The Potions Book: Is Snape *really* the HBP?

[jjjjjuliep]

No: HPFGUIDX 133473

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, adesahafford at w... wrote:
> Or did JKR make a mistake? Snape claims, at the end, to be the 
> Prince, and yet...
> 
> "Ron fell asleep almost immediately, but Harry delved into his 
> trunk and pulled out his copy of Advanced Potion-Making before 
> getting into bed. There he turned its pages, searching, until he 
> 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)
> 
> Neither, I might add, was Snape. So, are we to assume as Harry did
> that the Prince must have been at Hogwarts *50 years ago*, based 
> on the *publication* date? Snape must have had a second-hand book 
> then, right? Certainly possible, given he was at the school on a
> need-based scholarship.
> 
> Or is this a mistake on JKR's part? You know her and "maths," as 
> she says.

I don't think it's in any way a mistake.  This is probably the most 
thoroughly edited, fact-checked, and proofread book in modern 
publishing history.  ;-)

The 50 year old publication is IMO one of the red herrings that JKR 
loves to throw at us.

jujube