Seattle (WA) - Amazon.com was represented in an auction in Sotheby's yesterday, and the online retailer became the proud owner of a never-before-released handwritten book from J.K. Rowling, for around $4 million.
The book is an illustrated tale of wizardry called "The Tales of Beedle the Bard". It was mentioned in the final Harry Potter book as belonging to Hermione, Harry's friend.
Hazlitt, Gooden, and Fox, a London dealer, bid on behalf of Amazon, taking it all the way up to 1.95 million pounds ($3.98 million). The proceeds will go to Rowling's co-founded charity Children's Voice, a European organization to help battled children. Amazon has posted pictures of the book on its website.
"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 Amazon.com CEO John Bezos.
