THE father of J.K. Rowling made $87,600 (£50,600) last night by auctioning four rare editions of the Harry Potter novels inscribed to him by his daughter.

Although the sale at Sotheby’s in New York represented a good return for Mr Rowling, despite raising $40,000 (£23,000) less than anticipated, why he decided to sell the books remains a mystery.

The two are said to have had a longstanding dispute stemming from an argument at a caravan he owned in Swanage, Dorset. Family members have been reluctant to shed light on the cause of the row in 1998 or the subsequent rift but their contrasting lives now could not be more marked.

She is said to be worth £280 million, lives in a mansion overlooking the Tay in Perthshire and is a global publishing phenomenon.

He lives in a modest two-bedroom flat in Swanage worth £145,000 and is a retired Rolls-Royce engineer. In the summer he was spotted working in a burger van, but insists that he was helping a relative.

Mr Rowling has denied that his daughter is upset with him because of his remarriage on the death of his wife, Anne, Ms Rowling’s mother, from multiple sclerosis.

The books Mr Rowling sold were inscribed by J.K. Rowling, with loving messages to her father and stepmother, Janet, as well as reminders to the couple that the books were valuable because they were first editions. The implication was that the books should be kept safely rather than treated as an invitation to sell to the highest bidder.

In a British first edition of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which sold for $19,200 (£11,000), Ms Rowling circled the edition number and wrote, “Guard it with your lives!!!” Inside a first British edition of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, dedicated to “Mr Ridley and to Susan Sladden, who helped Harry out of his cupboard”, Ms Rowling reveals that her character was based upon one of her father’ s friends.

“Dear Dad,” she wrote in the frontispiece, “If I had said “Ronald (Weasley) Ridley’ they would have tracked the poor bloke down . . . but that’s why Ron’s called Ron of course! Happy Father’s Day 2000 and lots of love from your first born, J. K. Rowling.” The author completed the inscription with a line of nine loving kisses and an ink sketch of a hand, labelled Pesticide, reaching after the running figure of a gnome. The revelation and the simple cartoons increased the rarity of the book and lifted its price to $48,000 (£27,750).

In the copy of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, the author takes a swipe at a newspaper report that had upset her father. The inscription reads, “To Dad and Jan, with lots and lots of love (and Up The Sunday Mail) Jo.

A paperback first American edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, inscribed with the words “To Jan, and Dad with lots of love Jo,” sold for $9,600 (£5,550), and a first edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which the author pointed out the edition number remarking “1st edition — I got one!” fetched $10,800 (£6,250).

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