My quest for hardcover copies of the Harry Potter series has passed the halfway mark! I know! I know! This might be the biggest news item of the decade, if not the century. Or maybe not. At any rate, I’m ecstatic.
For those of you unfamiliar with my quest, here’s a quick overview:
Quest:
Purchase a complete set of Harry Potter books
Criteria:
- Hard cover in excellent condition
- Purchase in order of publication
- Purchase only from estate sales, garage sales, or secondhand stores
- Purchase only one book at a time
- One may not ask if the seller has any Harry Potter books (new rule; however, I’ve abided by it since the first find)
Purpose:
To replace a mismatched set of Harry Potter books that I donated to a school library several years ago
Justification:
I’m a crazy person with way too much time on my hands.
Current Status: I found book four at a garage sale in Tallahassee on the morning of October 12.
Fun Side Note:
I actually found two copies of book four (I don’t believe that’s a violation of the rules since both books were the same volume.)
Why Two Copies?
The woman selling the books said she’d had two sets of the Harry Potter series, and that one child had purchased one set of the books, but didn’t need book 4 because he already owned it.
As you can see from the photo, the two books are different sizes:
I couldn’t remember which size of books 1, 2, and 3, I’d purchased in my earlier adventures, but I knew those books were all the same size. Heck, I didn’t even know they were offered in two different hard cover sizes. The only way to be sure I’d keep my collection uniform was to purchase both books. Now I’ll donate the odd one. By the way, the one on the left is the keeper. I’m the seeker. Wink, wink.
Peace, people.