If you haven't heard yet, it's about time you get in the loop. The illustrated version of the first book in the Harry Potter series is now available in the Philippines! And at Php1600+/-, it's even cheaper here than if you get it in the US (SRP is $39.99 and at P46 to $1, that's about 1800 something local bucks).
There are two titles available, the British version "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" and the American version "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone
My copy is the Sorcerer's stone edition which is supposedly the American version (they changed some colloquial terms) but interestingly enough, the text seems to be from the original British version with words phrases such as "sherbet lemon" instead of "lemon drop" and "shan't" instead of "won't" among other minor differences.
There's also a deluxe set with a slipcase. The covers on the deluxe set is gorgeous with gold etching of the Snitch on the case and Hogwarts against a purple backdrop on the book itself.
Rereading material you know nearly by heart is made doubly interesting by Jim Kay's beautiful art, breathing new visuals to favorite characters and scenes. What I like about it is that the artist seems to have created his illustrations based on the book instead of simply patterning from the characterizations in the movies, which in my opinion are two very different things.
"Jim builds little models of every character with plasticine and places them gently in his cardboard Hogwarts so he can test out the way the light hits each one at different times of day. To get Hagrid right, he lined up a set of those little plastic army solider toys to represent the kids at Hogwarts and then built his own Hagrid figurine to the right scale." -Pottermore
I love that the illustrator is a total nerd.
One of my favorite illustrations is the one of Severus Snape. While I do like what Alan Rickman brought to the role in the movies (may he RIP), he's not entirely what I pictured when the character was first introduced in the book. Jim Kay's depiction is EXACTLY how twelve year old me imagined Professor Snape to be like the first time I read the book. It's on page 110, in case you wanted to take a quick peek.
Pages are thick and glossy. <3
I've been meaning to reread all the books again and I've found the perfect reason to do so. I gotta get going because it looks like the illustrated version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets is set to come out in October! Exciting!