Greetings from London, where today I had the great pleasure of visiting Sotheby’s and being granted a private audience with one of the precious seven copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard. The charity copy was brought out to me wrapped in soft purple cloth, nestled in a special box from its jeweler.
The book is set for auction on December 13 at Sotheby’s, and Sotheby’s has printed a special catalog featuring it. Buying the catalog supports The Children’s Voice Charity; Leaky now has four extra copies of this book and will be conducting a special, short drive so that fans who want to support the effort, but can’t buy Beedle the Bard, can do so. More information on that will be available shortly.
The book is about 4×6”, and has the look of a diary. A Scottish jeweler has hand-wrought the silver pieces that adorn the item’s front; the four corners each have a tiny engraving of one of four illustrations: a foot, a fountain, a tree stump and a heart, representing each of four of the stories . The middle piece, the large silver skull, represents The Tale of the Three Brothers, the fifth story and the one featured in Deathly Hallows. A small silver clasp closes the book.
Each edition is also set with different types of stones; the charity edition is the moonstone one, which, Jo notes, is associated with “mothers, lovers and the power of dreams.” The gems look clear or bluish depending on the angle; as has been seen in pictures, a stone sits in each of the skull’s eye sockets and on each corner. The Deathly Hallows sign is not on the skull.
Inside the book, the pages are rough-edged and impressively illustrated; anyone who has seen Jo’s artistic handiwork knows her precise and playful style, and that’s present throughout. Where she makes personal comments, the pages are bordered in flowers and other flourishes. One page has a stone arch at the top, another has a shoe at the bottom – which I’ve been told play important roles in respective stories. The chapter illustrations are particularly beautiful; my favorites were the Fountain of Fair Fortunes, which looks as though it’s overflowing with something wispy and intangible, and the hairy heart, because, frankly, it was gross.
Some left-side blank pages feature a wand with all sorts of glitterati clouding its tip, as though in the middle of a particularly showy spell. The inscription thanks the would-be author and wishes him/her fair fortune. Once in awhile there’s a handwriting tick, such as in Jo capitalizing a word after first writing it lowercase, that makes the book yet more valuable.
I can now say with authority that the hardest thing to do in the presence of this unique item is to hold yourself back from drooling on it. I even experienced a momentary urge to grab it, finagle an impressive escape from Sotheby’s security, and disappear forever with the stories tucked under my arm. Of course, I wasn’t able to read the whole thing, though I easily would have sat and done so. What I did see gave the impression that these are, as expected, simple, elegant, playful stories that may not tell us more about Harry’s world but do inform the moral laws governing it.
The minority opinion I’ve seen on this book, which takes Jo to task for not making these stories immediately available to the public, is somewhat upsetting; this is a magnificent and special item that she didn’t have to create at all, nevermind offer up for charity. It will only raise more for charity since the contents are unknown. And the idea that the other six books will be in the hands of those who have held Harry most dear for the longest time is especially endearing.
The special Sotheby’s catalog about the book offers a new blurb from J.K. Rowling about the work, which says:
“So these wizarding fairy-tales have much in common with their muggle counterparts: they exist to express human hopes and fears, and to teach a lesson or two. There are, however, a few important differences: witches tend to save themselves, rather than waiting for a man to do it, and young wizards are warned, not against the dangers and temptations of the outside world, but of their own magical powers.”
You can buy the catalog here; proceeds benefit Children’s Voice. Again, Leaky has several copies and will be giving details about a special drive shortly.
The item is due to be auctioned on December 13, and as previously reported, will on display be at the New York’s Sotheby’s on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of the coming week. While available, children who visit it will receive badges that say that they have been among the lucky few to see it.
Johanna Go to Leaky’s article by Melissa and scroll down to the word “here” in red. That is a link to Sotheby’s site and they are used to dealing with people from all over the world, and the catalogues are raising money for Jo’s charity.
hollyandphoenixfeather , Jo is not making money from this auction. It is going to charity. And why should she make available to the public? This is a gift for those involved in actually creating Harry Potter. No matter how passionate the fan base is, the fans do not actually create the books. And only she creates the story and the characters.
Besides, she gives us PLENTY. She allows most fan fiction, which others authors do not. She goes on tours, reads to huge audiences, and has signed thousands of books. We also get movies. She gives huge amounts of money to charity. I have no problem with her creating something special for a few people who have been instrumental to Harry Potter. More so even than the fans.
And so the odious worshipping of this woman persists. Unquestioning -hero worship -when, as here, money is the sole object; the real fans miss out again.
