Harry Potter books stripped of J.K. Rowling's name are then resold by 'bookbinder artist' - 'Book artist' takes used books, removes Rowling's name — a project 'spurred by her transphobia,' [s]he claims

By Maureen Mackey | Fox News
Published January 11, 2023 4:43pm EST

A 23-year-old individual in Toronto, Canada, has been hard at work "removing" J.K. Rowling's name from used "Harry Potter" books and replacing not just the book covers with his own custom covers — but removing her name from the copyright pages and titles pages as well, according to SWNS reporting.

The individual has completed at least 30 newly "re-bound books" — offering them for sale in their newly bound form.

Artist Laur Flom, who runs a website in Canada, apparently started the project to "help out" any "Harry Potter" fans who find they have ethical issues with the author while reading her bestselling books.

Flom began the work a year ago, saying his motivation was the allegations of transphobia that were made against the British author, according to SWNS.

Rowling faced backlash a few years ago for comments that were considered by some to be controversial about the transgender community.


"Harry Potter" author J.K. Rowling. "Growing up when I did," said a 23-year-old "book artist" based in Toronto, "it was a given that you would read ‘Harry Potter.’" The "artist" removes Rowling's name from her books — and then resells them in newly bound form. (Dia Dipasupil)

Laur Flom told SWNS, "The project is spurred by her transphobia … I was [a fan]. Growing up when I did, it was a given that you would read ‘Harry Potter.’"

Flom added, however, that "after J.K Rowling's views on people like me came out, it left a bad taste in my mouth."


A bookbinder named Laur Flom in Toronto is shown removing pages from a J.K. Rowling "Harry Potter" book — so that Rowling's name is stripped out completely from the book, both inside and out. He then re-binds and resells the books to interested buyers. (SWNS)

He added, "It raised questions about the ethics of consuming her work."

‘Creating a safe space’​

Flom said that "the purpose of this project is to create a safe space for fans to find comfort in the books and critically engage with J.K Rowling's work."

In order to "recreate" the books, Flom — who also reportedly works as a bartender — seeks out secondhand copies of the "Harry Potter" books.

"Just the fact that people have been interested makes me think that it's been successful."​

Flom then removes the covers and the copyright pages of the books — and replaces them with his own uniquely created versions, SWNS reported.


Laur Flom lives in Toronto, Canada, and said his "the project" was "spurred" by Rowling's "transphobia," as Flom termed it. (SWNS)

Each book apparently takes around 12 hours for Flom to re-bind — not including the time it takes for him to package the books and send them off to buyers.

Flom reportedly sells each newly bound book for about $170. For a set of seven, he charges roughly $1,200.

A portion of each sale is donated to charities that serve the transgender community, according to SWNS.


Laur Flom began a project involving J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter" books in January 2022, SWNS reported. (SWNS)

The book work has not occurred without controversy.

Flom told SWNS, "[The reactions are] mostly good. The majority of my comments are positive — my last video reached a strange part of TikTok and reactions were mixed, but mostly good."

Flom added, "I would hope that the impact of my project is just to bring light to [Rowling's] transphobia and to make people aware of the things she has said … I get so many comments just asking what she had done."


Bookbinder Laur Flom has posted videos on TikTok about his "Harry Potter" bookbinding project. He describes himself as a "printmaker, book artist and Taylor Swift fan based in Toronto, Ontario." (SWNS)

He also said, "Just the fact that people have been interested makes me think that it's been successful."

Fox News Digital reached out to Flom for comment.

On his website, Flom describes himself as "a printmaker, book artist and Taylor Swift fan based in Toronto, Ontario."

"My practice is largely conceptual."​

He also says, "My practice is largely conceptual, exploring themes surrounding identity, memory and trans masculinity. I also occasionally rebind Harry Potter books."
He says on the site as well, "Send in your personal copies to be rebound, restored and de-Rowlinged."

Scholastic published Rowling's very first "Harry Potter" book in the U.S. in September 1998. That book was "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone." (In the U.K., that book was published as "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.")

The publisher, on its website, says that more than 500 million copies of the "Harry Potter" book series have been sold worldwide to date.

