20 Years of Printed Empathic Magic

20 years ago something happened that changed the world - a book was published. A book (to begin with) no one expected to have such an impact. In fact, the very idea that such a book could have such a cultural impact in the time it was published seemed laughable.

But it did, which was a good thing for the author. She spent years writing it, while raising a young child while on welfare. No one (not even her) could have predicted that within a few years of publishing that book, she'll become one of the richest authors in the world, becoming one of the great "rags to riches" stories of our time and (for the number of publishers who turned down the book) a cautionary tale in the history of business, along with similar ones involving The Beatles, Trivial Pursuit, and Chester Carlson's idea for a device that can copy documents in seconds.

Of course, I am talking about Harry Potter, the boy wizard that has given millions of children (and adults) fanatical joy.

Before I'll continue, I know some readers will be disappointed by my short tribute here. that is because...

1. I am not THAT into Harry Potter. (I have seen the movies and read a bit of the books and that's it.)
2. The experience of making my massive tribute to Pokémon last year has put me off the idea of doing such detailed well-researched tributes for a while.

So I got little to say about it, except that the books (from 2001) have spawned a franchise, featuring films, a theme park or two, a stage play, and countless toys. So "Is it worth the hype?"

"It's worth any amount of hype to get children to read again, and in these kind of numbers. And to have that kind of passion about sitting down in a corner turning pages of a book, instead of, you know, pressing on computer keys all the time and just playing PlayStations." - Alan Rickman, on HARDtalk just before the release of the first Harry Potter film (2001)

What made Harry Potter's massive (and fast) success a surprise to everyone back in 1997 was that back then everyone was thinking that kids were losing the ability to read books, because they were playing video games. In the year that Grand Theft Auto was introduced (and Pikachu was sending kids to hospital by epileptic seizure) if you read a tabloid you would have found stories with headlines that say "Video Games Linked to Illiteracy in Children" or "How Can We Make Kids Read Again?" The usual "this new thing is against the old order of things" nonsense. If the journalists who wrote such nonsense and actually listened to the gamers they talked to (and thought about there own experiences with media) they would find that people usually don't care what medium a story is told in... as long as the story is engaging. If a story is engaging for someone that person will endure anything to experience it all. This is why some will endure hours in the rain to see an outdoor performance. This is why many millions will stop what what their doing to watch a TV show every day or week. And this is why many kids back in 1997 played video games ... because they hadn't found a book worth reading ... let.
They were few new works of fiction in print that were very engaging for English-speaking children in the 1990s. This could be because Roald Dahl (my favourite author as a child) died back in 1990, creating a massive void in the new culture generator. With years of no one successfully filling in this void (and shelves full of new books that were not that engaging), much of the book publishing industry was thinking that there was little money in children's books. And with video games becoming a multi-million dollar industry (and the coming of the Internet), it seemed that the days of the book were numbered....

....Then Harry Potter came along.

The students of Hogwarts (and the battle against "he shall not be named") has had a huge impact on the world. Not only it has created the sport of Quidditch, the Harry Potter fictional universe has also revitalised the market for children's fantasy fiction. Last year was a great year for the market in the UK alone (despite a fall in ebook sales).

"...industry executives said the rise in children’s book sales was down to the wide range of choice, as well as fears among parents that their children are spending too much time using online social media and instead try to steer them towards traditional long-format reading.

“Parents have a general wish to see their children read print rather than spend too much time attached to their phone,” said Richard Charkin, executive director at Bloomsbury, publishers of the Harry Potter books. “There’s a slight fear of social media going on and people are saying ‘let’s get back to basics’.” " - Financial Times, 27th April 2017

And this was something people were noting even before the movies were made.... 

"In 1999, Harry Potter helped increase hardcover sales by more then 10%, and paperback sales by over 20%. The increase isn't made up only of Harry Potter books themselves, either--booksellers have noted an increased interest in other fantasy and in novels for children in general (For more on that phenomenon, see "The Harry Potter Halo" in the July 19, 1999 Publishers Weekly). And only eleven of the top 20 hardcover bestsellers in the PW list for 1999 were tied to a movie or TV show--thanks in part to Harry (April 10, 2000 issue). Things look good for the industry, but will this last?" - http://www.underdown.org/sales.htm

 Yes, it did.

