The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore by Rita Skeeter

Title: The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore 

Author: Rita Skeeta

Publisher: not known 

Source book: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling (Harry Potter #7)

Rita Skeeter’s nine-hundred page book about Dumbledore is completed a mere four weeks after his mysterious death. We know that Rita, a well-known muckraker, writes her less than accurate newspaper articles with the aid of a magical quill which writes what she wishes, and there is no reason to think she would not have used this option for the book.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows features an interview where Rita discusses the content of her Dumbledore exposé, and later an extensive extract (in my first edition 2007 h/b copy it’s pages 288-293). Rita obviously obtained much of her information from the elderly and confused Bathilda Bagshot. At least she sent a copy of her newly published book to the once great historian, famous of course for her magnum opus A History of Magic.

Apparently Rita is the bestselling author of Armando Dippet: Master or Moron? Dippet was headmaster of Hogwarts when Tom Riddle was a pupil. 

Also mentioned in the Deathly Hallows are Numerology and Grammatica, The Monster Book of Monsters, The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts, Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland, Spellman's Syllabary and Hogwarts: A History. Hermione is sorting out her books, and we have seen all of them before in earlier Harry Potter books. When Hermione accidentally drops The Monster Book of Monsters on Ron’s foot it breaks free of its restraining strap and snaps viciously at his ankle.

There are also Break With a Banshee, Defensive Magical Theory, An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe, and Secrets of the Darkest Art. This last is not on the list of books approved by the teachers at Hogwarts. Hermione describes it as a horrible book, really awful, full of evil magic. Dumbledore had it removed from the library.

JK Rowling really put a lot of effort into naming all her magical books. It’s a shame that we don’t get any information about the magical publishers but I guess you can’t have everything.