put a firm number on it because it's such a rare item, but we're expecting somewhere between £300 and £500

"A few years ago we had a Rupert Bear book, which had the wrong coloured face on the cover, and that sold for thousands so you never really know with books.

"I believe the seller found the error many years ago, but the rainy day has now come and hopefully the book can collect the best fee possible."

This is not the first time that a rare edition of a Harry Potter book has gone to auction, with a first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone selling for £20,000 last year.

The book will be sold on September 19.