( CNN ) Mischief managed : Harry Potter fans were spellbound this week after the release of four new images from the new fully illustrated edition of the first book , `` Harry Potter and the Sorcerer 's Stone . '' Publishing companies Scholastic and Bloomsbury UK offered a sneak peek at how Hogwarts mainstays Rubeus Hagrid , Hermione Granger , Ron Weasley and Draco Malfoy will look in the book come its October 6 release . The images were done by Jim Kay , who has won a Kate Greenaway Medal for his illustrations in Patrick Ness ' fantasy novel `` A Monster Calls . '' `` To be given the opportunity to design the characters , the clothing , the architecture and landscapes to possibly the most expansive fantasy world in children 's literature , well let 's just say I 'm extremely excited about it , '' Kay said in a release . `` The story is everything , and so I want to bring what I can to really show the depth of Rowling 's stories , to their best . '' The exceedingly popular wizarding series by J.K. Rowling has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide since the first book was released in the UK in 1997 . One can only expect that number to grow as publishing companies around the world bring all seven installments -- one each year , according to Scholastic -- to life with fully illustrated editions .
Official illustrations of four main `` Harry Potter '' characters have been released . The first is a picture of the Hogwarts Express and its driver, which was used in the film to transport students from school to school. The series has sold more than 450 million copies worldwide .