JK Rowling's book of fairy tales goes under the hammer for nearly £2m

11 April 2012
The Weekender

Sign up to our free weekly newsletter for exclusive competitions, offers and theatre ticket deals

I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.

A special book of fairy tales by Harry Potter author JK Rowling has fetched an astonishing £1.95 million for charity at auction - up to 65 times the original asking price.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which was handwritten and illustrated by Rowling, had been expected to fetch between £30,000 and £50,000.

But there were frenzied scenes in the sale room at Sotheby's in central London as bidding got under way for the book - Rowling's first work since the final Harry Potter volume was published in July - and bidding far exceeded all forecasts.

Only seven copies of the collection exist, all hand-written and illustrated by Rowling.

The other six were given to friends closely connected with the Harry Potter books.

Scroll down for more

A page from The Tales of Beedle the Bard, which Rowling hand-wrote and illustrated

The winning bidders were fine art dealers Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, based in St James's, central London.

All proceeds from the sale will go to Rowling's charity, Children's Voice.

The Tales Of Beedle The Bard played a central role in the seventh book about the boy wizard, Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows.

A volume containing five wizard fairy tales was left to Hermione Granger by Hogwarts headteacher Albus Dumbledore, and provided clues to help Harry and his friends defeat his nemesis Lord Voldemort.

Only one of the five fairy tales, The Tale Of The Three Brothers, is recounted in the Deathly Hallows book. The other four are The Fountain Of Fair Fortune, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, The Wizard And The Hopping Pot, and Babbitty Rabbitty And Her Cackling Stump.

Rowling said before the auction: "The Tales Of Beedle The Bard is really a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for 17 years."

The fairy tale collection is "not about Harry, Ron and Hermione, but it comes from that world," she said.

Scroll down for more

JK Rowling's book of fairy tales was expected to fetch £50,000, but sold for almost £2 million instead

"It's been quite therapeutic in a way. A nice way to say goodbye."

Each of the seven copies is bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with different semi-precious stones.

The copy sold today is mounted with hand-chased silver ornaments and seven moonstones.

A dedication in the front states where the proceeds of the auction will be going and adds: "So to whoever now owns this book, thank you - and fair fortune be yours!"

Children's Voice, co-founded by Rowling, campaigns for child rights across Europe - particularly Eastern Europe - where more than a million children and teenagers are growing up in institutions, often in unacceptable conditions.

Rowling has said she has a "half-finished book for children" that will probably end up as her next published work.

Daniel Radcliffe as Rowling's most famous creation, the young wizard Harry Potter

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in