The one-off copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, handwritten by J.K. Rowling, was previously owned by Barry Cunningham, the publisher who first signed the author, who was a struggling single mum when she conjured up the wizarding world of Potter and his pals.
Rowling hand wrote seven copies of her collection of fairy tales set in the Harry Potter universe and gave six as presents to “those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books”.
The seventh copy, made by Rowling to raise money for her charity Lumos, was sold at auction by Sotheby’s in 2007 for £1.95m, the Guardian reports.
Cunningham sold the book through Sotheby’s in London with Rowling’s blessing, revealing he will donate some of the proceeds from the auction to the writer’s charity, Lumos.
The rare book features illustrations drawn by Rowling and an inscription which reads: “To Barry, the man who thought an overlong novel about a boy wizard in glasses might just sell… THANK YOU.”
The Tales of Beedle the Bard was originally released in 2007.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard was originally released in 2007.