Publisher Bloomsbury has announced two new Harry Potter books will come out this year to mark the 20th anniversary of the publication of the first book in the series.
To celebrate 20 years since Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was published, two new books will come out in October to accompany a Harry Potter exhibition at the British Library.
The titles are Harry Potter: A History of Magic, The Book of the Exhibition , which surveys the subjects studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, and Harry Potter, A Journey Through a History of Magic , which takes the reader on a historical journey of the Harry Potter world and delves into the stories behind spells, magical creatures and famous wizards and witches.
The books — which explore the magical world but are not new stories about the original Harry Potter characters — feed into the growing world of Harry Potter experiences, including the West End play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, and the Harry Potter Warner Brothers Studio tour, in north London. There is also an ongoing Kickstarter campaign to open a ‘wizarding’ pub in London next year, although the pub is not affiliated with the official Potter franchise.
The news comes as part of Bloomsbury’s quarterly trading update, published on Tuesday. The company has reported a 19% year-on-year rise in total revenues for the three months ending 31 May 2017, driven by their Consumer division. In the Non-Consumer division, sales of digital resources are up 16%, and the Board expects profits for the year to be consistent with expectations.
Best selling Bloomsbury titles in the quarter included Tom Kerridge’s Dopamine Diet , The Strange Death of Europe by Douglas Murray and Fantastically Great Women Who Changed the World by Kate Pankhurst, while the Harry Potter series also continues to be a best seller.
Meanwhile, Bloomsbury says that its digital resources are performing «well,» reflecting the trend across the publishing and advertising industries towards online and digital. The company says academic trials of its new digital resource Bloomsbury Popular Music are proving popular, and Bloomsbury Professional Online has had a strong start to the financial year. The company plans to launch Bloomsbury Design Library later this month.
