Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Amazon revealed as Rowling book buyer

Emily Dugan
Saturday 15 December 2007 01:00 GMT
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The mystery bidder for J K Rowling's 1.95m book of fairy tales has been revealed as the online bookseller Amazon. The one-off handwritten copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was sold at Sotheby's on Thursday.

All proceeds from the book's purchase will go to Rowling's charity, The Children's Voice.

When Amazon announced it was the winning bidder yesterday, it said it was its role in distributing millions of copies of Harry Potter books to children that had inspired it to enter the auction.

The founding chief executive of the online shop, Jeff Bezos, said: "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."

There are only seven copies of the volume of fairy tales, which is a spin-off from Rowling's highly successful Harry Potter series. In Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows, the final book in the series, stories from The Tales of Beedle the Bard play a key role in Harry's destruction of his long-standing enemy, Lord Voldemort.

After the sale, Rowling said: "This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in