An extremely rare copy of Harry Potter–adjacent book The Tales of Beedle the Bard, handwritten by series author J.K. Rowling herself, sold Tuesday in England for a whopping £370,000 (about $470,000).
If you’re a Potterphile, then you know the significance of the book in the series — and you also know how incredibly cool it is to have a book handwritten by Rowling herself.
A brief recap for Muggles: After Dumbledore’s death, the Hogwarts headmaster bequeathed a first edition of the popular wizarding children’s tales to Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. On the page where the important “Tale of The Three Brothers” began was the mark of the Deathly Hallows — three items that, if used together, could make a wizard a “master of death.”
The bejeweled brown leather book was owned by the publisher who first signed Rowling, Barry Cunningham, and was one of only six copies she had given to people “most closely involved in the Harry Potter books.” Each book is written in Rowling’s hand and includes original illustrations as well.
The inscription on this one-of-a-kind work says: “To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell… THANK YOU.”.
Some of the proceeds of the book will go to Rowling’s charity, Lumos.
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