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One student has turned to Harry Potter to help pay his way through university.

Toby Rundle was the owner of a rare first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, the first in the series of the hugely popular works by J K Rowling.

Only 500 copies of the book were produced in its first print run, back in 1997.

This week, the book was auctioned at Dominic Winter auctioneers in Gloucestershire - where a specialist book collector shelled out over £7,000.

According to the Daily Mail, Mr Rundle is very happy with the price - and is planning to put the money raised towards his English and classics degree at Oxford university.

Students might want to have a look on their childhood bookshelves to see if the answer to their debt problems lies there, dusty and forgotten.

Chris Albury, a book specialist at Dominic Winter auctioneers, suggested that the sale could be the beginning of a student craze.

Mr Albury emphasised that rare books such as first editions of The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit might fetch even higher prices.

A 1937 first edition of The Hobbit, in its original dust jacket, once sold for $65,000 (£33,000) by a New York bookseller.