Harry Potter (book series)

All seven books together in a special edition box set

The Harry Potter books make up the popular series written by J. K. Rowling. The series spans seven books. The books have been made into eight films by Warner Bros. The final book was split into two films.

The books concern a wizard called Harry Potter and his journey through Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The stories tell of him overcoming dangerous obstacles to defeat the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort, who killed his parents when Harry was 15 months old. The first book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, was published in 1997 by Bloomsbury in London. The final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, sold more than 12 million copies in the U.S.

Beginning on 6 October 2015, the entire series was presented in a fully-illustrated format, with over 100 illustrations per title, by Jim Kay. The books were also all reunited in one ebook the same year.

Publishing

The French edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone; Harry Potter à l'école des sorciers in English Harry Potter at the Wizarding School

It is said that J. K. Rowling sent her preliminary copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone to 12 publishers before it was accepted and published by Bloomsbury.

The Dutch version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

The following is an incomplete list of publishers of the books all over the world.

• The United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand: Bloomsbury.
• The United States: Scholastic. The first novel appeared in these countries as Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.
• Canada: Raincoast Books (English)
• Brazil: Editora Rocco
• Denmark: Gyldendal
• Belgium (Flanders): Standaard
• France and other French-speaking countries: Gallimard Jeunesse
• Germany: Carlsen Verlag
• The Netherlands: De Harmonie
• Spain and other Spanish-speaking countries (in Latin America): Salamandra
• Spain (Catalonia): Empúries
• Portugal: Editorial Presença
• Bloomsbury also published Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone in Latin, Welsh, Ancient Greek and Irish.
• Israel: Sifrey Aaliyat HaGag - Yedioth Ahronoth
• India: Manjul Publishing House (Hindi and its dialects)
• Vietnam: Nhà xuất bản Trẻ
• Poland: Media Rodzina
• Turkey: Yapı Kredi Yayınları
• Sweden: Rabén & Sjögren
• Japan: Sayzansha

Titles of the series

The author published seven books in the Harry Potter series, as well as numerous complementary books. You can get all seven eBooks as one download on Pottermore with Harry Potter: The Complete Collection. A sequel to the original series, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, was released July 31st, 2016.

Original series

The following is a list of the seven books in the Harry Potter series. Each novel corresponds to a year-long period of time, usually in reference to Harry Potter's year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

1. Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone ("Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" in the U.S) (UK release: 26 June 1997; US release 9 January 1998)
2. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (UK release: 2 July 1998; US release 6 February 1999)
3. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (UK release: 8 July 1999; US release 9 August 1999)
4. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (UK & US releases: 8 July 2000)
5. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (UK & US releases: 21 June 2003)
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (UK & US releases: 16 July 2005)
7. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (UK & US releases: 21 July 2007)

Sequel

This sequel takes place nineteen years after the events of the final book in the original series.

• Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (UK & US releases: 31 July 2016)

Future projects

HBO made an official announcement on 12 April 2023 that a TV series was in development. Subsequently, it was confirmed that the adaptation would remain faithful to the seven books.

Alongside the TV series, Max is receptive to developing multiple concepts inspired by the book series.

Complementary books

Quidditch Through the Ages, a complementary novel to the series

The following are complementary books, which correspond to the series:

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2001)
• Quidditch Through the Ages (2001)
• The Harry Potter Prequel (11 June 2008)
• The Tales of Beedle the Bard (6 December 2008)
• Pottermore Presents
  • Hogwarts: An Incomplete and Unreliable Guide (6 September 2016)
  • Short Stories from Hogwarts of Power, Politics and Pesky Poltergeists (6 September 2016)
  • Short Stories from Hogwarts of Heroism, Hardship and Dangerous Hobbies (6 September 2016)
• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: The Original Screenplay (19 November 2016)
• Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald - The Original Screenplay (16 November 2018)

Audiobook editions

Since the inception of the Harry Potter series, the stories have also been released as audiobooks. In the United Kingdom, the audiobooks were narrated by Stephen Fry, with Jim Dale handling the narration for the U.S. editions. The audiobooks were released in both CD and cassette formats, though the cassette editions are no longer in print due to the general lack of demand for titles in this format. For the earlier books in the series, there was generally a delay between the release of the print and audio editions. The later editions generally saw the audio copies being released the same day as the print editions, likely a result of the growing popularity of the series. Most recently the books were made available in the first ever online audio editions throughPottermore via the Pottermore Shop and were also made available to libraries for lending.

