A bejeweled, handwritten book of the "Harry Potter" spinoff "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" has been sold at auction for $470,000.
J.K. Rowling wrote the 6,000 words of the book by hand, and only seven copies of the book exist, although each one is unique. Six of the books were given to people close to the "Harry Potter" books, and the seventh was made specifically for auction (it sold for over $200,000 in 2007).
The Moroccan leatherbound book sold Tuesday was owned by publisher Barry Cunningham, who first signed Rowling to write the "Harry Potter" series.
Cunningham sold the book with Rowling’s blessing and will donate some of the profits to Lumos, Rowlings’ charity, the BBC reported. The book’s inscription says, “To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell ... THANK YOU.”
“The Tales of Beedle the Bard” was mentioned in “The Deathly Hallows” when one of its stories led Harry, Ron, and Hermione to discover the existence of the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Cloak of Invisibility.
The book’s cover has a silver skull mounted in the center with semiprecious stones in the eyes and in the silver designs surrounding the skull. It was given to Cunningham to thank him for his role in the success of the Harry Potter series of books. Cunningham now has his own publishing company, Chicken House, which publishes children’s books such as “Inkheart” and “Dragonrider.”
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