Harry Potter: A History of Magic

Stunning exhibition at the British Library looking at the Harry Potters books and the magical history that they reflect.

The show was arranged by the subjects taught at Hogwarts and included original manuscripts by J.K. Rowling, illustrations from the books and books and objects which looked at the same areas of magic. The design was beautiful with each section reflecting the description of the class rooms in the books. From the first section on potions with hanging cauldrons as well as an early caldron pulled out of the Thames I was hooked.

I confess to being a huge fan of the books and have recently reread them all so they are fresh in my mind. It was magical, if you’ll pardon the pun, to see sections of the original manuscripts and ideas to see how they had changed. However it was hard to read them carefully as the show was so busy.

The star of the show were the illustrations for the new coffee table editions of the books by Jim Kay. Again I have to make a confession, I know Jim’s partner so I am a bit biased, but I did hear lots of people admiring the pictures. Given we now have such a clear view of the stories through the films the new books give a new vivid and detailed version of the Harry Potter world.

Finally there were wonderful objects in the show from one of the first documents mapping the stars made in China and the gravestone of Nicholas Flammel who was believed to have made a philosopher’s stone. And of course I have to mention the invisibility cloak!

I think the best praise I could give the show was that I went with a friend who’d not read the books or seen the films who started off by asking “what’s this Harry Potter thing all about then”! He came out having really enjoyed it and got a lot from the history of magic aspect.

Closed on 28 February 2018

Review
Telegraph

 

 

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