Enhanced ebooks

In October 2015, Enhanced Editions of the 7 books were published exclusively on iBooks byPottermore. Enhanced editions are said to include the full original text plus illustrations, animations and interactions as well as annotations written by J. K. Rowling to give you interesting insights into the world of Harry Potter.

An inspiration

A LEGO set inspired by the series

The Harry Potter series inspired many other creations, such as:

• The series inspired an extensive line of LEGO playsets.
• A film empire, created by Warner Brothers:
  • Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone in the US)
  • Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  • Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
  • Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
  • Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
• Video games by Electronic Arts, 8 inspired in the films, as well as the Quidditch simulator Harry Potter: Quidditch World Cup.
• A LEGO Harry Potter video game (years 1-4) developed by TT Games was released in 2010. A sequel, LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, was released the following year.
• The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, a theme park land in Universal Studio's Islands of Adventure, opened in 2010 in America. An additional expansion, Diagon Alley, was opened in 2014.
• Numerous toy and doll sets.

Behind the scenes

Header artwork for each chapter of the Harry Potter books

• The first and final books of the Harry Potter books of the series came out ten years apart. Coincidentally, the first and last films of the series also came out ten years apart.
• A number of species have been named after Harry Potter elements, including:
  • Dracorex hogwartsia, a dinosaur whose name translates to "Dragon King of Hogwarts".
  • Ampulex dementor, a cockroach wasp. It is named after the Dementors.
  • Aname aragog, a spider in the family Nemesiidae, named after Aragog.
  • Eriovixia gryffindori, a species of orb-weaver spider named after the Hogwarts house Gryffindor; the spider resembles the Sorting Hat.
  • Graphorn is a genus of stink bug named after the graphorn, a dangerous magical creature from Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them.
  • Lusius malfoyi is a species of parasitoid wasp found in New Zealand. The species name was chosen to reference Lucius Malfoy, the parent of one of Harry's classmates at Hogwarts.^[14][15] The genus Lusius was first described in 1903 and is thus not originally a Harry Potter reference.
  • Ochyrocera aragogue is a species of spider in the family Ochyroceratidae. It is also named after Hagrid's pet Aragog.
  • Thestral is genus of stink bug named after Thestrals.
• With the exception of the first and third books, there is always a chapter with the same name as the book.
• Also, with the exception of the third book, there is always at least one character that dies in the final chapter(s) of the books (although in the second book this is a basilisk, not a human character).
• Additionally, two books have characters named after them. They are:
  • Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban: Sirius Black
  • Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Severus Snape
• In September 2012, J. K. Rowling admitted to having rushed work on some of the Potter novels due to tight deadlines, and floated the possibility of someday releasing "director's cut" editions of the novels.
• Brad Walrod served as the typesetter for the Harry Potter books from Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire onwards.
• In total, the Harry Potter series spanned 36 years, beginning in 1981 and ending in 2017.
• An in-universe counterpart is introduced in The Tales of Beedle the Bard.
• J. K. Rowling was suggested after the publication of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone that while in the cupboard, Harry went mad and his magical experience was a made-up fantasy life that he developed to save himself.
• The message that J. K. Rowling wanted to impart on the readers of the Harry Potter books was a plea for an end to bigotry and an argument for tolerance, building on the issues that arise between pure-blood supremacists and muggle-borns throughout the series.

Gallery

Thomas Taylor, Cliff Wright, Giles Greenfield and Jason Cockcroft

Jonny Duddle

United States covers

Mary GrandPré

Kazu Kibuishi

Others

Notes and references

J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series
Philosopher's Stone	book	film	games	film soundtrack	game soundtrack
Chamber of Secrets	book	film	games	film soundtrack	game soundtrack
Prisoner of Azkaban	book	film	games	film soundtrack	game soundtrack
Goblet of Fire	book	film	games	film soundtrack	game soundtrack
Order of the Phoenix	book	film	game	film soundtrack	game soundtrack
Half-Blood Prince	book	film	games	film soundtrack	game soundtrack
Deathly Hallows	book	film 1	games 1	film soundtrack 1	game soundtrack 1
		film 2	games 2	film soundtrack 2	game soundtrack 2
Cursed Child	script	play
Fantastic Beasts film series
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them	book	screenplay	film	game	film soundtrack
The Crimes of Grindelwald		screenplay	film		film soundtrack
The Secrets of Dumbledore		screenplay	film		film soundtrack