April 8, 2025 • 39 mins
Thanks for listening to Season 5, Episode 12 of Dialogue Alley! In this episode, Erik and Carly talk about:
News:
Translation of the Show: The box!
Dialogue Alley is the official podcast of The Potter Collector
Carly @alltheprettybooks on Instagram
Erik @knockturnerik on Instagram
Melanie @theharrypottercollection on Instagram
Peter @ThePotterCollector on Instagram
Thanks to our Editor: Tommy
Images of books that are discussed on this episode will be available on Instagram @dialogueallypodcast, as well as DialogueAlley.com and alltheprettybooks.net
For more content from The Potter Collector, visit Peter's Website
Dialogue Alley trusts The Harry Potter Specialist to authenticate signed Harry Potter books.
JOIN US ON PATREON!! You can get access to our Discord, ad-free episodes, and our BONUS EPISODES! patreon.com/dialoguealley
Send Questions and Listener Mail to: Dialoguealleypodcast@gmail.com
Visit our site dialoguealley.com We would love to hear from you!
Music:The Magic Shoes
News:
- New Czech books!
- Casting Updates for HBO Show.
Translation of the Show: The box!
Dialogue Alley is the official podcast of The Potter Collector
Carly @alltheprettybooks on Instagram
Erik @knockturnerik on Instagram
Melanie @theharrypottercollection on Instagram
Peter @ThePotterCollector on Instagram
Thanks to our Editor: Tommy
Images of books that are discussed on this episode will be available on Instagram @dialogueallypodcast, as well as DialogueAlley.com and alltheprettybooks.net
For more content from The Potter Collector, visit Peter's Website
Dialogue Alley trusts The Harry Potter Specialist to authenticate signed Harry Potter books.
JOIN US ON PATREON!! You can get access to our Discord, ad-free episodes, and our BONUS EPISODES! patreon.com/dialoguealley
Send Questions and Listener Mail to: Dialoguealleypodcast@gmail.com
Visit our site dialoguealley.com We would love to hear from you!
Music:The Magic Shoes
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Three up to across, tap that play button three times,
and walk through the archway into Dialogue ALI. Hello, and
(00:22):
welcome to Dialogue ALI, the Official Potter Collector podcast about
Harry Potter books, book translations, and all other things magical.
I'm Eric, I'm Carly, and the two of us are
here to talk about Harry Potter books because we are
book translation collectors, which means we collect Harry Potter books
from all over the world.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, and you may have noticed it's just Carly and I.
It's spring break time here in the United States, so
lots of people have vacations. I was out of the
country last week, but I'm back now and Melanie is
not home and Peter is not home. So Arlie and
are the only ones home this week, which is fine
because we are continuing a little mini series. And to
(01:08):
continue the mini series, it's just a mini cast of
just you and you and you and me.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yep, but we're delightful, so it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It'll be fine. So we are talking today on episode
twelve from season five about mini box sets. Again. We
started this, I don't know, not too long ago, but
it's just fun. It's about different Harry Potter box sets
that aren't the full set one through seven, and we've
covered a couple of great ones, the Magical Adventure Begins
(01:41):
box set, We covered that German Green box set. Any
other ones.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yet, I think we've done more than that. They are
we can't think of one right now, I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Know anyway, But today we're covering.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
We've had a lot of box sets, just not in
our little mini series that we have the Magic in
a Box series a few seasons ago.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That way, Well, yeah, that's the big ones. This is
just the mini ones. Today. I think we're actually talking
about the very first Harry Potter box that ever put
out to our knowledge, or if not the first one,
one of the first ones. And we'll get to that
in our main segment. But before we do that, we
have some news actually which is pretty exciting, so let's
(02:24):
talk about that, all right. So we have a few
(02:48):
news items of First off, there is new artwork coming
out for the check books from check Ya or Czech
Republic as it was formerly known, and they look awesome.
They're unique to to that language, which is what we
always love to see. There's a new art and it's
it's unique to a certain country or language. So that's
(03:09):
it's really exciting, and I I really personally I like it.
I think it looks cool.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I'm not like I'm super stalked about it, but I'm
really excited. I hope it's the same size as the
other checkbooks, if I'm being honest, because they're wonderfully precious
and small. Like they they're just my favorite idea of
a book, if that makes sense. I love everything about
the checkbooks.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Oh absolutely. I think I like the art more than
I like the newest Italian art which was kind of controversial,
was that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The architecture art.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, I I like that. It's not amazing, it's I
don't dislike it, but it's like, hey, that's pretty cool. Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I love the architecture art, but I don't like I
don't like it in photos because it does not photograph
well in my opinion. In person, I love it because
the boards are so elegant and the lines are so
wonderfully straight, and it goes so well with the in
person feel of the book. I don't care for it
(04:17):
in pictures though. It just they don't do it justice. No,
I agree, but the check book looks fabulous in photos.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
It does well in the new check art the much
like the Italian, which is why I was thinking about this.
The font for everything has changed just a little bit.
It's not the iconic Harry Potter No Movie font with
the lightning bolts, so it's got a new Harry Potter font.
The books are are pretty colorful, which I like. And
I don't know, it's it's like this nice mix of
(04:47):
like whimsy and realism but not necessarily like super comic bookie,
you know what I mean. Like it's no, like nice
balance of of like cartoonish but also really so I
don't know if that does a good job describing what
it looks like. But I really I am looking forward
to this a lot, and I think they're cool. I'm
(05:07):
not again super jazzed, but I'm I'm pretty excited for these.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I want to say the artist is Alana Polanski, who's
a half of like illustrator duo, and I want to
say they're from that same country, so I love that
they're using local illustrators.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh. Absolutely, that makes it even more special. Honestly. Yeah,
so's that's the news that I'm most excited about this week.
But we have a couple other items Carly, what was
the other.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
We have? More news is the Harry Potter Chicago opens
April tenth, and I'm really excited about that. I'm super
jazzed about that. I have even more reasons to go
to Chicago now because I've not been to the New
York one yet, and I should. My sister lives there,
so I mean, I have reasons to go to both
cities the side of Harry Potter stores. So I'll just
(06:01):
have to go to both and see which one I prefer.
I guess. Then, apparently I didn't know there was an
NBA or that the NBA had a Wizard Night.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
They do.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The Wizards are hosting Harry Potter Night tonight. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh in Washington. Yeah, Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
There is I guess an NBA player in a ravenclaw
robe on the on the thing. But anyway, it's at
the Capitol Lane Arena. It transforms into Hogwarts. Is the
Wizard's host Harry Potter Night on Thursday? So tonight, April third, Uh,
the first five thousand fans in attendance will receive a
(06:46):
Wizard's Brandon Harry Potter scarf. How what is that?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
That reminds me of the Harry Potter Yankees game that
Melanie and her husband went to to get the hufflepuff here.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I think that's I did know that was a thing,
but I do like basketball independently of that. But I
haven't been following this season just because I've been busy
with other things. But I love watching the two things
come together, you know. So I don't know if that
was like if they did that last season, but I
hope they continue. I would actually like to go in person,
that'd be fine. And then looks like the Harry Potter
(07:22):
Forbidden Forest Experience is to open in Brisbane, so I
think that he.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Went to that in New York or somewhere ye New England,
all right, well if you live in Brisbane.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, I think that's really cool to see places though,
kind of making it accessible to the world over instead
of like you have to be in New York only,
you have to go to Orlando only. This keeps it
to where or London only like you can aren't. And
now we have the WB Tour in Tokyo. I think
there's one opening up in China if I remember properly,
(07:58):
like there's and then Mina Lima also has the Brazil
location I think is opening up like soon. So I
mean I love that people world over are getting to
be or have access to these things, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, well it just makes it more accessible.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And it absolutely does.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
How can you argue that's important? More accessible and then
people to go see what they.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Love exactly, and it makes you can go try the
butter beard. You know, you can try the snacks and
you can you can buy them the T shirts and
stuff of Hey, grab me a T shirt when you're
in Orlando, Like you can actually go pick out the
one when you want in the size you like. Moving
on to more fun news, The HBO series has more cast.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
That's good because they need people to play those parts.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I know we need people.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I'm themselves no, but we knew.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
About John lithgow as albis Severus snape is apparently Papa
used to do, which we've already talked about. But Nerva
mcgnea goal is Janet McTeer, who I don't I don't
recognize the name Rubyus Hagward.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
For a new They're going a different direction.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
There's way too many words mixed mixing in my head.
