The first Harry Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," was written by J.K. Rowling between approximately 1990 and 1995. Rowling came up with the idea in 1990 during a train journey from Manchester to London and began writing that same evening. She spent about six years working on the book before it was accepted by a publisher. The book was first published in the United Kingdom on June 26, 1997. It was later published in the United States in 1998 under the title "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".
