First Harry Potter manuscript to be exhibited in London

The original manuscript from the first edition of the Harry Potter books will be shown to the public from tomorrow, as part of a special exhibition on English literature at the British Library, just metres away from the central train station, Kings Cross, which played a huge part in the stories.

The "Writing Britain Wastelands to Wonderlands” exhibit will run until September 25 at the British Library, showing over 150 literary works and also touching upon the influences of British landscapes on literature through sound recordings, letters, photographs, maps, poems, song lyrics and drawings - as well as manuscripts and printed editions.

The original “Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone,” written by J. K. Rowling, will share a space in the exhibit alongside “The Strange Case of Doctor Jekyll and Mr Hyde” by Robert Lous Stevenson, a drawing by JRR Tolkien for “The Hobbit,” and a copy of the poem “Sir Gawain and the Green Horse” dating back to the 15th century.