When I found out recently that it’s the Harry Potter 20 year anniversary I actually thought someone was kidding. Or I would have done if I hadn’t referenced the release date in a uni report (it was about branding just in case you were wondering) and in case you didn’t know it was first released on 26th June 1997.
What it did make me realise is how big a part of my life one series of books has been as well as the impact that it’s had on me. It’s the one series of books that I can never tire of reading and is also the only one with movies that I’m fairly certain that I could quote verbatim – except I won’t because my father does it with a Bond movie and I can’t be in the same room as him when he watches it and I would hate to inflict that on anyone else. While I never went to a midnight release for the later books, I did buy them all (other than Philosopher’s Stone) on release day and read them within 24 to 48 hours of purchase. This is now something I rarely do as there doesn’t seem to be a series which has piqued my interest in quite the same way.
A while back I answered the Harry Potter tag and although I don’t think my answers would change much, I think I might expand some of them to include more answers to all the questions. I also love a bit of trivia and when I saw some of the infographics that have been created (courtesy of Cartridge Save) to celebrate the Harry Potter 20 year anniversary and I felt the need to share some of the stats from them with you.
- The full series has sold 504 million copies (so far)
- The full series also uses 1,084,170 words (makes my dissertation feel tiny by comparison)
- Published in 79 languages including Ancient Greek
The way I’m celebrating the anniversary is by re-reading Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone but this time I’ll be reading the special house edition which I pre-ordered a while ago to make sure it arrives on time for the ever important Instagram shot. In case you’re wondering my copy will be yellow and black as I’m a proud Hufflepuff (even if it’s taken me a while to realise that it’s where I truly belong). I bought mine from Amazon but it’s also available directly from Bloomsbury. It’s available in hardback and paperback and Bloomsbury have a bundle of all four books (in hardback) with 4 matching bookmarks which look fab but I feel like I’d be turning into Peyton from One Tree Hill if I own too many copies of the same book.
Are you doing anything to celebrate the Harry Potter 20 year anniversary?
Disclaimer: This was a collaborative post.
For more information about the infographics and to view them in full check out this article.
