Rowling publishes 'The Tales of Beetle the Bard'

[DucksRMagical]

http://omg.yahoo.com/rowling-completes- ... /news/3619

Rowling completes post-Harry Potter book

November 1, 2007, 4:19 am PDT

Associated Press

LONDON - J.K. Rowling has completed her first book not to feature teen wizard Harry Potter an illustrated collection of magical fairy stories titled "The Tales of Beedle the Bard."

Only seven copies of the book are being printed, Rowling said Thursday. One will be auctioned next month to raise money for a children's charity, while the others have been given away as gifts.

Rowling drew the illustrations herself and provided the handwriting for the five stories that make up the collection of fairytales.

"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" is mentioned in the final Potter book, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," as a gift left by headmaster Albus Dumbledore to Harry's friend Hermione, and provides clues that help destroy evil Lord Voldemort.

"'The Tales of Beedle the Bard' is really a distillation of the themes found in the Harry Potter books, and writing it has been the most wonderful way to say goodbye to a world I have loved and lived in for 17 years," Rowling said in a statement.

The volume, bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with silver and semiprecious stones, will be auctioned at Sotheby's on Dec. 13 with a starting price of $62,000. Proceeds will go to The Children's Voice, a charity that helps vulnerable children across Europe.

"Deathly Hallows," the seventh and final installment in Harry's adventures, was published in July. The seven books have sold nearly 400 million copies and have been translated into 64 languages.

Rowling told the British Broadcasting Corp. that the book of fairytales had helped her say goodbye to Harry's world.

"It's not about Harry, Ron and Hermione, but it comes from that world," she told BBC radio in an interview broadcast Thursday. "So it's been therapeutic in a way."

Rowling said she was working on a new book, "a half-finished book for children that I think will probably be the next thing I publish."

On Wednesday, Rowling and the makers of the Harry Potter movies filed a lawsuit against RDR Books, a small U.S. publisher that plans to bring out a companion volume based on the Harry Potter Lexicon fan Web site.

Rowling has said she plans to produce her own encyclopedia of the wizarding world and says the book would infringe on her intellectual property rights.

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I want it! I hope she publishes copies for the general public at some point. Or includes it in the encyclopedia. I guess now it's official that she will write the encyclopedia.

[Phoenix15]

How come she won't publish more and sell them to the public? I know I would buy one.

[Scellanis]

Aww that sucks, publish a book and then go Nah, but you can't buy it, not unless you are as rich as me....thats really quite nasty....

[GodrictheGriffon]

I don't want to insult Rowling, but I'm with Scellanis on this one. It does seem very rude. But I guess that's so the charity gets more money. But, still....

[Phoenix15]

Maybe she'll surprize us again. lol Maybe she is just saying she is releasing so few so that the charity one makes ALOT of money. Then she'll release more. I don't know just a way-far-out-there guess.

[Scellanis]

Unfortunately that method would also make her look bad as she would then have lied and tricked people into spending too much money and also spoilt the unique gifts for the people they were given to.

[Simatra]

They showed it on the news at school and I was so excited, then it turned and slapped me in the face by saying there was only 7 copies... JKR is not one of my favorite people...I love her writing, but she herself irretats me.

[DucksRMagical]

I want to read them! But I do understand why she did it. She wanted to give a unique gift to the people who are close to her and have helped her along the way. I understand that. But I still wish she would publish them in a regular book for people to buy. Or put them on her website. Although, I do have a feeling the stories will wind up online eventually.

I really like JKR. I like her writing, but I also like her as a person. She's very nice. It does kind of bug me that I can't read the stories, but I still like her. She's very funny. Plus she adopted a dog from a shelter. That pretty much sealed the deal for me thinking she's awesome.

[DucksRMagical]

Apparently the book was featured on Good Morning America! I didn't see it because I don't wake up that early. But I found a video of it online! And they read part of it. It's part of the Tale of the Three Brothers, though, so we've already read it.

http://www.hpana.com/news.20290.html

[LameRubin]

7 copies of the ''the tales of..'' and one up for grabs at sotheby's.. what the (&¤#&(!!!..??? I don't get it! she've sold over 400 million copies of the HP-serie, and when the seventh book came out we were all heartbroken that we would have to end our journey in the wizarding-world.. I mean, who wasn't curious about ''the tales of..'' when he or she first read about it??? that's right, we all were.. so just when we thought harry potters world was all mapped out, Rowling made a turn, but not for us commoners, noooooo, even though i know she would've made far more than the 2 million to her charity she got for it at the auction..I mean my god! she've sold over 400 million copies of the HP-serie!! hello!!! well, I'm certain she could've have made something more like 200 million if ''the tales of..'' would hit the stores.. so tell me, is Rowling a NUT???:( Dennis(SWE)

[FawkesthePhoenix]

if she published it for the public, it wouldn't mean as much to the people who got them as presents.

[Scellanis]

She could have published a plain boring normal copy for the public and still given out the super fancy copies shes made with all the silver decorations and her own handwritten words as special 7...