Harry Potter - A Journey Through A History of Magic

This is a curious book, as everything about Harry Potter is curious. But it is a very good and much appreciated book as well. It takes you through the history of magic. In that sense it is actually a great reference for those interested in historical topics and myths. The book makes an ideal great gift for muggles and budding wizards alike that want to solidify their base knowledge about magic. The 144 page book is filled with colourful illustrations and art. So it is all very nicely presented. This makes it a great addition to our daughter’s growing Harry potter collection and book shelf in particular. The book addresses ancients myths and mythical creatures, astronomers, mermaids, unicorns, medieval witchcraft and alchemy - all of course tying into to Harry’s world of magic. There is a whole background story about dragons and brooms. Then there are detailed explanations about Hogwarts classes like the Defence Against the Dark Arts, Divination and Herbs. Furthermore there are sketches and manuscripts from the grand wizard herself; J.K Rowling as well. So it is really a very rich, complete book. The book includes interactive instruction to create your own ‘magical ‘ potion like invisible ink as well. My Potter-crazed daughter wrote me a letter with this and I can confirm the text was absolutely invisible, as the included picture demonstrates. Note that it it was produced along with the British Library to support the exhibition Harry Potter: A History of Magic, we sadly missed that. However there was also a tv documentary that can be found online.

This is such a wonderful book full of wonderful snippets of information and beautiful illustrations. There are even some copies of script pages. This book cost me £7 and in all honesty it is worth so much more than that. This book, by the British Library is a stunning addition to any Harry Potter collection.

Absolutely beautiful book! Lots of pages, quality throughout from texts to illustrations. My 8yr old loves Harry Potter and enjoyed receiving this and reading it. It is interesting and gives A lot of information about Harry Potter and the magic behind the books/films. A great gift for own family or friends. Highly recommended.

I bought this for my Granddaughter as she loves all things Harry Potter. The book is superb and gives lots of interesting facts about many of the references in the books. It's a great read for thise interested in the weird and wonderful.

It was interesting on how the characters in the books came to life and where jk got her ideas from. However I couldn't give it 5 stars because some of the explanations of where she got her ideas from I already knew

This is such a fantastic book, the perfect accompaniment to the tv documentary shown before Christmas, my ten year old Harry Potter mad daughter loved the programme and then studied this book night after night. A few weeks on and she still keeps going back to it. The pictures and illustrations included are incredible, jk rowlings initial sketch of hogwarts she sent to her publishers; hand written pages from her original manuscript, just wonderful. We are now planning a trip to the British Library to see the exhibition.

My mums midlife crisis is kicking in like Johnny Wilkinson wearing doc Martins. She loves Potter, she loves this book.

Received this from pre order and it's magnificent -- it's way better than I even expected This is a large paperback and very beautiful - filled with historical magical talk and full of harry Potter reference /art/info along the way. Any harry Potter fan will love it.

The book had great pictures and interesting facts. Arrived quickly and in perfect condition.

I love everything about the world of Harry Potter! I have hardbacks of each of the original series (some also in Spanish!), have each of the standalone "text books" originally released, the play script and screenplay and have purchased all of the illustrated editions as they have been released and have started reading them to my 2-year old. Suffice it to say... I'm a huge fan and not afraid to spend some money to own more stuff from this world. That being said, I will admit that when I first saw this... I hesitated buying a copy. For starters, it's listed as "paperback" and I questioned the quality/durability. Also, I really wasn't sure what to expect as this is a collection of stuff, but not really anything NEW by Rowling. **But when I saw this in a local store, I was impressed by the THICK CARDSTOCK cover and decided that I really DID want to have it added to my collection. It's much more durable than a "paperback" book and is more on par with the quality of a "coffee table" book, so don't be turned off by this detail!*** I was not disappointed! It's colorful, it has both familiar stuff (artwork from the illustrated editions) plus brand new things (handwritten notes, sketches and many other things from Rowling). I've re-read through all of the original stuff some many times (and still love it every time) but it was to have something "new" to enjoy for the first time again.

This book is like an encyclopaedia for Potterheads with the background of various ideas and theories propogated in the books, raw u edited texts written by J K Rowling herself and other factoids and historical facts about magical objects and practices. An amazing read overall

Muy buena compra, indispensable para cualquier fan de Harry Potter. Las ilustraciones son preciosas.

The book arrived in 3 days. Well printed, many different illustrations, and very interestingly written. The perfect gift for Harry Potter fans