If you consider yourself a true Potterhead, then you’re probably already making plans to celebrate next year’s 20th anniversary of the series’ U.S. release. And with an upcoming Broadway show, trips to a Harry Potter amusement park and themed restaurants based on one of the best kids' books, there will be plenty to fill your calendar up with all kinds of magic in honor of The Boy Who Lived. Now there’s a cool new exhibit in the works that you need to add to the list!
Harry Potter: A History of Magic will open at the New-York Historical Society October 5, 2018 and will feature rare books, manuscripts and treasures from the British Library’s collections that relate to the myths and magic behind the series. Original drafts and drawings by author J.K. Rowling and illustrator Jim Kay will also be on display for the first time. The exhibit will first have a four-month-long run in London beginning next month and once it makes its way across the pond in fall 2018, items from the New-York Historical Society and the series’ U.S. publisher Scholastics will be added to this fantastical exhibit.
The exhibit’s New York opening will celebrate the 20th anniversary of when the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, was published in the U.S. It’s crazy to believe that it’s been two decades since the lightning-scarred boy zapped his way into our hearts, and that his popularity is still going strong. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is coming to Broadway in March 2018 and this summer, the New York Academy of Medicine launched "How to Pass Your O.W.L.s at Hogwarts: A Prep Course” with rare books and objects relating to courses taught at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Earlier this year, Harry Potter-themed restaurant Pasta Wiz opened its doors in Williamsburg and just announced that it's opening a second location in Manhattan. And the nighttime show at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter makes us want to book a ticket to Orlando stat!
Harry Potter: A History of Magic will be on view at the New-York Historical Society in October 2018, but if you can’t wait until then—and we can’t blame you—Scholastic will publish one of two titles to accompany the exhibition on the day it opens in London on October 20, 2017. Harry Potter: A Journey Through a History of Magic will feature artifacts, original artwork, manuscripts and other items included in the exhibit. In fall 2018, Scholastic will publish an official full-color coffee table book that Potterheads are sure to stay up way too late devouring by lamplight.
If the number of advance tickets already sold for the British Library exhibition (25,000!) is any indication, the U.S. edition is set to be a massive hit with fans of all ages.