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Hogwarts Library #1-3

The Hogwarts Library

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A highly collectable hardback boxed set from the world of Harry Potter - containing handsome new editions of Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (both in hardback for the first time) and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The Hogwarts Library is an essential collection for any wizard or Muggle home. Eager seekers of wizard learning will find within a treasure trove of magical facts, additional notes from the esteemed Professor Albus Dumbledore, and illustrations from J.K. Rowling. Purchasers can be reassured that two charities important to J.K. Rowling - Comic Relief and Lumos - will benefit from the sale of each set.

These editions are exclusively available in this boxed set for the first time.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published November 8, 2012

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About the author

J.K. Rowling

661 books233k followers
See also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.

Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.

Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.

As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.

Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.

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5 stars
5,504 (56%)
4 stars
2,629 (26%)
3 stars
1,308 (13%)
2 stars
225 (2%)
1 star
115 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews
Profile Image for Ian D.
611 reviews72 followers
April 20, 2019
Όπα, τι έχουμε εδώ; Καινούρια δημιουργία από τη Jo της καρδιάς μας;
Μπα, επίτομη επανακυκλοφορία τριών βιβλίων:
1) Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
2) Quidditch Through the Ages
3) The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Πολύ καλή πρόταση για όποιον δεν έχει έρθει σε επαφή με τα παραπάνω έργα, εντελώς περιττό για κάποιον που τα γνωρίζει, αν και δεν παύει να είναι μια επιμελημένη έκδοση.

Hardcore fans only (καλή ώρα).
Profile Image for Jerecho.
394 reviews52 followers
February 12, 2018
Just re read this one...

Sometimes we forget that advices and snippets are sometimes annoying. And and as we grow older we realize it must be the way it should be or the context must be the way it should be. Don't get me wrong I don't understand myself either. Para maiba nmn, hehe! 😊
Profile Image for itsdanixx.
647 reviews64 followers
June 23, 2018
Harry Potter are-Read June 2018: The Extras!

A collection containing ‘Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them’, ‘Quidditch Through the Ages’ and ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’.
Profile Image for Diana Long.
Author 1 book37 followers
July 1, 2025
A beautiful set but they are HUGE.
This was a collection of three volumes of the Hogwarts Library. Included are the books The Tales of Beetle the Bard, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (not the plays but an encyclopedia of critters), and Quidditch through the Ages. Loved reading and enjoying the artwork in all the volumes. A wonderful editions to any library.
Profile Image for Lisa.
606 reviews
December 8, 2015
Very different from what I was expecting. I didn't love them, but it was definitely cool to read more about Quidditch and The Fantastic Beasts. Didn't really like Dumbledore's commentary but that is mainly because I don't like books that have a second story outside of the margins.
Profile Image for Wayward Bookshelf.
203 reviews6 followers
May 4, 2014
This set includes the Tales of Beedle the Bard, Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them, and Quidditch through the ages, all titles widely referenced in the Harry Potter series. Reading this set was like entering the world of Harry Potter with fresh eyes once again. You have new translation of Beedle the Bard done by Hermione along with Dumbledore's footnotes. Harry & Ron's insights have been added in Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find them, and there's a complete history of where Quidditch came from, and who thought up all those rules. This is a must-read for all muggles interested in the wizarding world.
Profile Image for Charla.
266 reviews
April 16, 2022
If you are a serious Harry Potter fan and can’t get enough of the world of witches and wizards and everything in between this is definitely for you. Lots of information and details on magical beasts, how quidditch was invented and how it transformed into the most popular sport in the wizarding world plus you get to hear the delightful tales of Beedle the Bard with Albus’s view on each one.
Profile Image for Antonio Preciado.
16 reviews
April 14, 2022
Los Cuentos de Beedle el Bardo es buenísimo, y aunque no todos los cuentos son igual de buenos, cada uno tiene su razón de ser. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

En general La Biblioteca de Hogwarts es imperdible para cualquier fan de Harry Potter 🧙🏽‍♂️
Profile Image for Casey Morrison.
300 reviews1 follower
June 5, 2022
Fun edition, and additions to this collection! Tiding me over til my next Hp book hold becomes available lol
Profile Image for Jerby  Verderosa.
71 reviews
May 26, 2019
Ah ... this collection is such a casual reread for me that I actually forgot that I needed to write a review!

It’s Harry Potter, so of course, it’s five stars from me. Not biased at all. I swear.

I love rereading this collection when I’m in the mood to dip back into one of my prime obsessions, but I don’t have the time to commit to rereading the seven books. As I said in a previous review, one of the reasons why I love the HP series so much is how incredibly detailed and multifaceted its universe is. The fact that Jo Rowling can quite literally sit down and write a textbook, a library book, and a fairytale collection from this world — (which goes over such minute details as when wizards decided to put ‘cushioning charms’ on broomsticks to make them more comfortable) — is a testimony to how strong her worldbuilding is.