Rubius Agrid is Nick Frost or Nick Frost is Ruby's Hagrid,
I should say, so that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I'm not familiar with all those guys, but I'm excited.
I know John.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Liked the parts don't play themselves. I'm glad they have
people do it. But I'm not.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Saying and I'm liking. I'm liking seeing the new names honestly,
So yeah, yeah, so I'm excited. I'm excited. So I'm
just kind of following along and seeing where we go
from here. I have no complaints.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Actually, on my flight out of the country last week,
I watched the movie Conclave, which was nominated for Best Picture,
and John Lithgow is in that one as a and
as a bishop, and I'm like, oh, you're going to
be Elvis double Doore in the next Harry Potter series.
He's great.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's kind of cool. Yeah, he is. He's very versatile.
So I'm excited. I'm very excited. I think that's the news.
I remember I did order the Polish twenty fifth anniversary
book that's coming to me soon, so that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's exciting. It's always nice to get books we collect,
I know, even.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Though it looks like, you know, the US. We're not
sure what this is book, the apology book, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
The US apology book. We do have one more bit
of news. There is a new Basque or Bosque.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Oh that's right, that's I'm really excited about that. I'm
excited to see the revisions being carried out.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, well, like, why started if you're not going to finish?
So many publishers, I know that's happened more times than
we can care to think about. But so it's nice
that they're they're almost there, like nothing's a sure bet.
Were like, hey, men, illustrated books. Oh never mind, they're done.
(11:13):
Jim Ka is going to take seven. Oh never mind,
Jim Ky stopped after book five. I remember when.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I had you on my when we recorded the Jim
K like flip through on my channel.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
We were so excited.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, we were so excited. We didn't know that book
five would be the last one at least his art.
But you know, Levi Pinfold is great. I really do
enjoy him. I've looked at his portfolio quite a bit
more since he's been announced as taking over for the
sixth book, and I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Well, and especially when Jim K said I'm so glad
that he's doing this book. Yeah, like, what more do
you need besides that? Really?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Exactly, Jim, Yeah, I feel like everything's as it should
be now, so I'm I'm okay. My Little Collector Heart's good.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Perfect.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
But speaking of perfect things in Little Collector Hearts, we
should get into the main segment. Bad segue, but I tried.
(12:36):
But like Eric said, we are continuing with our mini
box set series that we started when it's just US
two and we're talking about the very first box set
that was produced by Bloomsberry, and I think it was
the very first box set. I don't think Scholastic had
(12:57):
made one yet.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I don't think so well, and if they did, it
would have been I think after this one.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It would have had to have been after this one,
because this one came out in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
It is just the first two yeah, first two books
in a box I know.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
See this should have been the Magical Adventure Begins.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Well, no, we talked about how the plot of the
first thing together.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I really I'm just saying this. That's there's truth behind
that too. But this is the very first box set
and there are actually two variants and Like I said,
it came out in nineteen ninety eight, so very early,
and the whole Harry Potter publishing thing, I mean, Scholastic
was just getting onto doing a Sorcerer's Stone to put
(13:47):
things into time. Translations were just starting to become a thing,
and so the Scholastic made, not Scholastic, Bloomsberry made this
box set. And it's important to re say that Bloomsbury
is the first publisher of the Harry Potter books, not
Ted Smart Ted Smarts are a different publisher, and it
(14:08):
matters because of value.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I'm but yeah, making I'm making a strong guest here
that this box set was conceived under the impression that
Askaban Prison of Askan is coming out ninety nine, and
they're like, oh, hey, if you haven't read the first
two Shabam you can get them together. Here you a
box set here.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So and it really is.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's what I think this came from, especially because there
was so much hype around this if you hadn't read.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It, Like, the box itself is really nicely made. Like
I'm looking at the Johnny Doddle box set that I
have from twenty fourteen, the signature edition set that I
have the soft cover one, and those aren't like the
sides have split. The Johnny Donnell one especially just didn't
wear well. And I'm not hard on my books, and
(15:02):
these two are stout, both of them. Because there's two
variants of the first box set, and we'll get into
that in a little bit, but both of my boxes
are wonderful like and it retailed for let's see, twenty
one pound ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
It seems like a fair price to read the first
two Harry Potter books.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
For these two, now, I don't even know. I tried
to see if they were written it for sale on eBay,
just to kind of get a value, because I honestly
haven't paid attention in a while to what these retail for.
And it's called the Harry Potter Gift Set by Bloomsberry.
Is what's on the spine. But I looked and all
(15:46):
that started was a ridiculously priced deluxe US edition of
Deathly Hallows for twenty thousand dollars because of the page
seven to fifty nine error. It's also sealed, so you
know that's cool. And then it's there's a hardcover ted
smart box set for six thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I pass on that one.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I'm going to pass on the Ted smart I don't
know about you.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
That hard pass for me.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
That's a hard pass.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Hard talk about this this set, like what's what's it
look like for people that are listening?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
So I don't even know. There's two variants, Like I said,
I don't know which I just unboxed one. I don't
know which one I unboxed.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
But.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It's early enough that we have the you know, Thomas
Taylor's the Young Wizard is now what he's called, and
so Young Wizard is definitely, oh, this is my sign set.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
See Oh well, how about that? Surprised?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Both books are both of these were signed in ninety eight,
so that's really cool. This is the one that I
really want to get put back up in the cupboard shortly.
But the two variants, like I keep going back to,
their first variant is Philosopher's Stone is a fourth print,
(17:12):
and yeah, fourth print, and then Chamber is a seventh print. Sorry,
I'm rearranging things. And then the other variant is a
fifth print Philosopher's Stone and then a tenth print Chamber.
(17:34):
And I used to think that the fifth print tenth
print was more rare than the four and seven, because
I was seeing at the time a lot of box
sets where there were the four and seven variant. But
I really don't know now because I haven't seen many.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well. And the boxes are identical, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yeah, boxes stones, as far as I'm aware, I well
check that the same price.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
The boxes are just really nice. They have the art
for Philosopher's Stone on one side and then the art
for Chamber of Secrets on on the other side. But
they do have the the like the top part on
the book, you know, like the bloom Stray books all
have these big bold colors.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
It's magic is what it says on but the.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Actual book is red with yellow lettering on top of it.
And then the cover of the box set is kind
of this like indigo color. It's the same art as
on the books, it just has a different background color there.
