Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a guide book by J. K. Rowling published for charity in 2001. The book is a companion novel to the Harry Potter books, based on a fictional wizarding book of the same name penned by Newton Scamander.
The first edition was intended to be a copy of Harry Potter's schoolbook and has notes that he supposedly made. The cover story for publishing it in the Muggle world was that Scamander had edited a Muggle version of the book for charity.
The book has been published again since 2001 and has new book covers and illustrations created to acknowledge an event or project, including in acknowledgement of the Fantastic Beasts film series.
In 2017, the book was published again to include new information from Rowling about Scamander and six new magical creatures. Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Wizarding World have created their own new book covers, including digital ones, and an illustrated edition was created by Olivia Lomenech Gill.[1]
History[]
J. K. Rowling decided to pen a guide book for the charity Comic Relief in 2001. She chose to write about creatures in the wizarding world because she thought it was a fun topic and had developed a few creatures so far in her earlier books.
The book was first published by Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Raincoast in 2001. Rowling's name was not included on the front cover of the first edition. It has helped raised over £17 million for charity by July 2009. At the time of the book's publication in 2001, Rowling had published four Harry Potter books. Many of the animals mentioned in the book would later appear in the final books, but Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them was their introduction to the world of Harry Potter (e.g. Bowtruckle).
In 2016, Wizarding World announced a new cover for their eBook edition. In 2017, they published their new edition, and an audiobook narrated by Eddie Redmayne. That year, a new Bloomsbury hardcover edition was published which had a cover designed by Jonny Duddle and illustrations inside by Tomislav Tomic. Scholastic's design was done by Headcase Design. Later that year, an illustrated edition was published by Bloomsbury and Scholastic featuring illustrations by Olivia Lomenech Gill.
Even though the first edition in the United States was a copy of Harry Potter's schoolbook and had notes and doodles he done inside, later editions in the US don't include any. The US editions of the book, published by Arthur A. Levine, didn't change UK spelling to an Americanised version. They have stated "… those are exactly the same – we didn’t have time or anything… Did I change the spellings? I might have… I might not have… Because, of course, the conceit is that it's a British school book anyway".[2]
Contents[]
- About the Author
- Foreword by Albus Dumbledore (original edition) or the Author (2017 edition)}
- Introduction
- About This Book
- What Is a Beast?
- A Brief History of Muggle Awareness of Fantastic Beasts
- Magical Beasts in Hiding
- Why Magizoology Matters
- Ministry of Magic Classifications
- An A-Z of Fantastic Beasts
2001 Edition[]
One of Harry and Ron's doodles
The original edition features a foreword by Albus Dumbledore. It is designed to be an exact copy of the one borrowed by Harry Potter from the Hogwarts library, so it features notes and scribbles that he and his friend, Ronald Weasley made in the book.
In-universe, the book has been released in the Muggle world to raise funds for charity and its contents have been stressed as though it is only "fictional". Thus, its publication has avoided breaking the International Statute of Secrecy. This 2001 edition of the book is the 52nd edition. A few editions have a price in wizarding currency on the back cover.
2017 Edition[]
In 2017, a new edition was published to coincide with the release of a new Fantastic Beasts film. There are a few notable changes to this edition. The foreword by Albus Dumbledore is replaced with one by the author, Newt Scamander. He addresses events that happen in the film series. New information includes six new animals native to North America; the Hidebehind, Hodag, Horned Serpent, Snallygaster, Thunderbird and Wampus Cat.[3]
Instead of notes and scribbles by Harry and Ron, the new edition features handwritten notes for his editor by Newt himself. For example, he writes that his foreword should be changed for the Muggle edition to be clear that it is "obvious fiction".
Illustrated Edition[]
The Illustrated Edition, featuring artwork by Olivia Lomenech Gill, has an eBook version that is designed to enchance the story with animation.
Covers[]
Trivia[]
- As this book was published in the Muggle world in-universe, it is possible that the wizarding editions owned by witches or wizards would include details not found in the Muggle world edition. This could be order to prevent Muggles trying to find the creatures and thus protects them.
Notes and sources[]
- ↑ Exclusive first look at new illustrated edition of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
- ↑ J. K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997 - 2013
- ↑ Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (2017 edition): Foreword by the Author