Out of the three (Fantastic Beasts, Quidditch Through the Ages, and Beedle the Bard), my favorite would be the fairytales. Possibly this is because it has the most straightforward narrative — it’s a series of short stories, rather than an ‘informational’ piece — but I also think it’s because the fairytales reflect what I find most interesting about the wizarding world: its customs and prejudice. Dumbledore’s commentary on how wizards received and changed these tales to ‘hide’ opinions about Muggles (non-magic people) etc. is fascinating to me.

I studied and wrote about real fairytales pretty extensively in college, and I’ve always been interested in how they reflect (and shape, in all honesty) the way that a culture thinks. Rowling does this so well here.

Next, I probably most enjoy Quidditch Through the Ages. Given that I’m not a sports fan, you would think this would be tedious to me — but, believe it or not, this book is actually funny. Wizards have a propensity for setting things on fire during games. That’s all I’m going to say.

Quidditch Through the Ages also gives, out of the three, the most extensive description of wizarding cultures outside of the UK. Very interesting to me.

Although I’m tagging Fantastic Beasts as my least favorite, I do enjoy it. The way the magical creatures interweave with mythologies and the original book series does make me smile. I might simply have read it too many times, or possibly because I’ve been exposed to so many magical creatures via the new movies, I found myself pushing through this one a little bit. My favorite part, however, was Rowling’s new inclusion of North American creatures: any reference to the American school of magic is addictive to me. Like I said, I’m a nerd.

This is the sort of collection that you want to read after you’ve read the Harry Potter series. Reading it beforehand, you will find that it’s just a collection of seemingly random information — after HP, you appreciate how it deepens, widens, and enriches the global wizarding world in Rowling’s series.

Overall, a wonderful, quick, and well-written read!
Profile Image for Julie.
517 reviews1 follower
February 9, 2021
For Harry Potter fans these books provide some interesting new material - stories, reference information and so on.
Profile Image for Alexia ✨.
409 reviews38 followers
December 25, 2017
My boyfriend gifted me this edition on Yule 2017 and I loved it! I was a bit disappointed because the Fantastic Beasts book does not include Harry and Ron's notes but besides that the set is fantastic and really well made :)
Profile Image for Sophie Hudson.
64 reviews3 followers
July 1, 2023
*Audiobook*

Absolute nostalgia. Loved loved loved this. Read by the actors in the HP films. Recommended for all HP fans.
Profile Image for Sandra Vel.
324 reviews
February 14, 2021
It was a nice surprise to find these three books newly reedited and fully illustrated for this beautiful collection and boxed set.
It includes three essential books from the Hogwarts Library, consulted by generations of students at Hogwarts: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. I enjoyed the three of them. These are books that I wouldn't have bought separately but that I love to have in this special set.
I loved this edition fully illustrated by different artists. The collection is really beautiful and it makes a special gift for Harry Potter fans of all ages.
All the benefits are in aid of Comic Relief and Lumos, which help children in need.
I have made a full review of each of the books in each of their Goodreads pages.
Profile Image for Grace.
3,314 reviews215 followers
July 19, 2014
I've never read any of these three books before, and this set was perfect. The books are very elegant and sturdy and look lovely next to my HP books!

Super quick reads and a lot of fun to round out the HP world even more.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them: Probably my favorite. So cool to read about all the magical creatures!

Quidditch Through the Ages: I was worried that this might be a bit boring, but I really enjoyed it. Interested to see how the game evolved and read about it's influences outside of English.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard: Probably my least favorite of the three, but still really enjoyable. I especially liked Dumbledore's notes after the stories.
Profile Image for Amy.
1,237 reviews75 followers
August 20, 2015
I've been wanting to re-read the Harry Potter series but my books are buried by my TBR piles. This was a nice little fix to tide me over. The Quiddich book was a bit "Meh" but I really enjoyed the other two books. I'd been curious about the animal book as they are now filming the prequel movie. I also have a different, limited edition of Beedle and Bard but had not read it until now. Enjoyable reads, even the footnotes are fun.
Profile Image for Tori.
374 reviews13 followers
March 22, 2017
Absolutely gorgeous editions (the end papers!!!!). Definitely a must for any Harry Potter fan.

Fantastic Beasts: Love all the descriptions and additions. Super cute illustration here and there.

Quidditch: I'll never give a fuck about any real sport, but I am a diehard Quidditch fan~ like the humor here too!

