Showing posts with label JK Rowling. Show all posts
Showing posts with label JK Rowling. Show all posts

Friday, August 1, 2014

More photos from the JK Rowling suite

As I opened its door for the first time, I was trying to take a photo of my hand opening it. So, while juggling my camera in one hand and my key card in the other, I inadvertently snapped this shot. I didn't realize the effect until later, when I was flipping through my photos. Apparently, the owl was hungry for some mail post. :-)


Seconds later, I took stock for the first time of the room - which is really a very large corner suite. It has three little towers, two of which contain these identical busts:


Except, as we all know, they're not really identical, and one of them is displayed backwards and under glass. However, I quite loved the non-special bust, too - and its stand full of old books. Speaking of books, there was another, larger bookshelf in our bedroom:


Here are some close-ups of the books (click to see larger images):













Take these two, for example: an 1863 edition of two Walter Scott stories, and an 1897 illustrated edition of an R. L. Stevenson novel:













Isn't it amazing that they leave them in the open, to be handled and read? There's nothing quite like that feeling of old, ear-marked pages in your hands to make you want to dive into a book.

Of course, the Harry Potter series couldn't miss from this suite. In fact, there were two different British editions, set on tables at each end of the living room:













Then there were the animal statuettes, gorgeously executed:

- The Scottish stag in the entrance hallway:


- And what I prefer to think of as ravens, standing and in flight. (Please do not inform me they're eagles, or hawks or some such. They're Ravenclaw ravens if I say so!):


The flying raven sits on the bedroom bookshelf. The standing one belongs on THE DESK, as can be seen in this video, at the 26th second:


Notice that some of the decor has changed since then, in particular, the lamp and the wall painting. However, the raven was there to watch over JK's writing, as it watched over mine, years later:


I hope it will bring good luck to this Ravenclaw writing apprentice!

Tuesday, July 29, 2014

As I write this...

I am sitting at the desk where history was made. A desk that, by rights, should be in a museum - only it isn't. This desk:


It belongs to this room:



The only room in the world that contains this bust:


Here's a close-up of it, with my hand on the glass - which is as close as I can get to the writing:



However, I can touch the desk. The very desk where, on Jan. 11, 2007, JK Rowling finished writing Harry Potter. (Honestly, they put Jane Austen's pen in a museum - shouldn't this desk be in one, too?) Not that I'm complaining. I am thrilled, giddy, and silly beyond words. I am touching HISTORY!