And then the yeah said at the top of the
box says it's magic on it, and then the I
guess would you call it the spine of the box
(18:42):
the reverse.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Shine of the box? Mine says the Harry Potter gift set.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It's the Harry Potter gift set.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I know. It's very formal in that.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
So this is one of those sets where if you
see one that is for sale and it is sealed,
there's almost.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Gosh, I don't know that I've ever seen a sealed one.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I know, but I'm saying, there's no way to know
if you have, like which variant you have unless it's unsealed.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So right, But at the same time, like you know
you're going to be getting either a fourth or a
fifth print Philosopher Stone, which is rare and has value
in its own right, So.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right, exactly, But it's it's kind of but.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
It's fun to have both, like and that's why I
kept both.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Is it's the weird collector conundrum of if you happen
across this box set and it's sealed and you buy it,
you have to make the decision do I open it?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh I would?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I mean I would, I would hands down? Or like
do you leave it sealed? And you're like, well, never know,
Like it's they're in there, but I don't know which
ones they are, which is it's kind of cool that
there's still that like you know, a little bit of mystery,
like which one is it? I don't know, but I
have to open it to find out. It's like getting
a pack of Pokemon cards exactly find out what's inside.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Otherwise, how do you know if you've collected them? All right?
You don't, I know, but yeah, it's delightful. I'm trying
to remember. I got my four I got my signed
for an or four to seven set I think in
twenty sixteen or seventeen from Peter, and it was now
(20:28):
in today's market, it was a ridiculous good price.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
I don't know. This is a set where I don't
own it, and I never planned to, because the books
themselves that are in the set, especially the Philosopher's Stones,
are both early enough printings for those books on their
own sell for a pretty pretty good amount, not again
like life changing money, but you know, in the hundreds
(20:53):
of dollars, if not maybe a mint condition. The four printing.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Over I don't know because I haven't looked. I haven't
looked for because I have, I haven't paid attention to
those since I have them. I don't know the fourth
and fifth printing market very well. If I'm being very
honest right now, I.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Think in a good in good condition you could get
at least one hundred dollars for us.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
But that's just a fourth printing. I'm much higher.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying, at least one hundred dollars,
I said, hundreds of domes. I don't know what you
were thinking. Okay, I heard one hundred thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
No, no, no, no, I said, like more than I
didn't hear the z oh. Okay, yes, I heard like
the solid one hundred, and it was like no.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I know. That's why I'm saying. These books themselves are
are like priced at a point where to set you're guaranteed,
like you said, either a fourth or fifth printing. So
there's that unless someone has swapped the books out. But
that my point being, you can get these books without
(21:57):
getting the box set. It's not like these books are
unique to the box set, like the Magical Adventure Begins,
where those books don't just roam around free on the shelf.
You have to buy them in the set, or like
the Green German books, those have to come in the set.
These are literally just two printings of a book that
was already on the shelf and they grabbed them and
(22:19):
stuffed them in a box and said here.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
They just made a box set for it.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You can buy them together. So they weren't printing books
specifically for this box set. They were just taking books
they were already printing, and smushing them together and put
them in a box.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
If it seems like I remember there were two variants
of jacket as well for the Philosopher's Stone, but I
could be wrong, because I haven't had one in a
while where one did not have a price on the
inside flap. And it seems like I remember seeing that
(22:53):
at some point on either a fourth or a fifth
print that I have sold ten years ago.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I'm sure, Oh well, that would be interesting.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, because it wasn't in that one wasn't in a
box set, and the two that I have here, both
philosophers Stones have prices on their jackets.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Whoop.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I mean, it's possible. There's so many things that were
going on when these were just becoming to be big,
And you have to remember Bloomsberry at the time was
still kind of a small operation. They weren't nearly what
they are now as far as even just manpower, So
I'm sure lots of things were Records weren't super well kept,
(23:38):
and and I'm sure lots of other things occurred. They
were just trying to get books on shelves and books
to customers because the demand was so high. Yeah, I
would love to know how many of the box sets
were made, because I just I really don't know. I
have tried to see if there was any information. I
don't remember seeing any in the Errington book. I don't
(24:00):
think it would have covered anything like that. We just know,
like I think prints of certain things. Yeah, Adam may know.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Adam might know. We're playing on having him on very soon.
Our schedules just start lining up with all of.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Our Yeah, spring is hard. Spring is such a hard
time because everyone gets super busy coming out of like
winter hibernation.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Basically, yes, yep, But do you do you have anything
else on this? That's the box set.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
It's a really cool one. If you're wanting to collect
rare books. I think it's definitely one to have on
your radar for I would say it belongs more in
a see it by it thing if you're trying to
get a deal and you see one for I don't know,
five hundred dollars or so, which I would think is
ridiculously low for this. At this point, I don't know
(24:50):
what they're selling for. Like I said, I tried to look,
and I couldn't find any on eBay US. I didn't
look at any other eBay sites, but eBay us I
couldn't find any. I haven't checked.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
But if you see one, like physically in a bookstore
or someone selling it and it's it's opened, like double
check that the printings of those books match the printings
that are supposed to be in that set, because it yeah,
you know, like I said, the books aren't specifically made
for this set, So like I could take any two
of my first two bloom story books and stick them
(25:21):
in and they'd fit in the box and look fine,
but you would notice it.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And I have seen those thoughts a.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Brown Beard Wizard and you know those those obviously, but
you'd still have to be certain that these are the
ones that were supposed to come in the box. If
that matters, if you just care about getting the box,
which still has some merit, Like I've.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Seen people selling the box independently at times. It's been
a while, and I've seen one of these boxes with
like much later print chamber, much much later print stone,
and they were still trying to get way too much
money for it. So again, if you're wanting to buy it.
It either needs to be a fourth and seventh like
fourth Philosopher's Stone seventh Print Chamber of Secrets or fifth
(26:04):
print Philosopher's Stone tenth Print Chamber of Secrets. Those are
the only two variants I'm aware of, and I think
those are the only two ones that made it into
the box set, So if you're wanting to buy that,
it needs to be one of those.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yep yep, yep yep. Well, and so for the translation
of the show, we're gonna do something kind of a
little different, but I think it's gonna be kind of fun.
So we'll come back and get going with that, all right.
(27:08):
For the translation of the show, we're gonna use the
box of the box set.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Oh, I know, we've never done that.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I know, not even the books, just like just like
the box itself.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But I think that's important because, like I said, this
box is held up when my other UK like Bloomsberry
boxes have not, I know.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Well, and especially gosh, those German books. When we talked
about the Green German box set, like it's such a
cool set, but boy, it's just.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
It's because even the German soft covers, wait a lot,
they do.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Weigh up so I don't know if all of the uh,
the categories of the tots scale will apply here, but
Carly's gonna do her best.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
We can see, so we can see how it goes.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I don't know if we've smelled the box before, but
Carl's gonna smell the in side of the box.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
I've never smelled the inside of a box before. It does.
It smells like the bad end of a shoe, being honest,
But you know, the books inside of it don't, so
I think it's probably just the glue that it was
constructed with. It doesn't have that delightful bookstoes smell. It
(28:26):
just smells like you know when you walk into like
a leather's door and it smells so good, and then
after a while you're like, it doesn't smell so good anymore.
You're like on the other end of the smell. We're
on the other end of that.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Oh okay, I know, I can totally understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, I'm actually gonna smell the other one now to
see if I mean, they've been with me long enough
that they should. No, it's the same son. At least
we know there's continuity across.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Well, there you go, I think a category that might
fare better for it. What are you going to give it?
What did you give it?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Probably poor? I'm not troll. Is just for very few things.
