Images From Illustrated Edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone Revealed

Posted on January 19, 2015

The Harry Potter series is the gift that keeps on giving for Scholastic and Bloomsbury UK. The series has sold over 450 million copies worldwide and it continues to appear on bestseller lists. The U.S. and U.K. publishers now have an illustrated edition of J.K. Rowling's insanely popular fantasy series in the works.

Four of the images from the illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone have been revealed. The deluxe hardcover edition will be released globally on October 6, 2015. It features color illustrations by Jim Kay. Kay won the Kate Greenaway Medal in 2012 for his illustrations in A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness. The newly released images show Rubeus Hagrid, Hermione Granger, Draco Malfoy and Ron Weasley. Kay's illustrations of Harry Potter and Hogwarts were released earlier and are pictured below.

Kay says in a statement, "To be given the opportunity to design the characters, the clothing, the architecture and landscapes to possibly the most expansive fantasy world in children's literature, well let's just say I'm extremely excited about it. The story is everything, and so I want to bring what I can to really show the depth of Rowling's stories, to their best."

In an interview in The Guardian, Kay was asked what character or scene he is most looking forward to illustrating. Kay said that at the moment it was creating Hogwarts, but he said picking one character or scene is like "trying to choose the shiniest object in Aladdin's Cave."

Harry Potter fans will be excited to have illustrated editions of the series. The books will likely be bestsellers for the 2015 holidays.