Before we get to the details of this beautiful Harry Potter Thai boxed set let’s go back in time. In March and April 2020 American news sites shared photos of the 20th Anniversary of Harry Potter Thai edition covers. We at Magical-Menagerie have been waiting for their release since the illustrator, APOLAR, posted a preview of the first cover in October 2019.

MM owner Megan has been collecting different editions of the Harry Potter books for years – mainly US and UK (and buys a copy or two on international trips.) She stopped recently because there were too many being released. But, once the Harry Potter Thai Edition was announced, it immediately made it on her “must-have” list.

The publisher of this unique set, Nanmee Books, began taking pre-orders in January 2020. Fans are able to buy the books separately or in paperback and hardcover boxed sets. Those that pre-ordered the hardcover set also received 8 bookmarks, 8 postcards, a tote bag and a hanging ornament.

The bookmarks feature some of our favorite characters – Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville, Luna and Draco! Postcards included all 7 covers as well as a new illustration of Harry and Hagrid in Diagon Alley. A tote bag showcased the covers of Philosopher’s Stone as well as Chamber of Secrets and the 20th anniversary logo. The hanging ornament is actually a mini book with pop-up pages.

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The best part of the hardcover set is the box itself. It unfolds for a two-sided masterpiece. One side shows the house colors, animals and the Hogwarts Quidditch pitch. The sides of the box show Harry, Draco, Cho and Cedric in their Quidditch uniforms. The opposite shows a stunning view of inside Hogwarts castle with “windows” showing different scenes and characters. It is easy to get lost for hours viewing all the details.

Not one spot in this special boxed set went untouched. Tiny details from the icons inside the box to the delicate moon shape the pages make are everywhere. Illustrations are sprinkled throughout the books.

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Harry Potter Thai Ordering Information

Nanmee Books published the new Harry Potter Thai editions on May 11th. Since we’re in the US it took them a few months to get to us via international shipping. It was worth the wait!

The paperback set retails for 3,950 baht and the hardcover set is 4,950. Shipping to the USA was 1,490 bringing the grand total for our Harry Potter Thai Hardcover boxed set to 6,440. This works out to about $205 when we bought the set.

Note: They may be offering other shipping options now, but we were told 2-3 months for delivery when we pre-ordered the set.

View all the options for purchasing here. Fans outside Thailand wishing to order the books will need to email Nanmee Books directly at contact@nanmeebooks.com. You can also message them on Instagram. (tell them Magical-Menagerie.com sent you!)

Interviews with the Illustrator

In an interview with a local website, artist Arch-Arus Engchuan (Apolar) talked about his process for illustrating 200 images for the books. We translated the quotes so they may not make perfect sense.

When drawing the characters, I try to find the middle value between the realistic and the cartoon because if the cartoon is too much, it will look too young. The color tone is classic, looks ancient. Saturation of the color is not very high and in the set of 7 books, the cover will switch shades between light and dark like playing with day and night because J.K. Rowling Clever that creates excitement in both modes

When discussing the Philosopher’s Stone cover he states:

The first cover wants to have a festive atmosphere into the world of magic. Therefore choosing to use gold color as a medium I remembered the candle of hope in the school hall, so the Hogwarts played with the candle, and there was a picture of Hagrid holding a lantern. I play with gimmicks, for example, platform number 9¾, I write in Thai numbers. And there’s a picture of the chocolate frog that doesn’t really matter in the story, but these little things make reading fun and take us excitingly into the magical world.

In an interview with TimeOut he says:

I wanted this edition to be a gift to Thai fans. I wanted to create this edition as a Harry Potter fan would. I tried to convey my love for the Harry Potter books by putting my all into the details of my art. The international publisher and Nanmee allowed me to put some Thai elements into the artwork such as Thai characters and Thai numbers. At first, I was worried that people would not like it since this is a foreign book but, in the end, we figured out how to incorporate them. For example, in the cover of the first book Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, Platform 9 3/4 was redesigned to reflect a Thai number: 9 3/4. I feel like since it’s a Thai edition, there should be some Thainess to it.

We could not agree more! Staying true to the Thai culture really makes this set more unique. Arch’s passion shows in the care he took in creating the artwork.

What do you think of the set? Will you be ordering it?

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