But the true legacy of Harry Potter isn't just in increased sales in books in the age of digital competition. Hogwarts' magic has also had a bewitching effect on the very brains of the people who read them ... literally. 

But before I reveal why so, I got to address here the many people of fundamentally-christian faith who have branded J.K.'s work as "the work of the devil." Its easy to see why they would without actually reading them for themselves. Just the idea of a book about a kid learning to do witchcraft is enough to get them angry, especially if it becomes very popular. Even today they are some who still brand Harry as evil, but in 2017 these people are not only christian of the fundamental sense. They also share another trait ... they have voted for Donald Trump. 

Many of you may think that this is because of their battle of words on Twitter. But that's the lazy answer. The true answer that only few actually are even aware of is what I said earlier.

"Hogwarts' magic has also had a bewitching effect on the very brains of the people who read them ... literally"

In 2016 a study published in PS: Political Science & Politics showed that after reading one Harry Potter book readers approval rating for Donald Trump fell by 2-3 points. And "for someone who has read all seven books, the total impact could lower their estimation of Trump by 18 points out of 100."

This is the main reason why people who brand Harry "evil" should be afraid of the books. They teach children, not witchcraft, but ideas of tolerance and the evils of prejudice. 

This study also revealed something else. The measurable fall of Donald's approval rating only happened to people who read a Harry Potter book. When it looked at people who watched the movies their approval of Trump pretty much remained the same. This reveals something interesting....

Reading changes your brain. 

For most of human history, people learned about their world by looking at scenes. Because of this our rains have developed specialised parts to process sound and vision. This is why movies and music have such primitive cultural power. 

Reading, on the other hand, is a skill humans only required relatively recently, so our brain aren't naturally wired to read text. Instead of a single part doing all the work, your brain uses multiple parts to process the series of symbols you see into words and concepts you understand. This results in a form of synesthesia.

For example, if I were to write the word DOG just now, did the image of a dog just enter your mind? What about YELLOW. Did that colour just flash in your visual eye? And what about BARK. Did you just imaginary hear a dog bark just now? 

This is why literature is considered the most powerful of mediums. This is why poets are considered as great as politicians in history, by changing the minds of millions.

"Politics is shaped by people. And people, sometimes, are shaped by the fiction they read," - Mohsin Hamid The New York Times, 2015

This is how Harry Potter truly changed the world. It has fundamentally made a generation of kids more emphatic to others. No wonder Donald hates Harry.

2016 - A Year of Tributes

To many, the year 2016 was "the worst year ever" (although historians will disagree). They are a number of reasons for it (which I won't go into because I'm not into the almost mandatory game that is politics) but one of them was the high number of well-noted people the reapers, shinigamis and other dealers of death decided to claim since January 1st.

According to Wikipedia over 600 people of note died in December alone, so they are a lot to mourn. Too many to list in this post. So here's a select few....

Father Jack Hackett
This tired and emotional Catholic priest who spent his final years in the remote Irish parish of Craggy Island, Father Hackett was no stranger to death rumours. In 1995 he was reported dead and was ready for burial when he recovered from the symptoms of consuming floor polish (whose symptoms can be easily mistaken as those of death). His conservative stance may have been a act of rebellion against his dad (who was a cartoonist).

Timothy Lumsden
A former librarian, Tim was a regular member of his local an-maturer dramatics society, with his performance as Brian Runnicles in an adaptation of No Sex Please, We're British been his most well remembered. He is also remembered for his "comedic" monologues which got their tone as a result of his upbringing.

Thomas Jerome Newton
This prototype Steve Jobs came from nowhere when he founded World Enterprises in 1963. With multiple innovations, including many in aeronautics which contributed to the Apollo Space Program. But most remember him for his beliefs about aliens and his own private attempt to launch into space in 1976 (he offered a seat to former Apollo astronaut Edgar Mitchell, but he declined). An attempt that never launched due to his timed arrest by the US Government over anti-monopoly practises (according to official sources). Since then Newton has shied the public eye, occasionally releasing music albums under various guises.

Margaret Mottershead
Sister of soap actress Pat Bedford (whose till alive (for now)) Margaret worked as a cook in a motorway service station who occasionally performed self-written tunes on the piano.

Denise Merton
Mrs Merton of Heaton Norris, Stockport, Manchester, was a surprise star on television in the 1990s when she hosted her own talk show on BBC 2. A show that gained notability on its first episode when she interviewed Debbie McGee (wife of the late  Paul Daniels).