Tales: These are all so charming! And the Dumbledore commentary totally made me lose my rag and blub. Bless him.
Profile Image for Ashlee Nelson.
119 reviews
November 26, 2013
Love it! Absolutely perfect trio of books!
Easy read and also a fun read. Descriptions of the invention of Quidditch and also descriptions of the fantastic beasts that were introduced in the Harry Potter series.
Profile Image for Sammm.
877 reviews116 followers
eventually-to-read
March 19, 2017
No, not the original editions, but to me they are pretty enough to be worth it. So sue me. xP
Profile Image for Karina.
262 reviews1 follower
October 3, 2023
"Phantastische Tierwesen und wo sie zu finden sind"
Es war wirklich schön mal eine Übersicht über die Tierwesen in Harry Potter Universum zu haben. Einige der Tierwesen kennt man bereits aus den Bücher und Filmen. Andere Wiederum waren mir ganz neu. Schade fand ich es, dass das Buch nur wenig Illustrationen hatte. Ich hätte gerne ein Bild zu den etwas ausgefallener Tierwesen gesehen. Dies scheint man wohl aber erst mit der Schmuckausgabe zu bekommen. Dieses Buch kann man zum Start der Reihe lesen, zwischendurch oder wenn man sich mit den passenden Filmen beschäftigt. 3,5/5 Sternen

"Quidditch im Wandel der Zeit"
Die Entwicklung von Quidditch war mir trotz Filme und Bücher noch unbekannt. Das Buch nimmt sich und seine "historischen" Persönlichkeiten allerdings gern aufs Korn, was ich äußerst unterhaltsam fand. Die Bilder zwischendurch lockern das ganze noch einmal etwas auf. Dieses Buch sollte man am besten vor "Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch lesen", dann macht die Quidditch Weltmeisterschaft gleich noch mehr Spaß, da man so viel Hintergrundwissen hat. 5/5 Sterne

"Die Märchen von Beedle dem Barden"
In dem Buch "Harry Potter und die Heiligtümer des Todes" wird oft auf Märchen angespielt, die in der Zaubererwelt weit verbreitet sind. In diesem Buch lernen wir sie nun auch kennen. Es gibt immer wieder tolle Illustrationen, die die Geschichte auch visuell bereichern. Besonders gefallen hat mir das Nachwort von Dumbledore nach jeder Geschichte. Diese lieferten weitere Erläuterungen oder Ansichten aus der Zaubererwelt. Ich empfehle dieses Buch vor Band sieben zu lesen, damit man die Anspielungen besser versteht. Natürlich eignen sich die kurzen Märchen auch einfach für zwischendurch. 4/5 Sternen
Profile Image for Ben.
2,737 reviews233 followers
February 23, 2023
So Imaginative

This box set is a must-read for any Harry Potter fan who is interested in delving deeper into the wizarding world. Each book is a treasure trove of magical knowledge and lore, and J.K. "Juggling Knives" Rowling's writing is as captivating as ever.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" is a fascinating collection of fairy tales and legends that have been passed down through the wizarding world.
"Quidditch Through the Ages" provides an in-depth history of the beloved wizarding sport, and
"Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" is an encyclopedia of magical creatures that will leave you wanting to learn more.

Overall, this box set is a fun and engaging addition to the Harry Potter universe, and I highly recommend it to fans of all ages.

I had already read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, but it was still great to reiterate as it was included in this collection.

3.9/5
Profile Image for Krieshiv.
4 reviews1 follower
July 12, 2020
AMAZING... There are three books in the series. The first one is 'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' which is basically the myths and legends of the Wizarding World. The second and my personal favourite is 'Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them' which teaches you all about the creatures of the Wizarding World (Nifflers Fan!!!). The last and most informative is ' Quidditch through the Ages'. It teaches you all about the most famous and exhilarating sport of the Wizarding World, Quidditch.

P.S: If you want you can buy the books separately you can.
Profile Image for Nina.
669 reviews17 followers
August 18, 2018
I simply cannot get enough of J.K. Rowling’s writings. Sadly I think I have now exhausted every resource related to the magical world, but fortunately the release of the screenplay for FBAWTFT2 (and the film itself) is only three months away! And in one month, we get CS4 Lethal White. It is going to be a magical autumn!
Profile Image for Tom Moons.
379 reviews
October 31, 2020
Geweldige bundel met de schoolboeken van Harry Potter waarbij een deel van de opbrengsten ook nog eens naar goede doelen gaan. De notities die de personages in de boeken hebben geschreven zijn een leuke verwijzing naar de originele boeken en zorgen voor de nodige luchtigheid.
Profile Image for Денис Агафонов.
129 reviews2 followers
November 6, 2020
Весь этот фан-сервис вокруг саги о Поттере малоинтересен. И, несмотря на заявление Роулинг, что написание книг, которые читают ученики Хогвартса, давно входило в ее планы, выглядят они как написанные на скорую руку. Заманчивое название, красивые картинки... сырой короткий текст, в котором предисловия занимают треть объема. И фанаты Гарри Поттера довольны.
Но т.к. большая часть выручки пошла на благотворительность, многое можно простить.
Profile Image for Brock Burnett.
221 reviews2 followers
September 17, 2018
Amazing - as I’ve come to expect from J.K. Rowling. Astounded at the depth and detail of magical history these three books give us.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 295 reviews

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