Hogwarts Textbooks

• Type: Magical Object, Educational Material, School Book
• Owners: Students of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
• Providers: Primarily sold at Flourish and Blotts in Diagon Alley
• Authors: Written by various expert witches and wizards, such as Bathilda Bagshot, Miranda Goshawk, and Newt Scamander

Hogwarts Textbooks are the required school books used for study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Each year, students receive a list of the necessary books for their upcoming classes along with their acceptance or end-of-year letters. These books are most commonly purchased at Flourish and Blotts, a large bookshop in Diagon Alley, although students can also acquire second-hand copies. While many textbooks resemble their Muggle counterparts—paper-bound volumes of text and illustrations—some possess distinct magical properties related to their subject matter. For example, The Monster Book of Monsters is notoriously aggressive and must be stroked along its spine to be subdued before it can be opened. Other books, like The Invisible Book of Invisibility, are completely invisible, posing a unique challenge to their readers. The practice of using second-hand books is common, and these copies may contain helpful (or harmful) annotations from previous owners, a fact that becomes central to Harry Potter's sixth year.

Beyond their primary educational purpose, Hogwarts textbooks serve as significant plot devices and a key method of world-building throughout the series. The annual list of books provides readers with an initial glimpse into the subjects Harry Potter and his friends will be studying, from Charms to Potions. Several specific books play crucial roles in the narrative:

• The Monster Book of Monsters: Required by Rubeus Hagrid for his first year of teaching Care of Magical Creatures, its aggressive nature highlights Hagrid's unique and often dangerous perspective on magical creatures.
• Works by Gilderoy Lockhart: The extensive list of books authored by Lockhart for his Defence Against the Dark Arts class underscores his narcissism and is later revealed to be based on stolen stories, exposing him as a fraud.
• Defensive Magical Theory: This Ministry of Magic-approved textbook, assigned by Dolores Umbridge, represents the Ministry's attempt to control Hogwarts by teaching a purely theoretical, non-practical form of defence, which directly leads to the formation of Dumbledore's Army.
• Advanced Potion-Making (annotated copy): The copy of this textbook formerly owned by the Half-Blood Prince (Severus Snape) is central to the plot of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The handwritten notes inside allow Harry to excel in Potions and also teach him dangerous Dark Arts spells like Sectumsempra.
• Hogwarts: A History: Though not a required textbook for a specific class, Hermione Granger frequently references this book to uncover the secrets of the castle, such as the nature of the Chamber of Secrets and the function of house-elf magic.

The following is a list of known textbooks used at Hogwarts, categorized by subject.

• A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration by Emeric Switch (First Year)
• Intermediate Transfiguration (Mentioned for Third Year)
• A Guide to Advanced Transfiguration (Mentioned for Sixth Year)

• The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 1 by Miranda Goshawk
• The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 2 by Miranda Goshawk
• The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 3 by Miranda Goshawk
• The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 by Miranda Goshawk
• The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 5 by Miranda Goshawk
• The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 6 by Miranda Goshawk
• Quintessence: A Quest (Mentioned as an O.W.L.-level book)

• Magical Drafts and Potions by Arsenius Jigger (First Year)
• Advanced Potion-Making by Libatius Borage (Sixth Year, N.E.W.T. level)

• A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot

The textbook for this subject changed nearly every year, reflecting the rotation of teachers.

• The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection by Quentin Trimble (First Year)
• The complete works of Gilderoy Lockhart, including Break with a Banshee, Gadding with Ghouls, Holidays with Hags, Travels with Trolls, Voyages with Vampires, Wanderings with Werewolves, and Year with the Yeti (Second Year)
• Defensive Magical Theory by Wilbert Slinkhard (Fifth Year)
• Confronting the Faceless (Sixth Year)

• One Thousand Magical Herbs and Fungi by Phyllida Spore
• Flesh-Eating Trees of the World (Mentioned as a book owned by a student)
• Encyclopaedia of Toadstools (Mentioned by Ron Weasley)

• Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander
• The Monster Book of Monsters (Third Year)

• Unfogging the Future by Cassandra Vablatsky
• The Dream Oracle by Inigo Imago

• Ancient Runes Made Easy
• Magical Hieroglyphs and Logograms
• Spellman's Syllabary

• Numerology and Grammatica

• J.K. Rowling published real-world versions of two Hogwarts textbooks, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages, in 2001 for the charity Comic Relief.
• The book The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which plays a crucial role in the seventh book, was also published as a real-world book for charity in 2008.
• The Pottermore website (now Wizarding World) has provided additional background information on some of the textbook authors, such as Miranda Goshawk, Quentin Trimble, and Libatius Borage. (Pottermore)