Severus Snape
This High-school chemistry teacher once entered the news when he was connected with a terrorist-cell that attacked London, Nottingham and Los Angeles.

William Jerome Silberman Wonka
World-famous creator of sweets (no need to say more).

Roger "The Kid" Nelson
Front-man of Minneapolis-based band The Revolution, Roger later became a solo artist with success as many guises. No stranger to controversy, Roger was noted for his used sexualized lyrics and was a significant figure in the digitisation of music debate. I have no more to say.

Muhammad Ali
A poet and civil rights advocate whose hobby was boxing.

Terry Wogan
This semi-pro golfer may by not as famous as Arnold Palmer, but he did achieve an incredible feat - he once held the record for the longest put ever captured on television.

Angela Reynolds
Head of Shipping of the Pawtucket Brewery in Quahog, Rhode Island, Angela had personal troubles that eventually led to her "drowning at moonlight strangled by her own bra" (according to a press release that was automatically sent).

from World Bowls magazine (September 1978)

James "Jim" Wallace
Three times outdoor bowls champion of Scotland in the 1970s, Jim (as he liked to be known) was a maintenance engineer, mostly first for a farming equipment supplier and then for a light bulb factory. The man may appear insignificant (compared to the others on this post) but he is to me, because of another name I knew him by ... Dad.

Yes, that man in the white shirt holding the trophy in the picture above is my dad. Our relationship wasn't great to begin with (it involved enough teasing that my retaliation broke his false teeth). But when I discovered that book that turned me into a science geek (and tried to make my own version of it) I asked my engineer dad for help. Its thanks to him I am the artist who has an engineer's eye. An eye I got from him.

He was hospitalised after a heart attack a few weeks ago and died a few days later.

P.S. Sorry to all those Trekkies out there for not addressing Star Trek in its 50th year. But I can make up for it by mentioning Anton Yelchin on this tribute post (which I just did there). Live long and prosper...

Inktober 2016 - Book Covers

Last year I discovered the Inktober challenge. 

For every day in October participants must...

1. Make a drawing in ink (you can do a pencil under-drawing if you want).
2. Post it on your blog (or tumblr, instagram, twitter, facebook, flickr, Pinterest or just pin it on your wall.)
3. Hashtag it with #inktober and #inktober2016
4. Repeat

This year's theme came from James, the head of the book club I'm a member of. He suggested book covers of books the club has read. I liked it. I asked him in September to write up a list of 31 books of his choosing for me to do. Not all of them were read by the club (and I have only read one-third of them), but that didn't matter.

Here is the list (including notes and typos).

And here are the covers I have made for Inktober 2016

This one was drawn while I was in Rai Con, so I had a lot of inspiration for this one.

I made a huge mistake in this one. The calendar is supposed to be July, not May (I may have been thinking about my birthday when the mistake was made.)

A New Year Declaration of Ignorance

As 2015 becomes 2016 a lot of us begin to reflect on what has happened to them in the past year...
or many years before that. We ponder our past hopes, dreams, achievements, opportunities, mistakes, and regrets and (in the end) say "What the heck happened to me?"

I have been doing just that. I have been writing this blog for over three years now, with 2015 been my most productive year in content-making (so far). It began (as it said on the top of the page) as "a place for random scribbles and writings." Just after graduating from university I didn't know what to do with my life. I never really did even as a child. I had no idea what to do. The decision to make this blog happened just before I revisited my High School after sorting out a few financial stuff with the Job Centre. I had made one during a course at Uni as it was a requirement for the class as a way to show everyone your ideas and grasp of the 12 rules of animation. The idea of making one for my own artwork and writings became obvious soon afterwards. But from the start outside forces turned it from a simple showcase of my talents to something more commentary-like.....
I had read about the PETA protest game Pokemon Black and Blue from a magazine article and felt that the idea that the games promoted animal cruelty stank of "video games cause violence in the real world" bullshit. That article resulted in my first ever internet rant. The last sentence of that "rant" was (after thanking PETA and that magazine for giving me the push to write it) "Things are going to get very interesting in deed." And they did...
That first post was written in November 2012. By New Year I had a number of pieces of work uploaded. In January 2013 I officially called my examinations of various aspects of human culture "acts of cultural vandalism." I had begun to truly look at the world we live in and began to use my curiosity indiscriminately on to everything, from atoms to the vast cosmos....

