HBP's Potions Book Copyright Date / The Potions Book: Is Snape *really* the HBP?

[Eileen Forster Keck]

No: HPFGUIDX 133142

adesa wrote: 
>> "Or did JKR make a mistake? Snape claims, at the end,
to be the Prince, and yet..." <<

No, I don't think so--

>> "...he[Harry finally found, at the front of the book, 
the date that it had been published. It was nearly 
fifty years old. Neither his father, not his father's 
friends, had been at Hogwarts fifty years ago...." 
(HBP, US, Ch. 16, p. 337) <<

No--but what about ***Eileen Prince***, Snape's
mother? 

After all, she was a former Hogwarts student. And from
the glimpses of Snape's childhood, his family wasn't
exactly rolling in Galleons. It would make perfect
sense for his mum to give him her used text books
(esp. if his father resented her powers, and from the
way she was apparently abused, that seems quite
possible).

>> "Snape must have had a second-hand book then, right?
Certainly possible, given he was at the school on a 
need-based scholarship." <<

Exactly, see my comments above (RE Snape's mum).

>> "Or is this a mistake on JKR's part? You know her 
and "maths,"..." <<

No, I think it was quite a calculated clue (or clew!)
on her part.

-Eileen