More than 180 million copies have been sold in the U.S. alone, it also says.

Adds Scholastic, "If all the ‘Harry Potter’ books ever sold were placed end to end, they would go around the equator over 16 times."

Maureen Mackey is managing editor of lifestyle for Fox News Digital.

Source (Archive)

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SWNS video:

 

[From The Uncanny Valley]

You can't rebind a book like you bind you chest lol

 

[Kit Marz]

I bind books as a hobby and even with leather it's a pretty cheap to do. This guy is using rice paper, which costs next to nothing, and is easily making 3-4 times the cost of the materials. Although he is canadian so who knows how much things cost there. Still, I kind of respect the grift if he is getting buyers.

 

[Kel1 shi1]

Flom reportedly sells each newly bound book for about $170

I'm not even mad when these woke grifters grift each other.

Just imagine all the cope, seethe and dilate from anyone that contributed $100K to Keffals that are unable to call him out for not delivering.

 

[Computer Guardian]

This article is proof there should have been a subfourm about people tard raging about JK Rowling and Harry Potter in general.

 

[PhoBingas]

Why in Christ's good name are people so bent out of shape over a book written for CHILDREN ages like 7 to 12? I must be missing something here. Why is a grown assed man wasting the time and effort and art supply money just to hide Rowling's name?

 

[Fomo Hoire]

Tried to shoot myself.
Can't even do that righ

Can't belive I didn't notice this earlier.

 

[Tasty Tatty]

Ironic, isn't it?

Like the books themselves, these troons are nothing short of a crude, mutilated mockery - trying to hide a truth we all know.

Difference is people WANT the books.

I wish I could buy my own troon... imagine all the funny torture and screaming... I'd make them wear clothes to their actual sex and call them by their real name.

 

[Pissmaster]

Why in Christ's good name are people so bent out of shape over a book written for CHILDREN ages like 7 to 12? I must be missing something here. Why is a grown assed man wasting the time and effort and art supply money just to hide Rowling's name?

The author of one of the world's most famous series of children's books once said "I don't think a man in a dress with a big ol' stinky penis should be called a woman", and tons of men in dresses launched a full-scale jihad to the best of their abilities (whining online and not much else), and that's just the world we live in

 

[Wormy]

Once again, I despise the whole Potterverse and the fandom around it, but this, this is beyond the fucking pale. This insults me on a deep level.

I ain't shit as a writer, or painter, but dammit, my work is still my own and my name is still on it. NOONE has the fucking moral right to strip a creator of his or her own creation. Anyone doing so is lower than the shit I scrape off of my shoes after a day of work.

 

[DankSmoker]

Why in Christ's good name are people so bent out of shape over a book written for CHILDREN ages like 7 to 12? I must be missing something here. Why is a grown assed man wasting the time and effort and art supply money just to hide Rowling's name?

Because when the other kids called them queers for liking it they took that to heart.

 

[Slimeball92A]

"The individual has completed at least 30 newly "re-bound books"

Only 499,999,970 left to do!

 

[Candlelight Desolation]

Copyright law violations aside, I find it hilarious how woke Millennials who are still Harry Potter fans in their late thirties to possibly early forties are so dedicated to this children's series and also their hate of its author because she's anti troon that they will hire someone to do this. This is taking denial to a whole new level. Like if it bothers you that much, why not read something new for a change? Millennials clinging on to HP for this long to this extent is how we get mindsets like people thinking it is the apex of world "literature".

 

[Weeby Catto]

Honestly, they truly deserved the grift.

I can't imagine a tranny seething, only to pay 1200usd so that they can go back reading HP again, before seething again after 10 mins.

Cos you know, reality always bite back all the time, that's why they need affirmation all the time even after all the pills and their dick chopped off.

 

[Snekposter]

Not only a Canadian faggot, but also French--a triple threat.

She is worse than a tranny. She is - may Allah forgive me for even uttering such a word - a French-Canadian.

Also, "You're ugly, you're disgusting, I'm going to kill you, give me $1,600.00."

Its 1600 leaf bucks though so what, 800 actual dollars? Even so that's beyond absurd.

 

[WhiskeyJack]

Rowling should offer to autograph a few copies, just to troll him.