"When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do."- Walt Disney

But recently I had an idea that involves my curiosity.

Back in September me and my mother visited the sets of the Harry Potter films. While there I looked at the T-shirts on sale at the shop that is in the mock-up of platform 9.75 (work it out). It had shirts that labelled you a "witch" or "wizard", as you might expect there. But there also were T-shirts that labelled you (in gold medieval-style script) a .... "muggle."

"Muggle" T-shirt from Harry Potter Tour (2015)

For those not familiar with Harry Potter, a "muggle" is the name given to anyone who isn't able to use magic. It's like the when the term "civilian" is used when referring to people who aren't in the military. It's a word that has been adopted by many in geekdom, usually to refer to "jocks" or people who buy stuff with a warranty.

Anyway, the thought that is the reason for this New Year post is the one I had when I saw that grey T-shirt (which I bought soon after). Muggles are people who can't use magic. In fact, most muggles aren't even aware of magic's existence. They are ignorant of the existence of Hogwarts. Or the fact that kids are disappearing through the wall between platforms 9 and 10 in Kings Cross Station every August. It's this idea of muggle ignorance that made me remember a big fact about the world. A fact that is expressed greatly in this quote...

    "Its obvious that we don't know one millionth of one percent about anything." - Thomas Edison

Everything we will ever learn and remember individually throughout our lives is just a tiny microscopic fraction of all the knowledge that exist in the universe. The human brain can only remember so much. We can try to read the whole Encyclopædia Britannica or other large reference materials and try to cram as much as we can from our school textbooks, but in the end its impossible for any human or sentient being (except maybe gods or some AI system running a massive database) to know absolutely everything. But despite this many of us think they do know everything....

“Nothing is more beautiful than to know all.”- Athanasius Kircher (c.1670)

We probably know at least one person who thinks he/she knows everything. They are more of them when comes to knowing everything about a single subject (doctors, lawyers and that). They are individuals in history that claim to have known everything at their time, such as Athanasius Kircher and Thomas Young. But we can easily dismiss them because we all know stuff they didn't, such as the Higgs boson and the final resting place of King Richard III. But what about people alive today who repeatedly blab on about things like, climate change, poverty, gun crime, obesity, the Middle East, terrorism, hackers, and many other things that sale newspapers. How can we be sure they do know everything? Academic points? Experience in the field points? Success points? Or the fact that person appears friendly or all-knowing, like that guy in the bar or cafe? But I feel that many of these people are caught in a trap. The trap of thinking they know everything. After a long time (maybe years) of reading, writing, and talking about various stuff (and receiving little or no challenge to their words) they become to think that they are intellectually invincible and wholeheartedly believe that they know everything (in the field of interest or (more dangerously) everything in general).

But the trap can also inflict others - in people who want to know everything (on one subject or in general). The one subject type is very common Something happens that prompts them to think about a subject and curiosity drives them to find out as much as they can on that subject, such as who the heck Kate Upton is? Usually one Wikipedia article is enough. But sometimes some go further. In the case of "Who the heck Kate Upton is?" it'll easily become an activity that can be described as stalking, which is why most people stop at the Wikipedia article. But this doesn't only apply to celebrity worship, the same thing can happen when something bad happens to someone's personal whelm, like a death (natural or inflicted) or a diagnosis of the medical kind. Just ask any parent who's got a child that is sick or disabled. In that last case, a group of people equally curious about a subject band their efforts together and form advocacy groups for the sake of others curious about the subject and find casual browsing isn't giving enough information. Depending on the politics of the people running them, such groups can be a force of good (providing useful accurate information to whoever enquires) or ill (providing misinformed facts and excuses to do things that'll cause harm). You may know of such groups already.

I kind of fell into this trap in the past. When I first encountered the Eyewitness Visual Dictionary of everyday Things back in 2000 and got inspired to make my own version, I thought the book needed improving by including stuff it excluded. This thought was responsible for me to begin reading encyclopaedias for leisure at the age of 12 - to find out more about everyday objects. By 2002 I stopped making the books, but still read reference books for leisure. But I developed ideas for other books to do and filled files of notes and sketches for them (I still do, except most of the notes are now in digital form). I think this could have been down to the fact that during that year the school was given planners that contained factoids and quotes - and one of them was of Thomas Edison. The one I mentioned may not have been the very quote I saw, but the message is the same - we don't know everything. This is a fact that has become more apparent to me as my personal reference library began to mushroom out of my room an into the hallway and I began to surf the internet on a daily basis, plus beginning to regularly watch documentaries on TV. There is so much information out there that no one person can take it all in.

