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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2001 book written by English author J. K. Rowling to benefit the charity Comic Relief. Over 80% of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various places around the world. According to Comic Relief, sales from this book and its companion Quidditch Through the Ages have raised £15.7 million. In a 2001 interview with publisher Scholastic, Rowling stated that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a fun topic for which she had already developed a lot of information.
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Encyclopedia
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them is a 2001 book written by English author J. K. Rowling to benefit the charity Comic Relief. Over 80% of the cover price of each book sold goes directly to poor children in various places around the world. According to Comic Relief, sales from this book and its companion Quidditch Through the Ages have raised £15.7 million. In a 2001 interview with publisher Scholastic, Rowling stated that she chose the subject of magical creatures because it was a fun topic for which she had already developed a lot of information. Rowling's name does not appear on the cover of the book, the work being credited under the pseudonym "Newt Scamander".
Synopsis
Fantastic Beasts purports to be a reproduction copy of a textbook owned by Harry Potter and written by magizoologist Newt Scamander, a fictional character in the Harry Potter series of novels. In the series, Magizoology is the study of magical creatures.
Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts, provides the Foreword and explains to the reader the purpose of the special edition of this book (the Comic Relief charity). At the end, he tells us Muggles that "...the amusing creatures described hereafter are fictional and cannot hurt you." To his Wizarding community, he says, "Draco dormiens nunquam titillandus", which is the Hogwarts motto. The phrase is Latin for "Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon".
Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them contains the history of Magizoology and describes 75 magical species found around the world. Scamander collected most of the information found in the book through observations made over years of travel and across five continents. The fictional author notes that the first edition was commissioned in 1918 by Mr Augustus Worme of Obscurus Books. However, it was not published until 1927. It is now in its fifty-second edition.
The book is a required textbook for first-year Hogwarts students, having been an approved textbook since its first publication. It is not clear why students need it in their first year, as students do not take Care of Magical Creatures until their third year. However, it may be used as an encyclopaedia of Dark creatures studied in Defence Against the Dark Arts classes. In his introduction to the book, Albus Dumbledore notes that it serves as an excellent reference for Wizarding households in addition to its use at Hogwarts.
A highlight of the book is the numerous doodles and comments in it by Harry and Ron (and one by Hermione). Based on some of their comments, they were written around the time of the fourth book. These doodles add some extra information for fans of the series, for example the "Acromantula" entry has a comment confirming Hogwarts is located in Scotland.
Integrated in the design, the cover of the book appears to have been clawed by some sort of animal.
Newt Scamander
Newton "Newt" Artemis Fido Scamander is the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, born in 1897. According to the "About the Author" section of the book, Scamander became a magizoologist because of his own interest in fabulous beasts and the encouragement of his mother, an enthusiastic Hippogriff breeder.
After graduating from Hogwarts, Scamander joined the Ministry of Magic in the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. His career included a brief stint in the Office of House-Elf Relocation, a transfer to the Beast Division, the creation of the Werewolf Register in 1947, the 1965 passage of the Ban on Experimental Breeding, and many research trips for the Dragon Research and Restraint Bureau. His contributions to Magizoology earned him an Order of Merlin, Second Class in 1979.
Now retired, he lives in Dorset with his wife Porpentina and their pet Kneazles: Hoppy, Milly and Mauler. He has a grandson named Rolf, who married Luna Lovegood some time after the events of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
Though Rowling has never hidden the fact that she is the author of Fantastic Beasts, "Newt Scamander" can nevertheless be considered a pseudonym of hers, as he is technically the author listed on the book's cover.
In the film version of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Newt Scamander's name appeared on the Marauder's Map. Why he was at Hogwarts was not addressed.
Editions
Scholastic Editions
- Paperback: ISBN 0-439-29501-7
- Hardcover Box Set: ISBN 0-439-32162-X (Includes Fantastic Beasts... and Quidditch Through the Ages)
- Paperback Box Set: ISBN 0-439-28403-1
Bloomsbury Edition
- Paperback: ISBN 0-7475-5466-8
Sagebrush Rebound Edition
- School & Library Edition: ISBN 0-613-32541-9
Errata
The book is said to predate the events of the Harry Potter series. In light of events in the Potter books, several tongue-in-cheek references to "new information" are indicated by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's doodles in Harry's version of the book (as published for Comic Relief). A list of them follows:
- In the Ministry Classifications, the most dangerous creatures are labelled as XXXXX, to which has been added "or anything Hagrid likes".
- On Pg. 2 under the Acromantula section, the book states "Rumours that a colony of Acromantula has been established in Scotland are unconfirmed." In fact, Harry and Ron encounter a colony in the Forbidden Forest in the second book. Hagrid was aware of this Acromantula colony before this, and it is quite likely that other members of the staff knew of its existence. In Harry's version of the book, the word "unconfirmed" is crossed out and the following comment of "confirmed by Harry Potter and Ron Weasley" is added.
- Also under the Acromantula section, an extra 9 X's are added to the creature's classification, probably by Ron, since it is well known that he is afraid of spiders, and the Acromantula is a gigantic, eight-eyed spider.
- On Pg. 4 under the Basilisk section, the book states "there have been no recorded sightings of Basilisks in Britain for at least four hundred years". This is invalid, as there is a recorded sighting in the second Harry Potter book. As such, a comment of "that's what you think" has been appended to the bottom of the entry.
- In the Dragons section, the name "Norwegian Ridgeback" is crossed out and replaced with "Baby Norbert", referring to Hagrid's infant dragon which he hatched himself and showed to the trio. Nearby, under the entry for "Hungarian Horntail", the article begins "Supposedly the most dangerous of all dragons" to which is added in a scribble, "you're not kidding".
- The Hippogriff section says that they "may be domesticated, though this should only be attempted by experts". This is underlined and connected to a note saying, "Has Hagrid read this book?" referring to Hagrid's domestication of a Hippogriff herd despite being anything but an expert.
- The Kappa section claims that this creature is Japanese in origin, to which is added the note "Snape hasn't read this either". This presumably refers to the third book, in which Snape states, "the Kappa is more commonly found in Mongolia".
- The Pixies section has them classified as an XXX level creature. The addition here takes the form of a note saying "or XXXXXXX if you're Lockhart".
- The Puffskein entry has a note, presumably by Ron, saying, "I had one of those once" to which Harry responds, "What happened to it?" and a reply underneath says, "Fred used it for Bludger practice". This conversation also takes place between Harry and Ron in the Sorcerer's Stone video game.
- The mermaid entry describes a certain type of merpeople as being "less beautiful..." Next to that line is a note saying "ugly". This refers to Harry's encounters with mermaids in the second Triwizard Task in the fourth book, Goblet of Fire.
- In the troll entry, a picture of a troll is drawn, next to it written, "My name is Gregory Goyle and I smell!"
- In the werewolf entry, next to the heading "Werewolves" a note has been added: "Aren't all bad". This is a reference to Professor Lupin, a werewolf and Harry's favourite teacher.
See also
External links
- Comic Relief web site: http://www.comicrelief.com/stuff-to-buy/harrys-books/
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