NEW YORK, NY.- Harry Potter: A History of Magic, the British Library’s most successful exhibition, opened at the New-York Historical Society on Friday, October 5. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the New York exhibition explores the traditions of folklore and magic at the heart of the Harry Potter stories and showcases a new selection of objects that are on view to the public for the very first time.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic features centuries-old treasures, including rare books, manuscripts, and magical objects from the collections of the British Library, the New-York Historical Society, and other museums, as well as original material from publisher Scholastic and J.K. Rowling’s own archives. The exhibition is accompanied by a special audio tour featuring the voice of actress Natalie Dormer—available to ticketholders as a free Audible download—providing in-depth content on the objects on view.

New-York Historical will present a wide variety of exhibition-related events for grown-up Harry Potter fans throughout the run of the exhibition, including trivia nights, art workshops, creative writing classes, social meet-ups, open mics, book clubs, and engaging courses that explore the Hogwarts curriculum. Programs include an onstage conversation with illustrators Mary GrandPré and Brian Selznick, and a special evening with actor Jim Dale, known for his narration of all seven Harry Potter U.S. audiobooks. Family activities feature History of Magic family days with hands-on activities and crafts, a Harry Potter family book club, historical Hallowe’en celebration, and trivia for families.

Exhibition Highlights
Unique to the New York presentation of the British Library’s Harry Potter: A History of Magic exhibition—and on public view for the first time—are Mary GrandPré’s pastel illustrations for the cover artwork of Scholastic’s original editions of the novels; Brian Selznick’s newly created artwork for the covers of the 20th anniversary edition of the Harry Potter series published by Scholastic; cover art by Kazu Kibuishi featured in Scholastic’s 15th anniversary box set; and the enormous steamer trunk used to transport a signed copy of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on the Queen Mary to the U.S. The exhibition also includes costumes and set models from the award-winning play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child.

Also on display for the first time in the U.S. are Rowling’s handwritten first drafts of The Philosopher’s Stone and Deathly Hallows, her hand-drawn sketch of the Hogwarts grounds, and portraits and sketches of some of the Hogwarts’s professors and magical creatures created by British illustrator Jim Kay. John James Audubon’s watercolor of Snowy Owls, a 1693 publication defending the Salem witch trials, a study of the Woolworth Building—the landmark New York location featured in the film Fantastic Beasts—and other artifacts from New-York Historical’s collection round out the original offerings.

Harry Potter: A History of Magic is organized around the subjects studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, including:

• Potions and Alchemy, showcasing a bezoar stone that reputedly provided a powerful antidote to poison, the tombstone of Nicolas Flamel—the medieval Parisian rumored to be an alchemist who inspired a character in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone—and Yale University’s Ripley Scroll depicting symbolic references to the philosopher’s stone;

• Herbology, featuring illustrated herbals (directories of plants and their powers), such as Giovanni Cadamosto’s 15th-century manuscript showing the harvesting of a mandrake plant with a root that resembles the human form, and an example of an 18th century-pressed plant from the New York Botanical Garden Library: the Adonis Vernalis, or fake Hellebore;

• Divination, with ancient oracle bone fragments on loan from the Metropolitan Museum of Art; a black moon crystal ball used by “Smelly Nelly,” a 20th-century British witch who used strong perfume to attract the spirits she believed helped her to see the future; and a 19th century fortune-telling doll from New-York Historical’s collection;

• Charms, which includes the first written record of the incantation ‘abracadabra,’ dating from the 13th century, and a 1693 edition of The Wonders of the Invisible World, written by Cotton Mather, a Congregational minister in Boston, as his justification for the Salem witchcraft trials;

• Astronomy, featuring a 1699 celestial globe by famed cartographer Vincenzo Coronelli, pages from a notebook compiled by the artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci that show the sun and moon revolving round the Earth, and a 13th century astrolabe thought to be one of the oldest geared instruments still extant, from the American Museum of Natural History Library;

• Defense Against the Dark Arts, featuring a magic staff (1998) carved from timber and Mary GrandPré’s original jacket artwork for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; and

• Care of Magical Creatures, including a 13th-century bestiary manuscript depicting a phoenix rising from the ashes, a narwhal tusk, and John James Audubon’s watercolor of snowy owls.

The original exhibition was organized by British Library curators Julian Harrison, Tanya Kirk, Alexander Lock, and Joanna Norledge. In New York, the exhibition is overseen by Margi Hofer, New-York Historical’s vice president and museum director, and Cristian Petru Panaite, associate curator of exhibitions.