We are living in what has been called the "Information Age."  We have more access to all sorts of information than ever before... and generating more so every day. It's no surprise that "information overload" is becoming a symptom of living in the 21st century. But it isn't a "modern" problem. It has been for centuries....

"As long as the centuries continue to unfold, the number of books will grow continually, and one can predict that a time will come when it will be almost as difficult to learn anything from books as from the direct study of the whole universe. It will be almost as convenient to search for some bit of truth concealed in nature as it will be to find it hidden away in an immense multitude of bound volumes." - Denis Diderot, Encyclopédie (1755)

Sound relatable?

And after years of researching my big fields of interest - technology and culture - I have found concrete evidence that backs up this fact.

• In 2014 the UK alone published 20 new book titles every hour. So many in fact Jamie Byng of publisher Canongate Books has said “I think we publish too many books".
• According to Nielsen (the American TV ratings people) in 2014 the average American household receives 189 TV channels - and only watches 17 of them.
• In 2013 all the world's digital devices created 4 zettabytes of data.
• In 2015 about one trillion photographs were taken, and 60 million of them were uploaded to Instagram every day.
• In December 2014 300 hours worth of new footage is uploaded on YouTube every minute.
• In one minute on 12th February 2015 712 new websites were created and 2,623 blog posts were written. (from p164 of Guinness World Records 2016)

That is a lot of information... and its increasing.

How can one person factor all this in?

Can one person watch every cat video on YouTube or 

read every new book that gets published as it comes out?

NO

It's humanly impossible. 

That's why we have Google - to sort out the useful stuff from the "crap" instantly.

So the next time someone claims to know everything, imagine that person trying to read 20 books in one day. Can you read 20 books in one day? Exactly... unless your Johnny 5. 

But here's another thing about information I have learnt (more recently) ....

Facts have a half-life.

This is an idea that has been around for a while, but it has been popularized recently by Harvard mathematician Samuel Arbesman in his 2012 book The Half-Life of Facts (which I have read and referenced). He gives a brief synopsis of his book in this TED talk from 2012.

The Half-Life Of Facts: Sam Arbesman at TEDxKC (2012)

Basically, everything you can consider a "fact" has the possibility to be proven wrong sometime in the future. You will have encountered this phenomenon yourself when you read a newspaper full of articles claiming that [insert thing here] is good/bad for your health. Some have made a good income out of this. Think how much money the Jim Pattison Group will made during Christmas through the sales of this year's edition of Guinness World Records. Surely you don't need to be reminded about this fact of life with all this constant proof of this. Right...?

So, we are all exposed to new information every day and this information has the potential to become inaccurate in the future. How can it be possible for one person to know everything? How can one person keep up with all the world's knowledge as it gets updated? English Wikipedia got in the past year an average of about 150,000 edits every day.

What I'm trying to say is that the idea of someone knowing everything is impossible. Everyone who claims to know everything (except probably Gods or some AI systems) is either lying, delusional or ignorant of the facts I just mentioned earlier... or just doesn't like to listen to the other person's viewpoint.

I feel that many of the people out there who do claim to know everything are the most ignorant. By been so sure of their beliefs (perceivably because they read all the facts) they ignore the counter-argument. And if that person happens to be in a position of power and influence it can be dangerous. More dangerous than a suicide bomber who acts alone.. or as part of a group. These "idiots" (as they deserve to be called) are ignorant about a lot of things, because it is impossible for them to learn everything that exists in the world.... in the same way muggles are ignorant about magic in Harry Potter, which brings us to the idea I had when I saw that T-shirt.

If it is impossible to one person to learn everything, maybe we are better off admitting our ignorance on pretty much everything. We can try to read up on everything on one subject, but in the end there's going to be bits of your knowledge on that subject missing. We should all admit that they are things we don't know and just accept it. But this shouldn't be an excuse to give up. It's fun learning new things (especially on stuff you are very familiar with). We should explore the frontiers of our knowledge and search out the stuff don't know let and make what is found the new knowledge. No one individual should have the absolute authority on a single subject. "Experts" should be challenged if possible if you feel that they are in the wrong. We all must learn that (in the end) no one person can know everything. We are all ignorant of stuff like the muggles. We are all muggles.

