I currently co-host a lovely podcast, Dialogue Alley, have 1,300/1400+ Harry Potter books in my ever-growing collection of Potter books, which includes rare and signed Potter books and Potter translations. I hope here to represent most of what has been produced. It's a BIG project but a fun one. ​When I first started collecting Harry Potter, I started with screen-used movie props and then realized I would rather collect the books instead. And having always been drawn to the rare and signed things, I began working with the higher-end Potter books in early 2009 as well as trying to sort out all of the misinformation associated with Potter books - as a new collector at the time, I found SO much misinformation and bothered me so much. My hopes for this website are to not only showcase my lovely Potter collection but also to discuss book values, rarity, real versus fraudulent Rowling signatures, and other topics as they arise. You can also find me on instagram, YouTube, and on Facebook.  ​ I was born in Lubbock, Texas and studied at Texas Tech University, where I earned a BA in French language and literature, an MA in English linguistics, as well as an MBA. Alongside book collecting, I continue learning French, as well as studying other languages. I have always been fascinated by language and its sounds and would love to speak as many of the world's languages as possible. I have also studied in France and Spain and have traveled to 36 countries and am always looking to add more to my list. ​ I first found Potter when as a young student while home sick with pneumonia at my parents' house. My younger sister came into my room and said, "Watch this. you'll feel better", and stuck in this VHS of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone into the VCR. I tried to protest, but coughed instead-I had no intention of ever watching or reading the Potter books at that time, if only because my sister loved them. Not having the energy to get up and pull the tape out, I furrowed my brow, fully deciding to hate whatever film was about to play. But I didn't. I loved the movie and watched it again. My sister also had books 1 - 4, which I read in about 2 days and was so upset when I found out I had to wait what felt like forever for the fifth. ​ I came to Potter collecting through a round-about way, but I have always been a collector, with my first collection consisting of Madame Alexander Scarlett O'Hara dolls,  as I was (and am!) a lover of Margaret Mitchell's Gone with the Wind--I watched the movie when I was 8 because my grandmother made me. I was hooked when Scarlett's massive, hooped white dress swished on screen. I devoured the book the following week. I saved my allowance and birthday money and actively began dragging my parents to antique shops in and around the Lubbock area searching for these beautifully and elaborately dressed dolls. I collected these dolls from my early youth into my college years, when my interests shifted to books, but interestingly enough, not Potter books, yet. ​ I began collecting books during my linguistics studies while I was a member of the History of the Book Club at Texas Tech. One insignificant weekend when I was busy putting off writing a paper, I re-watched Anne of Green Gables and re-remembered my love for Montgomery's Anne Shirley and her passion for Tennyson's Lady of Shalott. After spending most of the weekend watching that movie on repeat, I decided to collect different editions of the Tennyson poem. After about a year of this, I realized that while I enjoyed my books, kinda, my heart wasn't in the collection. So, I poked through ebay and found amazing Potter things and immediately began selling off my Tennyson collection and purchased a Harry Potter screen-used movie prop from Sorcerer's Stone (odd, I know) and decided that THIS would be what I collect. Shortly after that prop arrived, I purchased a few smaller screen used things from (thankfully) someone who turned out to be fully trustworthy. But then realized that I really wanted to collect the books and rare signed pieces, so (being gung-ho) I did no research, assumed every eBay seller was trustworthy, and over-eagerly purchased 2 Rowling signed things, which turned out to be forgeries.  I was, thankfully, informed a few days after they'd arrived by a more knowledgeable collector. Alongside learning how PayPal refunds work, I learned to RESEARCH my purchases-- KNOW what I'm buying, and above all, NOT be afraid to ask questions of sellers, of other collectors, and that eBay is full of bogus crap, so buyer beware. So with that, WELCOME to my website, I hope you like it here:) Should you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me :) Happy Collecting!