Explore the Enchanting World of Harry Potter: A Comprehensive Guide to the History of Magic in America

Kate: Prompt delivery, great packaging.
a delightful book.

United Kingdom on Jul 16, 2023

Angely Fernández 1: Me encantó, me ha gustado aprender mas del mundo de Harry Potter y observar algunas notas originales de su autora. Realmente las ilustraciones aportan demasiado, son muy bellas.

United States on May 29, 2023

Michele C.: un volume di pregevole fattura. Consigliato a chi ama il mondo di Harry Potter e vuole conoscere qualcosa in più della ricerca che c'è stata dietro per la scrittura dei romanzi, ma anche per chi si interessa alla vera Storia della Magia (sì, quella di noi babbani).

Nota di merito per le bellissime illustrazioni e immagini a corredo. peccato non sia mai stato tradotto in italiano ma con un po' di impegno è comprensibile a chi mastica un buon inglese

Italy on Apr 11, 2023

Mary Macdonald: Bought it on accident with my moms credit card but don’t regret it the book was great

Canada on Mar 09, 2023

Tracey Smith: The illustrations are beautiful and the book is very detailed. It's not a small book either. It has a nice size to it and would make a great addition to any HP fan's collection.

United States on Nov 20, 2022

Goth Gone Grey: If you couldn't quite make it to the exhibition, this is a lovely way to sit near a fire with your familiar and peruse it.

Rich with rough drafts and drawings by JK herself, fantastic artwork by Jim Kay, Mary GrandPre and others, it's lovely to look at. Each section also shows historical drawings and objects relating to magical beasts, potions, and more.

No, it's not a continuation of the beloved tales, but it's a charming collection nonetheless.

United States on Jan 09, 2022

Elizabeth HowardElizabeth Howard: through the eyes of both Muggles and Wizards and Witches.

This book is absolutely beautiful and amazing. As a fan of natural history, European history and magical history, this companion to, arguably, one of the best literary works of my generation, is just... - for lack of a better term - magical.
I especially love all of the behind the scenes bits from Jo, and the depictions from the various illustrators. I also love that Professor Binns wasn't in charge of narrating, or I might possibly have smudged it up by falling asleep on it. That would be especially bad since, lately, I seem to be getting a great many first edition copies from Amazon, and this book was no exception. I'm even a little sad that it is actually a first edition, since it becomes rather impossible to read or even handle a book that could potentially fetch millions down the road... As Snape says, however... 'I'll do my best.'

United States on Oct 07, 2020

Bex: To commemorate 20 years of Harry Potter, the British Library hosted a Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition and this book is essentially a behind the scenes look at some of the manuscripts, artefacts and history of the magical or mythical creatures or items featured within Harry Potter.

The collection is divided into sections, such as “Charms”, “Herbology” or “Magical Creatures” and each of the sections delves slightly deeper into the mythology or folklore surrounding some of these themes. I particularly enjoyed the artwork included by Jim Kay, who illustrated the special hardback editions of (at present) the first three books; the artwork is really beautiful, authentic and captures the intentions of Rowling’s characters perfectly – there are even a few specific clues within the character portraits if you look close enough.

A number of original drawings of Rowling’s are also included, which showcase how she initially envisaged her characters would look – complete with buckteeth for Hermione and freckles for Ron. It was also interesting to see how some of these drawings differed from the eventual product, for example a secondary character...

United Kingdom on Aug 31, 2019

Jake: This beautiful volume is one of two official books published in conjunction with the Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition that was held at the British Library in London between October 2017–February 2018.

A collaboration between the British Library, Bloomsbury (the UK publisher of the Harry Potter series), and J.K. Rowling, the exhibition was created to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first Harry Potter book. Featured were documents and artifacts from the development of the Harry Potter series along with real-world magical artifacts.

The book, like the exhibition, includes various sections based on classes taught at Hogwarts (e.g. herbology, divination, care of magical creatures, and so forth). The chapters have images of the artifacts and documents from the exhibition, including a few pages of Harry Potter book drafts, a map of the grounds around Hogwarts, and drawings of characters from the Wizarding World (all created by Rowling)! The documents from Rowling are my favorite; I enjoy being able to see how Rowling herself envisioned Hogwarts and the characters, as the artwork featured in most Harry Potter books was created by artists...

United States on May 26, 2018

Dr Neil Cavanagh: This is a wonderful book. It has some excellent drawings, diagrams, notes by JK Rowling., etc.. Not sure it would work if you are a non- fan but then again it is clearly aimed at fans. Anyone interested in the background to the HP story, such as how it was planned and written, will learn a lot. But I have one slight niggle - it is a personal thing but it is the reason I have given it 4 stars. To me, there is a distinct undertone to the message in the text and hence the exhibition. We all love Harry Potter’s world because it is a magical one BUT the people behind the exhibition and the book want us to keep reminding us that it is not real and so keep on emphasising the way that the story links to the rational, scientific world. For example, Alchemy is written about in context as a precursor to modern chemistry - Astronomy is written about with references to modern scientific ideas - and so on. Whilst that may all be true - who cares? I’m not interested in knowing that Alchemy gave rise to chemistry (if it did.) - I’m interested in the Alchemy in Harry Potter because it is a magical practice! Herbology is another example - sure there are many useful chemicals in plants - but...

United Kingdom on Oct 21, 2017