That's like mainly a Bengali rating in my mind.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, poor is fair, I think.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, I think poor is a great rating for the smell,
it is not delightful.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I think something that will fare better for it is
the size and proportions of the box itself.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I think the size and proportions of the box are great.
And what's entertaining is it's actually thinner than some of
the translations that I have for Book five.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, because it's literally it's only the first two books.
Is fit the first two books in it? It's a
small box.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
It's smaller than the Delexe edition US as well, like
with wise, so I mean it should be it's only
the first two books. That just makes me chuckle. How
far we've come. I'm going to say this is probably
exceeds expectations.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Oh okay, but what about how the box feels in
your hands?
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Oh? I actually really do like that. One of the
reasons I like this box set is it has cutouts
on the sides so you can pull the books out
without having to like wedge your fingers in and podcast
hurt the jackets and looking at like my Johnny Douddle
set and it's just a straight line instead of having
the like the finger cutouts. And if I want to, yeah,
(30:37):
if I want to get the books out of the
Johnny Douddle set, I have to lay it flat down
and pull the box up because they're just so shoehorned
in there.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah. I just looked at the smallest box that I
have is three books.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's the classic put Us one.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And that does have the cutouts as well, and that
really does make a big difference. Someone was asked me
to pull out one of my the.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
US ones have the cutouts. Even the things that seven
does they do.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Even even the Brian Selznick has the cutouts.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
It does.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And someone asked me or I don't know who it was,
but I was showing somebody the signed and a little
sketch from my slow box set that the artist drew
in there, and just trying to get one of those
books out. You have to like like kind of bend,
not bend the box, but like stretch it just a
(31:35):
little bit to get your fingers into it to get.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
It out, and you have to take it and like
turn it over and pick it.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Out, turn and dump. Yeah, which is fine, And I
don't like to do that. No, And so those those
box sets, I feel like when you take things in
and out multiple times, the box is naturally going to
just start to show a little wear or the spines
of the books.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, So I like.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
The cutout, So I applaud the cutouts being here. It
makes it easier to upreak. I would say, I don't know,
pretty outstanding.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Hey, you can't beat that. What about the quality you
already mentioned. It's better than a lot of the boxes.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
We have, And it could be because one there's only
two books in here, like we've said, so there's not
the weight that we see in the one through seven sets.
But even my one through seven, the Johnny Dotdele set
that I keep looking at is a soft cover, so
I mean it's not super weighty there either. It's the
Bloomsberry soft covers aren't super weighty, and it still has
(32:38):
busted the seams of that set, which is really frustrating.
But the seams are all intact on both both of
my boxes. There's not and the papers nicely glued down
like they it feels like they actually took their time,
but I mean less we're made, so production was smaller,
less airs, you know, you know how it goes. Yeah,
(33:01):
I would say both are outstanding.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Construction.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I can get behind that they used to get quality
boored like and the paper it's still nice and shiny,
like it's really nice.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, then what would you give the interpretation of the
cover art? I mean, it's almost identical to the books themselves.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
So it is, but I really I like so Philosopher's
Stone is pretty much I mean the same, it's the green,
but the blue carries over to the philosophy or not
Chamber of Secrets as what Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
It's like the secrets. Yeah I didn't put that together,
but yeah, it's the same kind of bluish to the the.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Same blue instead of the red on the Philosopher's Stone.
And I actually really like that. But I prefer blue
colors over red colors anyway, So I love this, And
of course we have the Thomas Taylor art underneath the
blue for Philosopher's Stone, but I actually really like that.
(34:07):
I prefer this instead of the actual book cover. So
I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Say outstanding, awesome, any X factor.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, I would say that they made one.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Honestly, I would say that if I had to pick one,
like who makes a box set for two books and
a seven books?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Especially when they I know that they were trying to
drum up hype and to get more books into people's hands,
you know, selling the two together makes it easy. They
called it a gift set, so I'm curious if it
was like marketed around Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I don't know enough about that set. I need to
do more research on it. I look to see if
I had that on my any more history on it
on my website, and it pretty much just says what
we talked about, not anything about print run because I
don't really know. I am so yeah. Still lot's to
learn about this little box, and as I keep learning,
(35:03):
I'll keep updating the website. I don't know where else
to put it. But it's really cool. It's really cool if,
like I said, if you're really wanting to go the
rare book BND even unsigned, it's a really fun little
box set to have.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Nice. Well, I agree, I think it's a cool set. Again,
probably out of my price range at this point.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
But unless you find I mean, bargains are around, you
just have to really know what you're looking for. And
as more people are becoming educated on Harry Potter stuff
partially and thanks to all of the community's efforts, which
is good, it's harder to find deals sometimes, so you
just have to have a very sharp eagle eye. Yes,
(35:49):
And like I said, I have no clue what one
would sell for because I don't see one, even in
the souls on eBay in the last three months, so
I don't know. I will research that though, because I'm curious.
I haven't paid attention to that market specifically for unsigned
or signbox set to know the value of it currently.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
But you know what, I do know that that is
all the time we have for this episode of Dialogue
ALI Podcast, so we thank you so much for listening.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, you
can find our podcast on Instagram at Dialogue Alli Podcast.
Carly's on Instagram at All the Pretty Books I'm on
there at Nocturne, Eric, Melanie and Peter are on Instagram.
(36:53):
Also at the Harry Potter Collection and The Potter Collector.
Of course, there are some good websites to check out
Carly's website, All the Pretty Books dot net, Peter's website
of course, the Potter Collector dot com, and on our website,
Dialogue Ali dot com, we still have that interactive flowchart
to find out what your US book is and if
it's valuable. So many UK books. We're trying to figure
(37:17):
out the best way to go about adding UK books,
but it worked really well for the US one. I haven't.
I think we've ironed out most of the the kinks,
I suppose, but I think it works really well. So
go check that out if if you want to see
how it works. If you'd like to support us even
(37:38):
more so than what you're doing right now, because listening
to our podcast does support us, But if you'd like
to take it a step further, we are on Patreon,
So by going to patreon dot com slash Dialogue Ali
and for as little as three dollars a month, you
can get access to our discord, which is a great
community for book collectors to talk with each other. It's
again just a fantastic place to learn about Harry Potter
(38:02):
books and book collecting, or even just talk about Harry
Potter in general. And you know, some of our other
tiers do offer ad free episodes and bonuses like listening
in live to our recordings. Rock was on here tonight
and he actually let us know about the Bosque Appoint
Prince book that was just announced, So that's great, like
(38:23):
we're benefiting from the community while we're on air recording
the show. But also again, if you like what you hear,
please leave a review for us on whichever platform you're
listening to. It really does help our show get noticed
by other people that are looking for more Harry Potter
content to enjoy. So with all that being said, it
(38:45):
is now time to walk back through the archway and
into all of our daily lives and we'll catch you
next time. Bye bye,
Three up to across, tap that play button three times,
and walk through the archway into Dialogue ALI. Hello, and
(00:22):
welcome to Dialogue ALI, the Official Potter Collector podcast about
Harry Potter books, book translations, and all other things magical.
I'm Eric, I'm Carly, and the two of us are
here to talk about Harry Potter books because we are
book translation collectors, which means we collect Harry Potter books
from all over the world.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Yeah, and you may have noticed it's just Carly and I.
