Bloomsbury to launch 25th anniversary Harry Potter editions

Bloomsbury Children's Books is releasing two limited editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J K Rowling, as part of the commemorations and events celebrating the novel's 25th anniversary. 

Kicking off the celebrations in the new year will be an updated paperback, which features illustration by Jonny Duddle, in addition to silver foil livery on the cover and extra content. It will be released on 20th January. 

On 9th June comes publication of a commemorative hardback edition featuring the original 1997 cover image of the Hogwarts Express, illustrated by Thomas Taylor. It will also feature exclusive bonus content. 

Harry Potter Book Night will be held on 3rd February, with the theme of "Magical Journeys", for which Bloomsbury has created an event pack featuring games, recipes quizzes and craft ideas. On the same day, the National Literacy Trust (NLT) will launch "Miles of Magic: The Harry Potter Book Relay" campaign. This will entail a single copy of the anniversary edition paperback travelling to 25 schools around the UK, between February and June. 

The book relay will begin at Manchester Central Library, with three local primary schools participating in Harry Potter-themed activities. Children and teachers will be asked to write their memories of reading Harry Potter for the first time on postcards, which will be used as part of the anniversary celebrations in June.

The second element to the partnership, the Harry Potter Reading Challenge, will invite schools across the UK to use a downloadable map which will illustrate the key points in the book, charted as stages in a reading log. As part of this, Bloomsbury will donate 800 copies of the Jonny Duddle anniversary edition to schools via the NLT’s Young Readers Programme.

World Book Day is also celebrating its 25th anniversary on 3rd March, and further announcements in conjunction with the Harry Potter celebrations are due to be announced in the new year. 

First published in print on 26th June 1997, with an initial hardback run of just 500 copies, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone has gone on to sell six million copies for £34m, according to Nielsen BookScan in the UK. Rowling is the author of six other Harry Potter books, which have sold more than 500 million copies, according to the publisher, been translated into over 80 languages, and made into eight blockbuster films.