# Number of Pages in "HP & The Order of the Phoenix"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [June 22, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515 "2003-06-22T01:52:01Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Atreyu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atreyu)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/1 "2003-06-22T01:52:01Z")
I asked this question in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=192397), but so far it doesn’t seem to be getting any attention. I hope that by giving it its own thread, someone can help me out.
I bought my copy of _Harry Potter & The Order of the Phoenix_ earlier today. According to the [Amazon.com description](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/043935806X/qid%3D1056246322/sr%3D4-3/ref%3Dsr%5F4%5F3/002-7372230-5015235?st-type=slots-id&st-id=Q2N9GXDEV61876#product-details) for this edition of this book, it is supposed to have 896 pages.
The Barnes & Noble website’s description for this book [says the same thing](http://search.barnesandnoble.com/booksearch/isbnInquiry.asp?ISBN=043935806X&userid=6T8G0C80T5&cds2Pid=946).
So does [Powell’s](http://www.powells.com/cgi-bin/biblio?inkey=1-043935806x-42) website.
When I finished reading the book, I saw that it only went up to 870 pages.
This bothers me.
Does anyone know why there is such a big discrepency between the number of pages listed and the number of actual pages in the book? I mean, 26 pages is practically a chapter. And does this discrepency show up in your copy of this edition of the book?
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### Author:  [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/2 "2003-06-22T02:29:59Z")
…they edited out Professor McGonagle’s nude scene?
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### Author:  [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/3 "2003-06-22T02:42:22Z")
Could they be counting the title pages and whatnot in with the total? There’s still not that many, but that’d bring it a bit closer, at least.
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### Author:  [@Cataclysm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cataclysm)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/4 "2003-06-22T02:43:51Z")
_gasp_
I just looked at my copy of Harry Potter and I only have 766 pages!!!
Maybe we just have completely different versions. Either that or I’m missing quite a few chapters ☹
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### Author:  [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/5 "2003-06-22T02:45:21Z")
I just counted in my own copy, and lo and behold, I hit 896! That’s counting both sides of everything but the dark-colored first and last pages (I forget what those are called). And I did so WITHOUT looking at the end, even, since I’m only about 1/3 through the book…
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### Author:  [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/6 "2003-06-22T03:01:19Z")
I think that the American version might be longer. It’s probably due to formatting (font size, page spacing, etc.) - I certainly don’t think they would have edited it much differently. Heck, the American version even says “jumper” instead of “sweater.”
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### Author:  [@Morelin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morelin)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/7 "2003-06-22T03:14:56Z")
The American versions are longer then the UK editions.
No, I don’t know why.
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### Author:  [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/8 "2003-06-22T03:19:04Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Wang-Ka \*
> \*\*…they edited out Professor McGonagle’s nude scene? \*\*
Hey! Spoiler Box, buddy!
😃
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### Author:  [@urban1a](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/urban1a)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/9 "2003-06-22T03:29:54Z")
I don’t even want to think about seeing Maggie Smith nude! 😃
Bob
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### Author:  [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/10 "2003-06-22T03:46:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Morelin \*
> \*\*The American versions are longer then the UK editions.
>
> No, I don’t know why. \*\*
It basically has to do with the formatting and typeset used. Scholastic is, after all, a children’s book publisher, and uses a typeset (which has so far been stated in all the back of the books, but I can’t remember off the top of my head) which seems a little bigger and, more importantly, more spacing between lines; say something analagous to the difference between single-space and 1.5-space in a word-processed document.
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### Author:  [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/11 "2003-06-22T07:59:47Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by urban1z \*
> \*\*I don’t even want to think about seeing Maggie Smith nude! 😃
>
> Bob \*\*
You would have liked it when she was younger, methinks.
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### Author:  [@DeVena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeVena)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/12 "2003-06-22T13:21:13Z")
There are 896 pages in the US book - 870 pages of text and 26 pages at the front and back (including the blank pages). So it’s 896 BOUND pages.
Seems freaky to me, but I counted. 😛
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### Author:  [@Apos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apos)
#### Post date: [June 22, 2003, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/number-of-pages-in-hp-the-order-of-the-phoenix/183515/13 "2003-06-22T21:07:08Z")
[http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=1331353](http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=1331353)
There is, apparently, a rather bad anomaly in some copies: repeating pages.