It's spring break time here in the United States, so
lots of people have vacations. I was out of the
country last week, but I'm back now and Melanie is
not home and Peter is not home. So Arlie and
are the only ones home this week, which is fine
because we are continuing a little mini series. And to
(01:08):
continue the mini series, it's just a mini cast of
just you and you and you and me.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Yep, but we're delightful, so it'll be fine.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
It'll be fine. So we are talking today on episode
twelve from season five about mini box sets. Again. We
started this, I don't know, not too long ago, but
it's just fun. It's about different Harry Potter box sets
that aren't the full set one through seven, and we've
covered a couple of great ones, the Magical Adventure Begins
(01:41):
box set, We covered that German Green box set. Any
other ones.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Yet, I think we've done more than that. They are
we can't think of one right now, I don't.
Speaker 1 (01:54):
Know anyway, But today we're covering.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
We've had a lot of box sets, just not in
our little mini series that we have the Magic in
a Box series a few seasons ago.
Speaker 1 (02:02):
That way, Well, yeah, that's the big ones. This is
just the mini ones. Today. I think we're actually talking
about the very first Harry Potter box that ever put
out to our knowledge, or if not the first one,
one of the first ones. And we'll get to that
in our main segment. But before we do that, we
have some news actually which is pretty exciting, so let's
(02:24):
talk about that, all right. So we have a few
(02:48):
news items of First off, there is new artwork coming
out for the check books from check Ya or Czech
Republic as it was formerly known, and they look awesome.
They're unique to to that language, which is what we
always love to see. There's a new art and it's
it's unique to a certain country or language. So that's
(03:09):
it's really exciting, and I I really personally I like it.
I think it looks cool.
Speaker 2 (03:15):
I'm not like I'm super stalked about it, but I'm
really excited. I hope it's the same size as the
other checkbooks, if I'm being honest, because they're wonderfully precious
and small. Like they they're just my favorite idea of
a book, if that makes sense. I love everything about
the checkbooks.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Oh absolutely. I think I like the art more than
I like the newest Italian art which was kind of controversial,
was that.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The architecture art.
Speaker 1 (03:48):
Yeah, I I like that. It's not amazing, it's I
don't dislike it, but it's like, hey, that's pretty cool. Oh.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
I love the architecture art, but I don't like I
don't like it in photos because it does not photograph
well in my opinion. In person, I love it because
the boards are so elegant and the lines are so
wonderfully straight, and it goes so well with the in
person feel of the book. I don't care for it
(04:17):
in pictures though. It just they don't do it justice. No,
I agree, but the check book looks fabulous in photos.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
It does well in the new check art the much
like the Italian, which is why I was thinking about this.
The font for everything has changed just a little bit.
It's not the iconic Harry Potter No Movie font with
the lightning bolts, so it's got a new Harry Potter font.
The books are are pretty colorful, which I like. And
I don't know, it's it's like this nice mix of
(04:47):
like whimsy and realism but not necessarily like super comic bookie,
you know what I mean. Like it's no, like nice
balance of of like cartoonish but also really so I
don't know if that does a good job describing what
it looks like. But I really I am looking forward
to this a lot, and I think they're cool. I'm
(05:07):
not again super jazzed, but I'm I'm pretty excited for these.
Speaker 2 (05:13):
I want to say the artist is Alana Polanski, who's
a half of like illustrator duo, and I want to
say they're from that same country, so I love that
they're using local illustrators.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
Oh. Absolutely, that makes it even more special. Honestly. Yeah,
so's that's the news that I'm most excited about this week.
But we have a couple other items Carly, what was
the other.
Speaker 2 (05:39):
We have? More news is the Harry Potter Chicago opens
April tenth, and I'm really excited about that. I'm super
jazzed about that. I have even more reasons to go
to Chicago now because I've not been to the New
York one yet, and I should. My sister lives there,
so I mean, I have reasons to go to both
cities the side of Harry Potter stores. So I'll just
(06:01):
have to go to both and see which one I prefer.
I guess. Then, apparently I didn't know there was an
NBA or that the NBA had a Wizard Night.
Speaker 1 (06:13):
They do.
Speaker 2 (06:14):
The Wizards are hosting Harry Potter Night tonight. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Oh in Washington. Yeah, Oh, that's funny.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
There is I guess an NBA player in a ravenclaw
robe on the on the thing. But anyway, it's at
the Capitol Lane Arena. It transforms into Hogwarts. Is the
Wizard's host Harry Potter Night on Thursday? So tonight, April third, Uh,
the first five thousand fans in attendance will receive a
(06:46):
Wizard's Brandon Harry Potter scarf. How what is that?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
That reminds me of the Harry Potter Yankees game that
Melanie and her husband went to to get the hufflepuff here.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I think that's I did know that was a thing,
but I do like basketball independently of that. But I
haven't been following this season just because I've been busy
with other things. But I love watching the two things
come together, you know. So I don't know if that
was like if they did that last season, but I
hope they continue. I would actually like to go in person,
that'd be fine. And then looks like the Harry Potter
(07:22):
Forbidden Forest Experience is to open in Brisbane, so I
think that he.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
Went to that in New York or somewhere ye New England,
all right, well if you live in Brisbane.
Speaker 2 (07:36):
Yeah, I think that's really cool to see places though,
kind of making it accessible to the world over instead
of like you have to be in New York only,
you have to go to Orlando only. This keeps it
to where or London only like you can aren't. And
now we have the WB Tour in Tokyo. I think
there's one opening up in China if I remember properly,
(07:58):
like there's and then Mina Lima also has the Brazil
location I think is opening up like soon. So I
mean I love that people world over are getting to
be or have access to these things, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 1 (08:13):
Yeah, well it just makes it more accessible.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
And it absolutely does.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
How can you argue that's important? More accessible and then
people to go see what they.
Speaker 2 (08:22):
Love exactly, and it makes you can go try the
butter beard. You know, you can try the snacks and
you can you can buy them the T shirts and
stuff of Hey, grab me a T shirt when you're
in Orlando, Like you can actually go pick out the
one when you want in the size you like. Moving
on to more fun news, The HBO series has more cast.
Speaker 1 (08:45):
That's good because they need people to play those parts.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
I know we need people.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
I'm themselves no, but we knew.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
About John lithgow as albis Severus snape is apparently Papa
used to do, which we've already talked about. But Nerva
mcgnea goal is Janet McTeer, who I don't I don't
recognize the name Rubyus Hagward.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
For a new They're going a different direction.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
There's way too many words mixed mixing in my head.
Rubius Agrid is Nick Frost or Nick Frost is Ruby's Hagrid,
I should say, so that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
I don't.
Speaker 2 (09:27):
I'm not familiar with all those guys, but I'm excited.
I know John.
Speaker 1 (09:30):
Liked the parts don't play themselves. I'm glad they have
people do it. But I'm not.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Saying and I'm liking. I'm liking seeing the new names honestly,
So yeah, yeah, so I'm excited. I'm excited. So I'm
just kind of following along and seeing where we go
from here. I have no complaints.
Speaker 1 (09:48):
Actually, on my flight out of the country last week,
I watched the movie Conclave, which was nominated for Best Picture,
and John Lithgow is in that one as a and
as a bishop, and I'm like, oh, you're going to
be Elvis double Doore in the next Harry Potter series.
He's great.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That's kind of cool. Yeah, he is. He's very versatile.
So I'm excited. I'm very excited. I think that's the news.
I remember I did order the Polish twenty fifth anniversary
book that's coming to me soon, so that's exciting.
Speaker 1 (10:24):
It's exciting. It's always nice to get books we collect,
I know, even.
Speaker 2 (10:27):
Though it looks like, you know, the US. We're not
sure what this is book, the apology book, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:35):
The US apology book. We do have one more bit
of news. There is a new Basque or Bosque.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Oh that's right, that's I'm really excited about that. I'm
excited to see the revisions being carried out.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
Yeah, well, like, why started if you're not going to finish?
