A rare hand-written copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard is due to appear in the English Literature, History, Children’s Books and Illustrations sale on December 13.
It’s one of seven manuscript copies that the world renowned author has produced, handwritten and illustrated, and it was presented to her publisher, Barry Cunningham, who first accepted the Harry Potter series for publication. In the front of the book, JK Rowling writes: “To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell… THANK YOU”.
The seventh manuscript in the series, which was specifically made for the occasion, sold for £1.95 million at an auction to raise money for J.K Rowling’s charity, Lumos. The other six were presented to those who were closest to the author and “most connected to the Harry Potter books”.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a volume of five wizarding tales that was left to Hermione Granger by Albus Dumbledore in the final book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. It’s a beautiful handwritten manuscript bound in Moroccan leather and adorned with sterling silver ornaments and semi-precious stones. We reckon people will go Potty over it and it’ll end up going for a Sirius amount of money…
The book will be available to view at Sotheby’s in London from 9–13 December.
[Feature image: Sotheby’s]