Amazon Unveiled as $4M Buyer of Rowling Fairy Tales

Proceeds from the handwritten book will go to charity
Posted Dec 14, 2007 3:54 PM CST
Amazon Unveiled as $4M Buyer of Rowling Fairy Tales
In this undated photo issued Thursday Nov. 1, 2007, by London auction house Sotheby's, showing a page from a book, a hand-written and hand-illustrated copy of 'The Tales Of Beedle The Bard' by JK Rowling, which will be auctioned in December 2007 to raise money for a children's charity. There will...   (Associated Press)

The Internet giant of book sales revealed today that it was behind the purchase of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" in auction yesterday. Amazon paid $3.98 million for the handwritten manuscript -- a record for a children's book and for any modern literary manuscript, not to mention JK Rowling herself, reports Bloomberg. The money will go to a charity co-founded by the "Harry Potter" author.

The book is a collection of fairytales mentioned in a Harry Potter novel. Amazon has displayed photos of the manuscript, one of just seven copies, on its Web site. "Even before establishing her charity, J.K. Rowling had done the world a rare and immeasurably valuable service -- enlarging forever our concept of the way books can touch people," Amazon's Jeff Bezos said.

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