Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! Tweak!
Calling all witches and wizards who still dream about Hogwarts acceptance letters: Tickets are now on sale for Harry Potter: A History of Magic at the New-York Historical Society (NYHS.) The exhibit, which is organized by subjects studied at Hogwarts, will kick off on October 5, 2018 and run until January 27, 2019. While the exhibition was first displayed London, the New York City version will launch new artifacts that have never graced the eyes of muggles… until now.
For anyone with a memory to rival Hermione’s, tickets are also on sale for monthly trivia nights and family events hosted by the NYHS. For the memory-lacking Nevilles of the world–no remembralls (or Google) allowed!
The NYHS may not be the Hogwarts library, but the exhibition features centuries-old treasures, including rare books, manuscripts, and magical objects, as well as original material from Scholastic and J.K. Rowling’s own archives. For anyone like me who missed J. K. Rowling’s super sleuth trip to the Broadway opening of Cursed Child, (I’m still bitter,) this is the closest many will get to the Potter queen herself. Sufficed to say, I know where I’m celebrating the 20th anniversary of the U.S. release of Harry Potter and the Socerer’s Stone.
If all of that isn’t enough to warrant a broomstick ride to New York, exclusive to the NYHS exhibition are Mary GrandPré’s original illustrations, Brian Selznick’s cover artwork, cover art by Kazu Kibuishi, and letters written by Jo herself. The exhibition will also include costumes and set models from Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, now running (and selling out) on Broadway, as well as a collection of international editions of Harry Potter books.
The golden egg of the collection, (and of my life if we’re being honest,) and on display for the first time in the U.S., will be handwritten first drafts from Philosopher’s Stone and Deathly Hallows, Jo’s hand-drawn sketch of the Hogwarts grounds, and original art by British illustrator Jim Kay. I’m not crying; you’re crying.
