Tales of Beedle the Bard, VERY limeted edition

[BarTopDancer]

Proceeds are going to charity.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Proceeds are going to charity.

Of the one copy of this hand-written edition that is being auctioned, yes. But is there any doubt that this will be published as a commercial book in some form or another?

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Proceeds are going to charity.

Which is a great excuse to do something to get your name in the papers some more.

Sorry, I've been annoyed at her since book 5...

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

Which is a great excuse to do something to get your name in the papers some more.

Sorry, I've been annoyed at her since book 5...

Would you prefer for her to keep the money?

She's going to write what she is going to write so why not write for a good cause. Some day her fame will be over. She'll be a blip on the pop-culture radar. Our kids will be hearing about the Harry Potter craze on VH1 I love the '00s.

[Moonliner]

How quickly do the faithful turn.

[Cadaverous Pallor]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

Would you prefer for her to keep the money?

No, I'd prefer her to give a large sum to charity, period. Sure, print up a large cardboard check and get photographed, that's cool. But this whole "I wrote it with my own hands" stuff that gets fans into a froth of ecstasy is just self-serving, IMHO. Why even tell us she's giving copies to friends? "Oh by the way, I totally gave my friends something WAY valuable as a gift. Yup, I did that."

Originally Posted by BTD

Some day her fame will be over. She'll be a blip on the pop-culture radar. Our kids will be hearing about the Harry Potter craze on VH1 I love the '00s.

I dont' think she's going back down into a blip, same way George Lucas is still wealthy, well known, and influential. With her kind of money she can start any company she wants, much as Lucas did, and keep her name rolling for generations. That is, if she's smart.

I don't put sequels/prequels/side stories/oh wait here's another Hogwarts series etc past Rowling, same way Lucas revived his franchise, especially in 20 years. She's young yet, and even when she goes, perhaps the fan fic will finally get its day on the shelves, if not sooner, a la Lucas' massive book empire, written by plenty of Tom Dick and Harry fanboys, really.

Originally Posted by Moonliner

How quickly do the faithful turn.

Heh, like I said, I haven't been a big fan since book 5. Even then, I only originally got into them because I worked at a children's library, and that was about 3 years after the first book came out, so I was late to the game. I won't deny the awesomeness of those first four books - they stand up against any children's literature ever written - but celebrity antics, blech.

[lashbear]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

No, I'd prefer her to give a large sum to charity, period. Sure, print up a large cardboard check and get photographed, that's cool. But this whole "I wrote it with my own hands" stuff that gets fans into a froth of ecstasy is just self-serving, IMHO..

But without the auction of the book the money would come from her own pocket. With the auction, someone gets to donate a large sum to a worthy charity, and in return gets a very limited edition of a book... whether it becomes available in print is moot, because there will only ever be 7 handwritten versions. That's not a big run, really.

If I were Bruce Wayne or some other philanthropic billionaire I'd buy it !!

[wendybeth]

She already does give very large sums to charity- she's quite well known for her philanthropy. She's also still pretty famous, so I don't think this is a bid for attention. Believe me, when she gets to be like Oprah I will be the first one in line to criticize, but for now I think she's done a nice thing and I'm not going to knock her for that.

[Gn2Dlnd]

Originally Posted by lashbear

If I were Bruce Wayne or some other philanthropic billionaire I'd buy it !!

If I were Bruce Wayne or some other philanthropic billionaire I'd hit it.

[Ponine]

Fairy tale book handwritten, illustrated by J.K. Rowling sells for $4 million

LONDON – A book of fairy tales created, handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling sold for nearly $4 million at auction Thursday.
The buyer, London art agent Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, now has one of only seven copies of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard,” which is leather bound with silver mounts.

The book originally had been expected to sell for about $100,000. The standing-room-only crowd at Sotheby's auction house applauded as bidding topped the 1 million pound ($2 million) mark.

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