How the Harry Potter Books Might Have Had Different Titles

Entertainment Weekly has an exclusive excerpt of Philip W. Errington’s new book, J.K. Rowling: A Bibliography 1997–2013, and even the most ardent Potter fans will be surprised to learn a few things about the beloved series. In particular, what the books were almost called.

The first book, called Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone in the U.K. almost went out in the U.S. as Harry Potter and the School of Magic. And thankfully Rowling dismissed that as a possibility. But other books in the series almost had other titles, too, like Harry Potter and the Death Eaters or Harry Potter and the Three Champions for Goblet of Fire.

Head to EW.com to read the entire excerpt, where you’ll learn more about how publishers transported top-secret manuscripts and how editors kept track of every spell in the Wizarding World.

Harry Potter Illustrated Edition Illustrations