Amazon wins copy of Rowling fairy tales

SEATTLE Amazon.com today revealed that it had the winning bid for J.K. Rowling’s “The Tales of Beedle the Bard.”

The company purchased the handwritten book for GBP 1,950,000 ($4 million) at an auction held by Sotheby’s in London. The book is one of only seven handmade copies of the collection of wizarding fairy tales Rowling mentions in the last book of the Harry Potter series, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The other six copies were given to friends of Rowling as a thank you for their help while she was writing the Harry Potter series.

The proceeds from the auction are being donated to The Children’s Voice campaign, a charity Rowling co-founded to help improve the lives of institutionalized children across Europe.

“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—and in particular children—in modern times," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon.com founder and ceo. "When we deliver Harry Potter, kids are camped out at the post box, and the drivers get hugs."

Amazon has published editorial reviews of the five fairy tales featured in the collection on http://www.amazon.com/beedlebard. Visitors are invited to discuss these and other Harry Potter stories with other fans. The company added that Amazon editors will be taking questions about the tales from all comers on its discussion boards, starting immediately.