Harry Potter fans, start saving up your pennies! Starting this fall, Scholastic and Bloomsbury UK will be publishing a new deluxe hardcover edition of the Harry Potter series, with new illustrations by Jim Kay, illustrator of A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. Unlike previous editions, this one will be fully illustrated, with full color throughout the book rather than the black and white spot illustrations we’re used to.
For most American readers, Mary Grand Pre’s illustrations defined Harry and his friends for a long time, and now of course it’s hard to imagine them without thinking of the actors from the films. So Kay definitely had his work cut out for him, coming up with his own look for the characters based on the text rather than existing imagery. (Just two years ago, for the 15th anniversary of Harry Potter’s publication, Kazu Kibuishi illustrated a new set of covers for a paperback edition, which is also gorgeous.)
This week, Scholastic and Bloomsbury UK revealed these four new images from the upcoming books: Hagrid, Ron, Hermione, and Draco. The first book will be released worldwide on October 6, 2015—save the date!
I like the artwork, but I won’t be buying any more Harry Potter books in the foreseeable future. Now, if JK were to start developing an annotated version of the books, with notes and behind-the-scenes details and such? I’d once again be standing in line. Love annotated books.
Oh, we’d get that TOO. 🙂