Original handwritten manuscripts by Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling are to go on display at a book festival, it was revealed yesterday.

The two framed pages, signed by the author, were originally written as part of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

They feature The Ballad of Nearly Headless Nick, which was eventually edited out of the second book before publication.

The manuscripts will be displayed during the Wigtown Book Festival in Dumfries and Galloway, which gets under way today. Fans will be able to catch a glimpse of the pages at ReadingLasses bookshop.

Shop owner Gerrie Douglas-Scott said: “We’re very excited that this bit of Harry Potter is coming home to Scotland for 10 days.”

The pages were donated by Ms Rowling to the Scottish Language Dictionaries five years ago to help fund a new Scottish language dictionary. Now in the hands of Ilyas Khan, a book collector and publisher, the manuscripts have not previously been displayed in public.

The festival, which contributes more than £500,000 a year to the local economy, will run until October 2.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.