This brings me to my New Year Declaration. I have never claimed that I do know everything. I am very aware of the gaps I have in my knowledge of some things, such as sports. But people can think I do due to my vast knowledge (and posts) on many subjects. I'm just a good organiser of information. So good I am able to link subjects that (to the layman) appear unrelated. But I should set the record straight with a public statement. And this is it, my New Year Declaration of Ignorance....

I, Gordon Wallace (author of the Internet Sketchbook blog) will say for public record on New Years Day 2016 that....

I confess that I am a Muggle, 

as I don't know EVERYthing. 

Happy New Year 
everyone

Act of Cultural Vandalism - Where I was on Saturday 26th

On Saturday 26th September 2015 I was in a very interesting place. A place so interesting it was worth mention on this blog.

On Saturday I was in Pyongyang, the capital city of North Korea. Don't believe me? Here's proof...

Despite the tourist hype it wasn't that good.

Accommodation was basic.

The dining experience was... aesthetically pleasing in presentation...

But was let down by where we actually ate...

But the architecture was something else...

Transportation was interesting....

The trains were punctual with Japanese precision, despite operating on ancient technology.

Thsi was made more interesting when I found out that most trains here are driver-less.

Road transport was more interesting. 

Although a number of individuals owned flying cars...

Most still travel by bus. In fact, buses had to be modified for the high number of passengers.

The shops sold many interesting stuff...

But the wildlife was more interesting. I did see a unicorn, but it got away before I managed to get out my camera. But did manage to photograph some interesting wildlife 

(in their natural history museum).

Okay, I was actually not in Pyongyang. I was actually in Milton Keynes.

Really, that photo was taken from my hotel window in Milton Keynes.

Don't believe me...

You have to admit, if you ignore the large propagandistic monuments and institution-like buildings, Pyongyang does look like any new-town development - like Milton Keynes. 

Just look up images of the two places and compare.

The reason I was in Milton Keynes was to visit Francis Bacon's house in St Albans.

You would expect it to look like this...

But I found out that the original place was destroyed by Jacobites in 1715.

Okay, I was in St Albans ... for a bout an hour. 

But it was a brief break on the trip back to the hotel in Milton Keynes from this place....

Yes, that's where I was on Saturday 26th September 2015. Me and my mother were touring the sets of the Harry Potter films in the Warner Bros. Studios in Leavesden.

Both of us had a great time. 

In the picture below is us in front of the model of Hogwarts used for the exterior shoots. Yes, they went practical with it (with some CG to enhance it). It's the last part of the tour for a very good reason... I won't say more, but seeing it overwhelming my mother so much she cried.

Although I am not exactly a fan (in the sense I can recite spells and the names of the creatures) I went because I love the process of making films. The number of people hired to make one fantasy-themed movie is huge. But this increases into the thousands if you consider that they were eight Harry Potter films. In fact, while we were there a spin-off film was in production on a lot a stone's throw away from where the tour is. It's only on a tour like this you'll get the idea of how much time and effort goes into making such movies.

There is the design of the sets.

The construction of such sets.

The lighting of such sets

The costuming of the actors

Making them up.

Accessioning them.

The design...

... and making of the props.

The special effects.

The animatronics.

And other things you might not have notices, such as the graphic design.

This point is hammered in more in this tribute....  The "corridor" between the Hogwarts model and the gift shop are lined by boxes of wands like Ollivanders shop. Each box has the name of someone who worked on the films labelled on it. 

The image quality doesn't allow you to make out actual names on the boxes (sorry).

Even if your not  a Harry Potter fan or someone who likes fantasy fiction, if you love film-making you must see this tour... or similar tours of film sets. Seeing it myself I gained more respect of the thousands of people who worked on these films. If you are going on this tour take the time to look at the names on those boxes and note that when constructing the set of the shop John hurt gave Daniel Radcliffe his wand each of the thousands of boxes that populate its shelves were individually handmade. Then remember that very set was destroyed by Death Eaters in The Half-Blood Prince. 

Think about that....