It’s a long-standing custom at Hogwarts Professor to put up posts for Serious Readers to share their finds on specific topics in the week following a new Rowling book’s publication. This Quiet week of little posting — because most folks are trying to find time to finish a ginormous tome while working a day job or studying for papers and exams and are staying away from online discussion of the books — merits an alternative outlet for those who read straight-through and want to share their first thoughts.
I have put up ten posts on the day of publication with specific subjects of interest to our global audience and an index post for easy access to each of those subjects. None have spoiler alerts because the comment threads of every one will be loaded with Hallmarked Man content and conversation. Caveat Lector.
Nick Jeffery tells me the first things he reads in a Rowling book are the front and back ‘matter.’ That’s usually a dedication and an Acknowledgements page, respectively, something our resident Lake authority checks out to see if Rowling is hinting there what the book is about, how it lines up with known friends, family, and business partners (and who was on previous lists but is now absent), and what her ‘thank you’s suggest about the years she spent writing this book.
I look forward to Nick’s write-ups of his insights on these subjects. This post is here for readers that want to follow Nick’s example and begin their reading by taking much more than a cursory look at Hallmarked Man’s bracketing in Rowling’s direct notes to her audience. Enjoy!
Not quite the dedication and acknowledgements, but the endpapers are decorated with the Salem Cross. As of the end of Part Two, we don’t know the full significance of this symbol, but it’s the hallmark for the Murdoch silver and was cut into the back of the body in the vault.
And to me it looks like a diagram to explain a turtleback chiastic structure.
Speaking of symbols, I’ve also been reminded of the similarity between the masonic all-seeing eye and Deathly Hallows symbol. There’s also the eyes-in-hands logo of the Abused and Accused website, which connects with eyesbeing removed from the vault corpse.
I’m very curious about the Oriental Centerpiece that was a large (and to Strike, ugly) Masonic silver piece with Jacob’s ladder, an acacia tree, an all-seeing eye, etc because Jacob’s ladder is often represented in artwork as a staircase. And the staircase at the agency office is often a place where life-altering things happen, from CC to HM. It has mythological significance and Christian symbolism. So I’m very curious about it.