So many publishers, I know that's happened more times than
we can care to think about. But so it's nice
that they're they're almost there, like nothing's a sure bet.
Were like, hey, men, illustrated books. Oh never mind, they're done.
(11:13):
Jim Ka is going to take seven. Oh never mind,
Jim Ky stopped after book five. I remember when.
Speaker 2 (11:22):
I had you on my when we recorded the Jim
K like flip through on my channel.
Speaker 1 (11:28):
We were so excited.
Speaker 2 (11:30):
Yeah, we were so excited. We didn't know that book
five would be the last one at least his art.
But you know, Levi Pinfold is great. I really do
enjoy him. I've looked at his portfolio quite a bit
more since he's been announced as taking over for the
sixth book, and I'm really excited.
Speaker 1 (11:48):
Well, and especially when Jim K said I'm so glad
that he's doing this book. Yeah, like, what more do
you need besides that? Really?
Speaker 2 (11:55):
Exactly, Jim, Yeah, I feel like everything's as it should
be now, so I'm I'm okay. My Little Collector Heart's good.
Speaker 1 (12:03):
Perfect.
Speaker 2 (12:04):
But speaking of perfect things in Little Collector Hearts, we
should get into the main segment. Bad segue, but I tried.
(12:36):
But like Eric said, we are continuing with our mini
box set series that we started when it's just US
two and we're talking about the very first box set
that was produced by Bloomsberry, and I think it was
the very first box set. I don't think Scholastic had
(12:57):
made one yet.
Speaker 1 (12:59):
I don't think so well, and if they did, it
would have been I think after this one.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
It would have had to have been after this one,
because this one came out in nineteen ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
It is just the first two yeah, first two books
in a box I know.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
See this should have been the Magical Adventure Begins.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
Well, no, we talked about how the plot of the
first thing together.
Speaker 2 (13:26):
I really I'm just saying this. That's there's truth behind
that too. But this is the very first box set
and there are actually two variants and Like I said,
it came out in nineteen ninety eight, so very early,
and the whole Harry Potter publishing thing, I mean, Scholastic
was just getting onto doing a Sorcerer's Stone to put
(13:47):
things into time. Translations were just starting to become a thing,
and so the Scholastic made, not Scholastic, Bloomsberry made this
box set. And it's important to re say that Bloomsbury
is the first publisher of the Harry Potter books, not
Ted Smart Ted Smarts are a different publisher, and it
(14:08):
matters because of value.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
I'm but yeah, making I'm making a strong guest here
that this box set was conceived under the impression that
Askaban Prison of Askan is coming out ninety nine, and
they're like, oh, hey, if you haven't read the first
two Shabam you can get them together. Here you a
box set here.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
So and it really is.
Speaker 1 (14:33):
That's what I think this came from, especially because there
was so much hype around this if you hadn't read.
Speaker 2 (14:38):
It, Like, the box itself is really nicely made. Like
I'm looking at the Johnny Doddle box set that I
have from twenty fourteen, the signature edition set that I
have the soft cover one, and those aren't like the
sides have split. The Johnny Donnell one especially just didn't
wear well. And I'm not hard on my books, and
(15:02):
these two are stout, both of them. Because there's two
variants of the first box set, and we'll get into
that in a little bit, but both of my boxes
are wonderful like and it retailed for let's see, twenty
one pound ninety nine.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
It seems like a fair price to read the first
two Harry Potter books.
Speaker 2 (15:25):
For these two, now, I don't even know. I tried
to see if they were written it for sale on eBay,
just to kind of get a value, because I honestly
haven't paid attention in a while to what these retail for.
And it's called the Harry Potter Gift Set by Bloomsberry.
Is what's on the spine. But I looked and all
(15:46):
that started was a ridiculously priced deluxe US edition of
Deathly Hallows for twenty thousand dollars because of the page
seven to fifty nine error. It's also sealed, so you
know that's cool. And then it's there's a hardcover ted
smart box set for six thousand dollars.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I pass on that one.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
I'm going to pass on the Ted smart I don't
know about you.
Speaker 1 (16:14):
That hard pass for me.
Speaker 2 (16:16):
That's a hard pass.
Speaker 1 (16:18):
Hard talk about this this set, like what's what's it
look like for people that are listening?
Speaker 2 (16:24):
So I don't even know. There's two variants, Like I said,
I don't know which I just unboxed one. I don't
know which one I unboxed.
Speaker 1 (16:31):
But.
Speaker 2 (16:33):
It's early enough that we have the you know, Thomas
Taylor's the Young Wizard is now what he's called, and
so Young Wizard is definitely, oh, this is my sign set.
Speaker 1 (16:45):
See Oh well, how about that? Surprised?
Speaker 2 (16:49):
Both books are both of these were signed in ninety eight,
so that's really cool. This is the one that I
really want to get put back up in the cupboard shortly.
But the two variants, like I keep going back to,
their first variant is Philosopher's Stone is a fourth print,
(17:12):
and yeah, fourth print, and then Chamber is a seventh print. Sorry,
I'm rearranging things. And then the other variant is a
fifth print Philosopher's Stone and then a tenth print Chamber.
(17:34):
And I used to think that the fifth print tenth
print was more rare than the four and seven, because
I was seeing at the time a lot of box
sets where there were the four and seven variant. But
I really don't know now because I haven't seen many.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
Well. And the boxes are identical, aren't they?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yeah, boxes stones, as far as I'm aware, I well
check that the same price.
Speaker 1 (18:01):
The boxes are just really nice. They have the art
for Philosopher's Stone on one side and then the art
for Chamber of Secrets on on the other side. But
they do have the the like the top part on
the book, you know, like the bloom Stray books all
have these big bold colors.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
It's magic is what it says on but the.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Actual book is red with yellow lettering on top of it.
And then the cover of the box set is kind
of this like indigo color. It's the same art as
on the books, it just has a different background color there.
And then the yeah said at the top of the
box says it's magic on it, and then the I
guess would you call it the spine of the box
(18:42):
the reverse.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Shine of the box? Mine says the Harry Potter gift set.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
It's the Harry Potter gift set.
Speaker 2 (18:51):
I know. It's very formal in that.
Speaker 1 (18:54):
So this is one of those sets where if you
see one that is for sale and it is sealed,
there's almost.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
Gosh, I don't know that I've ever seen a sealed one.
Speaker 1 (19:06):
I know, but I'm saying, there's no way to know
if you have, like which variant you have unless it's unsealed.
Speaker 2 (19:12):
So right, But at the same time, like you know
you're going to be getting either a fourth or a
fifth print Philosopher Stone, which is rare and has value
in its own right, So.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Right, exactly, But it's it's kind of but.
Speaker 2 (19:25):
It's fun to have both, like and that's why I
kept both.
Speaker 1 (19:28):
Is it's the weird collector conundrum of if you happen
across this box set and it's sealed and you buy it,
you have to make the decision do I open it?
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Oh I would?
Speaker 1 (19:42):
I mean I would, I would hands down? Or like
do you leave it sealed? And you're like, well, never know,
Like it's they're in there, but I don't know which
ones they are, which is it's kind of cool that
there's still that like you know, a little bit of mystery,
like which one is it? I don't know, but I
have to open it to find out. It's like getting
a pack of Pokemon cards exactly find out what's inside.
Speaker 2 (20:06):
Otherwise, how do you know if you've collected them? All right?
