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Independent press Methuen Publishing is pinning its hopes on a second Harry Potter-themed book by Steve Vander Ark, after the first was blocked by children's writer J K Rowling and Warner Brothers Entertainment yesterday (9th September).
The new book is based on author Vander Ark’s travels around the British Isles in a bid to uncover the locations that inspired those featured in the series.
Methuen was to publish the UK version of Vander Ark’s encyclopaedia of Harry Potter terms, dubbed Lexicon. However the US-based publisher RDR was prevented from launching the book after a Manhattan court ruled it would violate copyright. Peter Tummons, m.d. of Methuen, said although the manuscript of Vander Ark’s second book would be scrutinised again, there were no plans to put publication on hold. He added the firm had not yet decided whether to acquiese to Rowlings' lawyers' requests to see the new book prior to publication.
"There is no strong objection," said Tummons. "This is not matter of intransigence, it is a matter of whether there is any need to do so." Tummons stressed the high level of original material in the travel book. "It was done under [Vander Ark's] own initiative, with his own camera, own film and he wrote the text himself. He has drawn on the names of the Potter books, but that is all. At the head of each chapter of his book Steve Vander Ark has included a short quote from one or other of the Harry Potter series. We’ve applied in the customary way for permission to include these but that seems unlikely to be granted so we’ll no doubt exclude them."
Neil Blair, Rowling’s agent at Christopher Little, said there was less concern over Vander Ark’s new venture, but added it would be "helpful" if a preview was forwarded. "We hope it won’t be an issue," he said. "There are hundreds if not thousands of companion books around the world, and I don’t think there will be a problem with this [new] book, but we would like them to be helpful."