And so the ill informed criticism persists. Jo isn’t making a penny out of these books, in fact it probably cost her a moderate amount of money to have them made, aside from all the time she put into making them. I think a lot of us expect the text of this book to be published a year or so down the line, maybe by itself, maybe as part of the encyclopedia, so we will probably get to read it at some point.
“And so the odious worshiping of this woman persists. Unquestioning -hero worship -when, as here, money is the sole object; the real fans miss out again.”
I really don’t think this is the case. Many of us have thought about it, debated it, and come to a conclusion. You are of course free to come to your own. I for one strongly disagree with some of JKR’s decisions, either in text or on some of the political views she has hinted at.
To agree with someone who is successful is not unquestioning hero worship. Give us more credit than that please.
well yes, money IS sole object here…for charity! Why do people so willingly forget that? If the tales were published they wouldn’t raise half as much, sheesh!
Thank you so much Melissa definetly travelling down to London to see this. And as for those people who keep bitching about not seeing it, Im astounded do you have any idea the amount of money this will raise for so many unbelevably cruely treated children in this world. They have faced horrors we never shall, and the sale of this book is dedicated to them if anyone. And I cant think of a more worthier recipient
Its the almost blind hero worship that I object to. I take it for granted that we all love the 7 books -Yes ? Fine.
But – things like the attack on the wonderful Lexicon (when they have utilised it) -show the author in the worst possible light. She could stop it -if she really wanted to.
I am of the honest opinion that financal matters are now the ultimate concern of the author.
Another obvious example -As a wise poster said recently, when JKR was asked (during the Blue Peter iv on the very eve of the publication of book 7) the same question re Dumbledore and love that she received at Carnegie Hall -she fudged it, clearly sa as to not harm book sales.
Yet on this site- her pathetic attempt following Carnegie Hall to say “Well -no-one asked me before” – was received as if it was holy writ !
JKR has changed -and not for the better. Oh yes -I love her books -but not her Voldermort like cult.
you are gross and wrong. Talk about blind worship, why do ‘t you READ. The lexicon case, the facts. She should be a lot more vicious and go after the site and teve. And yet she doesnot. You are clearly one of THEIR blind followers, which is ugh, much worse. Go elsewherei
since you aren’t even the smallest fan.
umm guys.. i really wanna read this book, and normally i would respect her decision to not publish this book if it really made so much money for charity. HOWEVER, if she published the book, so much more money would go to charity. If it REALLY was all for charity, she would just publish it.
M Jones: Yes, Jo ducked the question in the Blue Peter, but that is hardly surprising, given the circumstances and because book 7 was so close. So, yes she was asked the question before, but the circumstances were very different. So it was a very minor mistake.
The Lexicon issue is more tricky, I don’t think anyone is exactly happy with how this issue has ended up, but most of us, with hindsight, can at least understand the reasons why Jo and WB have acted this way, in particular because of some very good explanations of the legal issues involved on the forums.
Thank you “richa” for installing a bit of reality into these proceedings. If JKR really wanted to raise as much money as possible for charity, she would have published the book.
She did’nt -end of story -Game,set, match !
As for the death eater like “ugh” above, wanting JKR to be even “more vicious” (her word)towards “Lexicon”, does this not really indicate why things aorund JKR have changed so much in recent times. She used to utlisse the Lexicon herself and gave it a site award. Warners used it in their DVDs.
Now – the green giant of money has corrupted her and she wants to destroy the poor guy.
As I said I love her books but the strange surgical enhancement of her changed appearance is as nothing to the terrible change in her personality.
M. Jones, you have not only repeatedly and needlessly insulted JKRowling and others, you just called one of our users a death eater. One more post like this and you will be banned.
Same for everyone who feels like throwing insults around is the way to discuss. It’s really not.
Further, M. Jones, J.K. Rowling has said she hasn’t had surgical enhancements and if you want to say otherwise you’re going to have to show proof. And surely we’ve missed where you’ve stated the history of your long and detailed interaction with J.K. Rowling, not only to know, personally, her personality but how it’s changed over the years? Do not use Leaky to come here and spew uninformed insults. Be nice, or be gone.
Thanks to everyone who has managed to remain civil even in the face of such encouragement not to be.
Johanna Go to Leaky’s article by Melissa and scroll down to the word “here” in red. That is a link to Sotheby’s site and they are used to dealing with people from all over the world, and the catalogues are raising money for Jo’s charity.