From: ALevine at Scholastic.com <ALevine>
Date: Fri, 4 Jun 1999 13:45:27 -0400

I am so happy to hear that people appreciate the design and production of our editions of Harry Potter. It's been a joy.

Based on Christine's question about the many editions below, I thought a point of clarification might be helpful:

The British and American editions are produced and sold by different companies. A British company paid J.K. Rowling for the right to produce a book and sell it in the U.K. My company bought the rights to produce and sell her book in the U.S. (Still other companies bought the rights to publish the book in Germany, France, etc.)

The British company has chosen to produce numerous editions of the book, using different covers for adults and children. I haven't felt that this was necessary in the U.S.

And -- incidentally -- we are trying to speed up the publication of our U.S. editions so that they come out at the same time as the U.K. editions. For the third Harry Potter adventure -- HARRY POTTER AND THE PRIZONER OF ASKABAN
-- our deluxe edition will be available only a few weeks after the U.K. (so consumers will be able to get the Scholastic/AAL Books edition at virtually the same time).

We started the process a year behind the British company, and chose to do a more lavish production that takes more time to put together. But by book four, I'll be receiving the manuscript at the same time as the British editor, so we should be able to be completely simultaneous!
Received on Fri 04 Jun 1999 12:45:27 PM CDT