Amazon Dishes Out $3.98M for J.K. Rowling Book

jk-rowling.pngThe secret is out. Amazon has revealed that it paid nearly $4 million for J.K. Rowling's hand -written volume of fairy tales of "The Tales of Beedle the Bard" yesterday. The collection of fairy tales is Rowling's final farewell to the Harry Potter series; it is the real manifestation of the book Albus Dumbledoor gave to Hermione in order to help the famed trio find the evil Lord Voldermort. Amazon was represented by Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox at the Sotheby's auction, and the e-commerce retailer has no intention of reselling the book.

Here are a few numbers for you:

7 copies of the book were created by Rowling

6 copies were given away to family and friends

1 copy was offered for public sale

The book was estimated to fetch $100,000

The book sold for $3.98 million

beetle-bard.pngThe proceeds of the book will go towards a charity co-founded by Rowling, called Children's Voice. And in an effort to achieve some of the goals laid out by this charity, Amazon will be making sure as many people as possible get to experience the book, through public readings, such as in schools. Amazon is currently trying to figure out how this will become a reality, without infringing on any copyright issues regarding the book, but I'm sure those kinks will get worked out in no time.

The retailer has stated that its purchase of the book is a way of giving thanks to the author that sparked a reading frenzy in children and young adults across the world. Considering how many Harry Potter books were sold through Amazon, the company has a lot to be thankful for. And thanks to Amazon's hefty payout, three records were broken for the Sotheby's auction:

This is the highest price achieved at auction for a modern literary manuscript

This is an auction record for a work by J.K. Rowling

This is an auction record for a children's book

Maybe Pete will let me start posting fairy tales.

[via Times Online UK]

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