 

[Maldavius Figtree]

removing the author's name from the cover doesn't remove the author from the book itself, just like how taking hormones and putting on a dress will never make you a woman

funny how somebody thought this was worth writing up given that he's only sold 30 copies? smells like bait

It’s advertising for the grift.

 

[Watcher]

This is literally attempting to erase history. Harry Potter was a personal creation of its author you can't separate JK Rowling from Harry Potter. It's akin to attempting to separate Stan Lee from Spiderman. It showcases a profound sense of entitlement as they feel like they are owed the franchise JK Rowling created, not the actual author who created it.

Isn't this illegal?

100%. It's copyright infringement in its most classical sense and there are actual hard laws against taking a book and just swapping the cover out. These laws are very old since they go back to eras where people would attempt to reprint novels and not pay the publisher anything for them.

funny how somebody thought this was worth writing up given that he's only sold 30 copies? smells like bait

Journos do this constantly as they have to push out articles to keep their jobs. This will get clicks and it will guarantee engagement they don't give a fuck otherwise.

Ironically this article is the worst thing to happen to this person as it likely would fly under the radar completely. But since there's journos writing articles about it, it'll very easily tip off the publisher and lead to a lawsuit.

Copyright law violations aside, I find it hilarious how woke Millennials who are still Harry Potter fans in their late thirties to possibly early forties are so dedicated to this children's series and also their hate of its author because she's anti troon that they will hire someone to do this. This is taking denial to a whole new level. Like if it bothers you that much, why not read something new for a change? Millennials clinging on to HP for this long to this extent is how we get mindsets like people thinking it is the apex of world "literature".

For almost all of these people Harry Potter wasn't just a franchise it was an identity for their formative years. Almost all of them identified with one of the 4 houses and bought enormous amounts of merch from it. All of these people do appreciate other forms of media and novels but that media didn't leave the same personal identity impact Harry Potter did on them. For all of these people before they had a sense of "who am I as a person?" they had the sense of escape of that novel. This is why it's hard to understand for people who didn't grow up with it. It's very akin to how people who were adults when Pokemon became popular felt about it, it's just a weird superficial series about animals what's the big deal?

Another factor I think is because they feel like JK Rowling was a traitor as she was a hyper leftist for decades until she came out against Transgender people. She to this day denies being a conservative saying her politics haven't changed since the 1990s the world just became retarded. Just a few years ago she was still seen as a leftist darling because she was against Donald Trump and was one of the most pro refugee people on the planet. To the point where Stephen King's son; Joe Hill wrote a novel called "The Fireman" and it at one point portrays JK Rowling heroically letting infected diseased people live in her mansion. Something almost certainly influenced by how she acted on twitter before she came out as anti tranny.

Betrayal/treason emotionally is one of the deepest wounds you can inflict on someone. To these people JK Rowling was a surrogate mother and now she is their worst enemy.

 

[ASeabear8952]

I was never into Harry Potter as a kid but now I’m almost tempted to read one of the books or watch one of the movies just to spite these people.

 

[stupid frog]

For folks who are jumping toward suing, come on. It is no different than reselling used books. What's more shocking, as someone whose dabbled in book binding, this is a lot of motivation to do this just because you hate an author. What's disturbing is that effort could have been focused onto more productive and life fulfilling things. Beside JK already has her golden nest, I doubt she gives a shit.

>Flom reportedly sells each newly bound book for about $170. For a set of seven, he charges roughly $1,200.

 

[Afinepickle]

Why in Christ's good name are people so bent out of shape over a book written for CHILDREN ages like 7 to 12? I must be missing something here. Why is a grown assed man wasting the time and effort and art supply money just to hide Rowling's name?

Because all trannies suffer from massive arrested development and 99% of them defined themselves by their love of this gay children series to the point of it being quasi religious when they were teenagers.

However, now the author of their religious texts has committed wrongthink and been cast down from the pedestal of worship.

Basically their brains are breaking in half because of it and this is just the cognitive dissonance they're using to meld the realities of loving their potter shit and hating its creator; it's classic 'out of sight out of mind' shit.

TLDR - They're all retarded.