How to Make a Harry Potter Library: Printable Wizard-Themed Book Covers and How to Use Them

When I was casting about for a way to decorate some bookshelves to look like the Hogwarts Library, I came across a site that included printable spines you could put on old books to make them look like they came from a wizarding library.

They are great for books that you want to shelve with the spine facing out, but I found myself wondering if I could do the same with books that I wanted to display with the cover facing out.

I came up with a way to do it using a regular 8.5” x 11” piece of paper. I thought I’d share them with you so that you can make your own wizarding library books. Consider combining them with the spines I linked to above for a book that looks magical from any angle.

1. Color printouts of book covers listed below
2. Old hardback books
3. Washi tape or masking tape (I found that the washi tape I bought on sale at a craft store didn’t really stick that well. The Scotch Expressions Masking Tape held much better. You can get it in a variety of colors and patterns.)
4. Scissors
5. Transparent tape

I put an index photo just below so that you can see what kind of book covers are available. If you want to get them, you'll need to scroll down past the instructions and you will see several book covers I put together loaded as photos (jpegs). To get them, you will need to click on them to enlarge them, and then right click and choose copy. From there, you can paste them into whichever application you would like. I usually use Word, Publisher, or Powerpoint. You can enlarge them or reduce them, and then make a color printout.

You may use them for personal or educational use. Commercial use is prohibited.

You can use these wizard-themed book covers on almost any size book you want, but I find they work best on a book between 9 and 10 inches tall and between 1 and 1.5 inches thick. You can use books you have around the house. Since the covers are put on with washi tape, you can peel it right off after your wizard event and have your book back good as new. If you want to keep the books around longer, you can look for inexpensive hardbacks at thrift stores or used book sales, like the ones libraries have.

Put the book cover you printed out face down on your surface and use a pencil to mark the top and bottom of your book. Roughly center the book lengthwise on the paper.

Keeping your printout face down, fold down from the top and up from the bottom so that your “dust jacket” fits the size of the book.

Keep your printed book cover face down and place the book on top of it. Make sure the edges of the paper are lined up with the edges of the book. Open the front cover of the book and fold just a little of your paper cover around it.

I’ve found that fastening the cover down with a couple of pieces of clear tape makes it much easier to position the washi or masking tape you will use next.

If you can find tape in a complementary cover or pattern, it can make the cover look like it was supposed to be there all along.

Now that you have your wizard-themed book cover secured on the inside of the front cover of the book, wrap the paper cover around the front and spine of the book and fasten it in the back. The paper won't cover the whole back of the book, but if you display the book face out, it won’t matter what the back looks like. Just as you did on the front inside cover, you can anchor the paper with transparent tape, and then put the washi or masking tape over it.

I put these on the bookshelves to decorate a “Hogwarts Library” section during a recent Harry Potter party. They gave a nice ambiance to the spot. I’ve included a few books about the dark arts so that you can put them in a “Restricted Section” if you like.

It’s worth repeating that you will need to click on each image to enlarge it. Then right click and choose “copy” from the drop-down menu that appears. Once you have it copied, you can paste it into whichever application you like. I use Word, Publisher, or Powerpoint. You can tug on the corners to enlarge them or reduce them. Then print the document in color.

Remember, these covers are loaded as jpegs (photos). To get them,you will need to click on each image. Then you can right click and choose “copy” from the drop-down menu that appears. Once you have copied the photo you want, you can paste it into an application you like, such as Word or Publisher. You can tug on the corners to enlarge or reduce it, and then make a color printout.

I hope you enjoy using these wizard-themed book covers. I’ve made them quick printables so that they are easy to use. Do remember that they are loaded as photos, so you first need to copy the photo into some document software and print from there.

Happy wizarding!