You don't, I know, but yeah, it's delightful. I'm trying
to remember. I got my four I got my signed
for an or four to seven set I think in
twenty sixteen or seventeen from Peter, and it was now
(20:28):
in today's market, it was a ridiculous good price.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
I don't know. This is a set where I don't
own it, and I never planned to, because the books
themselves that are in the set, especially the Philosopher's Stones,
are both early enough printings for those books on their
own sell for a pretty pretty good amount, not again
like life changing money, but you know, in the hundreds
(20:53):
of dollars, if not maybe a mint condition. The four printing.
Speaker 2 (20:59):
Over I don't know because I haven't looked. I haven't
looked for because I have, I haven't paid attention to
those since I have them. I don't know the fourth
and fifth printing market very well. If I'm being very
honest right now, I.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
Think in a good in good condition you could get
at least one hundred dollars for us.
Speaker 2 (21:15):
But that's just a fourth printing. I'm much higher.
Speaker 1 (21:18):
Well, yeah, that's what I'm saying, at least one hundred dollars,
I said, hundreds of domes. I don't know what you
were thinking. Okay, I heard one hundred thousands of dollars.
Speaker 2 (21:27):
No, no, no, no, I said, like more than I
didn't hear the z oh. Okay, yes, I heard like
the solid one hundred, and it was like no.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
I know. That's why I'm saying. These books themselves are
are like priced at a point where to set you're guaranteed,
like you said, either a fourth or fifth printing. So
there's that unless someone has swapped the books out. But
that my point being, you can get these books without
(21:57):
getting the box set. It's not like these books are
unique to the box set, like the Magical Adventure Begins,
where those books don't just roam around free on the shelf.
You have to buy them in the set, or like
the Green German books, those have to come in the set.
These are literally just two printings of a book that
was already on the shelf and they grabbed them and
(22:19):
stuffed them in a box and said here.
Speaker 2 (22:20):
They just made a box set for it.
Speaker 1 (22:22):
You can buy them together. So they weren't printing books
specifically for this box set. They were just taking books
they were already printing, and smushing them together and put
them in a box.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
If it seems like I remember there were two variants
of jacket as well for the Philosopher's Stone, but I
could be wrong, because I haven't had one in a
while where one did not have a price on the
inside flap. And it seems like I remember seeing that
(22:53):
at some point on either a fourth or a fifth
print that I have sold ten years ago.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
I'm sure, Oh well, that would be interesting.
Speaker 2 (23:01):
Yeah, because it wasn't in that one wasn't in a
box set, and the two that I have here, both
philosophers Stones have prices on their jackets.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
Whoop.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
I mean, it's possible. There's so many things that were
going on when these were just becoming to be big,
And you have to remember Bloomsberry at the time was
still kind of a small operation. They weren't nearly what
they are now as far as even just manpower, So
I'm sure lots of things were Records weren't super well kept,
(23:38):
and and I'm sure lots of other things occurred. They
were just trying to get books on shelves and books
to customers because the demand was so high. Yeah, I
would love to know how many of the box sets
were made, because I just I really don't know. I
have tried to see if there was any information. I
don't remember seeing any in the Errington book. I don't
(24:00):
think it would have covered anything like that. We just know,
like I think prints of certain things. Yeah, Adam may know.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
Adam might know. We're playing on having him on very soon.
Our schedules just start lining up with all of.
Speaker 2 (24:12):
Our Yeah, spring is hard. Spring is such a hard
time because everyone gets super busy coming out of like
winter hibernation.
Speaker 1 (24:20):
Basically, yes, yep, But do you do you have anything
else on this? That's the box set.
Speaker 2 (24:29):
It's a really cool one. If you're wanting to collect
rare books. I think it's definitely one to have on
your radar for I would say it belongs more in
a see it by it thing if you're trying to
get a deal and you see one for I don't know,
five hundred dollars or so, which I would think is
ridiculously low for this. At this point, I don't know
(24:50):
what they're selling for. Like I said, I tried to look,
and I couldn't find any on eBay US. I didn't
look at any other eBay sites, but eBay us I
couldn't find any. I haven't checked.
Speaker 1 (25:00):
But if you see one, like physically in a bookstore
or someone selling it and it's it's opened, like double
check that the printings of those books match the printings
that are supposed to be in that set, because it yeah,
you know, like I said, the books aren't specifically made
for this set, So like I could take any two
of my first two bloom story books and stick them
(25:21):
in and they'd fit in the box and look fine,
but you would notice it.
Speaker 2 (25:25):
And I have seen those thoughts a.
Speaker 1 (25:27):
Brown Beard Wizard and you know those those obviously, but
you'd still have to be certain that these are the
ones that were supposed to come in the box. If
that matters, if you just care about getting the box,
which still has some merit, Like I've.
Speaker 2 (25:42):
Seen people selling the box independently at times. It's been
a while, and I've seen one of these boxes with
like much later print chamber, much much later print stone,
and they were still trying to get way too much
money for it. So again, if you're wanting to buy it.
It either needs to be a fourth and seventh like
fourth Philosopher's Stone seventh Print Chamber of Secrets or fifth
(26:04):
print Philosopher's Stone tenth Print Chamber of Secrets. Those are
the only two variants I'm aware of, and I think
those are the only two ones that made it into
the box set, So if you're wanting to buy that,
it needs to be one of those.
Speaker 1 (26:20):
Yep yep, yep yep. Well, and so for the translation
of the show, we're gonna do something kind of a
little different, but I think it's gonna be kind of fun.
So we'll come back and get going with that, all right.
(27:08):
For the translation of the show, we're gonna use the
box of the box set.
Speaker 2 (27:14):
Oh, I know, we've never done that.
Speaker 1 (27:16):
I know, not even the books, just like just like
the box itself.
Speaker 2 (27:20):
But I think that's important because, like I said, this
box is held up when my other UK like Bloomsberry
boxes have not, I know.
Speaker 1 (27:29):
Well, and especially gosh, those German books. When we talked
about the Green German box set, like it's such a
cool set, but boy, it's just.
Speaker 2 (27:37):
It's because even the German soft covers, wait a lot,
they do.
Speaker 1 (27:42):
Weigh up so I don't know if all of the uh,
the categories of the tots scale will apply here, but
Carly's gonna do her best.
Speaker 2 (27:53):
We can see, so we can see how it goes.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
I don't know if we've smelled the box before, but
Carl's gonna smell the in side of the box.
Speaker 2 (28:01):
I've never smelled the inside of a box before. It does.
It smells like the bad end of a shoe, being honest,
But you know, the books inside of it don't, so
I think it's probably just the glue that it was
constructed with. It doesn't have that delightful bookstoes smell. It
(28:26):
just smells like you know when you walk into like
a leather's door and it smells so good, and then
after a while you're like, it doesn't smell so good anymore.
You're like on the other end of the smell. We're
on the other end of that.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
Oh okay, I know, I can totally understand what you're saying.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, I'm actually gonna smell the other one now to
see if I mean, they've been with me long enough
that they should. No, it's the same son. At least
we know there's continuity across.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Well, there you go, I think a category that might
fare better for it. What are you going to give it?
What did you give it?
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Probably poor? I'm not troll. Is just for very few things.
That's like mainly a Bengali rating in my mind.
Speaker 1 (29:15):
Yeah, poor is fair, I think.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah, I think poor is a great rating for the smell,
it is not delightful.
Speaker 1 (29:24):
I think something that will fare better for it is
the size and proportions of the box itself.
Speaker 2 (29:32):
I think the size and proportions of the box are great.
