UPDATED: 'Deluxe' Half-Blood Prince (US & UK)
 

The deluxe edition of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will feature unique drawings by American artist Mary GrandPré, who has illustrated all previous U.S. editions of the novels.

The book will have a slipcase and will include a 32-page insert with "black-and-white art from the book blown up to full-page size," according to updated listing information.

The "unique" art will presumably not feature in the regular editions of the book.

This US special edition is 704 pages long, because of the extra drawings.

The UK will also have a special edition of Half-Blood Prince which will only be avaliable from October of this year.

UPDATE: The Leaky Cauldron is now reporting that Amazon.co.uk have the UK special edition down for release on October the 3rd of this year.

Source: HPANA

Oh that great! Wish they did that stuff with the Danish editions...

Sounds cool. Can't wait for July 26th to get here. I want to read HBP so much.

hmmm why dont the UK versions have pics in them?

^ Because grown up books don't have pictures ;) lol I think I'd find illustrations distracting to my view of the characters personally.

It's the 16th Andrew.

Personally, I don't really like Mary Grandpre's artwork... it just seems to cartoony and in a way (though this sounds a bit crazy) sort of... demeans the story a little. It just seems to much like a cartoon.

Well I'll settle for my regular book coming out on the 16th...

The US deluxe will be out on the 16th also.

i'm glad we dont get the pix, but i think its cool if your a fan of the artist or a collector, but i think i'll stick with my normal copy!

Ah I see thanks Em! But I think I'll stick with the regular copy!

I will still get my normal copy, but if I can afford the special one, I'm going to try for that too. Might as well!

Im going to get both of them for the sake of getting both of them lol ^_^

cool! :D

ooo i will have to buy both copies now!

Zut! I allready pre-ordered my copy! I knew somthing like this would happen....perhaps I can swap?...

sounds cool

I think that now with the movies and everything JK wants to show how she really sees the characters and stuff... because of how the dementors were in the 3rd movie, well they are not like she describes them in the book so... i think that might be one of the reasons we so many drawings. but thats really cool!!

sounds great!

souns cool... i already prdered the regular edition tho.

Capitalism sucks...I'm such a tool...*hands over his life's earnings now*
 

Special edition bleh...I'm waiting until all seven books come out and they release a super deluxe uber 3D, surround sound mega edition with holograms and a free chocolate frog...and book case to put them in...

Evil way to make an extra dollar if you ask me. A few extra illustrations...they're evil, because they know I love Mary Granpre's art...*Ottery is crying because he is going to shell out all that money*

now i dont know whether i want the regular one or not...

I'm probably going to wait to get the Deluxe edition. Maybe a Christmas present, lol. Or like Ottery, wait for the mega-seven pack. I'm sad now, because there's only two more books! *cries*

Jo doesn't do the illustrations though and neither does she control what they look like.

She actually said she loved the dementors in the film so...

LOL...I'd settle for the regular edition for now, thanks. But if they do release the deluxe ed here in the Philippines I'd probably buy it too--IF I have enough cash :)