And what's entertaining is it's actually thinner than some of
the translations that I have for Book five.
Speaker 1 (29:41):
Yeah, because it's literally it's only the first two books.
Is fit the first two books in it? It's a
small box.
Speaker 2 (29:48):
It's smaller than the Delexe edition US as well, like
with wise, so I mean it should be it's only
the first two books. That just makes me chuckle. How
far we've come. I'm going to say this is probably
exceeds expectations.
Speaker 1 (30:09):
Oh okay, but what about how the box feels in
your hands?
Speaker 2 (30:14):
Oh? I actually really do like that. One of the
reasons I like this box set is it has cutouts
on the sides so you can pull the books out
without having to like wedge your fingers in and podcast
hurt the jackets and looking at like my Johnny Douddle
set and it's just a straight line instead of having
the like the finger cutouts. And if I want to, yeah,
(30:37):
if I want to get the books out of the
Johnny Douddle set, I have to lay it flat down
and pull the box up because they're just so shoehorned
in there.
Speaker 1 (30:47):
Yeah. I just looked at the smallest box that I
have is three books.
Speaker 2 (30:50):
That's the classic put Us one.
Speaker 1 (30:54):
And that does have the cutouts as well, and that
really does make a big difference. Someone was asked me
to pull out one of my the.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
US ones have the cutouts. Even the things that seven
does they do.
Speaker 1 (31:08):
Even even the Brian Selznick has the cutouts.
Speaker 2 (31:12):
It does.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
And someone asked me or I don't know who it was,
but I was showing somebody the signed and a little
sketch from my slow box set that the artist drew
in there, and just trying to get one of those
books out. You have to like like kind of bend,
not bend the box, but like stretch it just a
(31:35):
little bit to get your fingers into it to get.
Speaker 2 (31:38):
It out, and you have to take it and like
turn it over and pick it.
Speaker 1 (31:41):
Out, turn and dump. Yeah, which is fine, And I
don't like to do that. No, And so those those
box sets, I feel like when you take things in
and out multiple times, the box is naturally going to
just start to show a little wear or the spines
of the books.
Speaker 2 (31:59):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Yeah, So I like.
Speaker 2 (32:01):
The cutout, So I applaud the cutouts being here. It
makes it easier to upreak. I would say, I don't know,
pretty outstanding.
Speaker 1 (32:12):
Hey, you can't beat that. What about the quality you
already mentioned. It's better than a lot of the boxes.
Speaker 2 (32:17):
We have, And it could be because one there's only
two books in here, like we've said, so there's not
the weight that we see in the one through seven sets.
But even my one through seven, the Johnny Dotdele set
that I keep looking at is a soft cover, so
I mean it's not super weighty there either. It's the
Bloomsberry soft covers aren't super weighty, and it still has
(32:38):
busted the seams of that set, which is really frustrating.
But the seams are all intact on both both of
my boxes. There's not and the papers nicely glued down
like they it feels like they actually took their time,
but I mean less we're made, so production was smaller,
less airs, you know, you know how it goes. Yeah,
(33:01):
I would say both are outstanding.
Speaker 1 (33:05):
Construction.
Speaker 2 (33:07):
I can get behind that they used to get quality
boored like and the paper it's still nice and shiny,
like it's really nice.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
Well, then what would you give the interpretation of the
cover art? I mean, it's almost identical to the books themselves.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
So it is, but I really I like so Philosopher's
Stone is pretty much I mean the same, it's the green,
but the blue carries over to the philosophy or not
Chamber of Secrets as what Yeah.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
It's like the secrets. Yeah I didn't put that together,
but yeah, it's the same kind of bluish to the the.
Speaker 2 (33:46):
Same blue instead of the red on the Philosopher's Stone.
And I actually really like that. But I prefer blue
colors over red colors anyway, So I love this, And
of course we have the Thomas Taylor art underneath the
blue for Philosopher's Stone, but I actually really like that.
(34:07):
I prefer this instead of the actual book cover. So
I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (34:10):
Say outstanding, awesome, any X factor.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Yeah, I would say that they made one.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
Honestly, I would say that if I had to pick one,
like who makes a box set for two books and
a seven books?
Speaker 2 (34:27):
Especially when they I know that they were trying to
drum up hype and to get more books into people's hands,
you know, selling the two together makes it easy. They
called it a gift set, so I'm curious if it
was like marketed around Christmas time.
Speaker 1 (34:40):
Yeah, I don't know.
Speaker 2 (34:42):
I don't know enough about that set. I need to
do more research on it. I look to see if
I had that on my any more history on it
on my website, and it pretty much just says what
we talked about, not anything about print run because I
don't really know. I am so yeah. Still lot's to
learn about this little box, and as I keep learning,
(35:03):
I'll keep updating the website. I don't know where else
to put it. But it's really cool. It's really cool if,
like I said, if you're really wanting to go the
rare book BND even unsigned, it's a really fun little
box set to have.
Speaker 1 (35:20):
Nice. Well, I agree, I think it's a cool set. Again,
probably out of my price range at this point.
Speaker 2 (35:25):
But unless you find I mean, bargains are around, you
just have to really know what you're looking for. And
as more people are becoming educated on Harry Potter stuff
partially and thanks to all of the community's efforts, which
is good, it's harder to find deals sometimes, so you
just have to have a very sharp eagle eye. Yes,
(35:49):
And like I said, I have no clue what one
would sell for because I don't see one, even in
the souls on eBay in the last three months, so
I don't know. I will research that though, because I'm curious.
I haven't paid attention to that market specifically for unsigned
or signbox set to know the value of it currently.
Speaker 1 (36:29):
But you know what, I do know that that is
all the time we have for this episode of Dialogue
ALI Podcast, so we thank you so much for listening.
If you'd like to get in touch with us, you
can find our podcast on Instagram at Dialogue Alli Podcast.
Carly's on Instagram at All the Pretty Books I'm on
there at Nocturne, Eric, Melanie and Peter are on Instagram.
(36:53):
Also at the Harry Potter Collection and The Potter Collector.
Of course, there are some good websites to check out
Carly's website, All the Pretty Books dot net, Peter's website
of course, the Potter Collector dot com, and on our website,
Dialogue Ali dot com, we still have that interactive flowchart
to find out what your US book is and if
it's valuable. So many UK books. We're trying to figure
(37:17):
out the best way to go about adding UK books,
but it worked really well for the US one. I haven't.
I think we've ironed out most of the the kinks,
I suppose, but I think it works really well. So
go check that out if if you want to see
how it works. If you'd like to support us even
(37:38):
more so than what you're doing right now, because listening
to our podcast does support us, But if you'd like
to take it a step further, we are on Patreon,
So by going to patreon dot com slash Dialogue Ali
and for as little as three dollars a month, you
can get access to our discord, which is a great
community for book collectors to talk with each other. It's
again just a fantastic place to learn about Harry Potter
(38:02):
books and book collecting, or even just talk about Harry
Potter in general. And you know, some of our other
tiers do offer ad free episodes and bonuses like listening
in live to our recordings. Rock was on here tonight
and he actually let us know about the Bosque Appoint
Prince book that was just announced, So that's great, like
(38:23):
we're benefiting from the community while we're on air recording
the show. But also again, if you like what you hear,
please leave a review for us on whichever platform you're
listening to. It really does help our show get noticed
by other people that are looking for more Harry Potter
content to enjoy. So with all that being said, it
(38:45):
is now time to walk back through the archway and
into all of our daily lives and we'll catch you
next time. Bye bye,
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