Amazon must want news stories with the words “Amazon” and “Book” in the title to help promote the Kindle, because how else can you justify spending $3.98 million for one of seven hand-written volumes of J.K. Rowling’s “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” (A real life version of the book that was a collection of fairy tales that Dumbledoor gave to Hermione to help them find Lord Voldermort in the last Harry Potter book.)
Rowling created seven copies of the book, then gave six away to friends and family, with one remaining for public sale. While the book was estimated to sell for $100,000, bidding soon turned that number into the tax, and Amazon paid out a hefty fee for the limited edition piece of history.
All is not lost though: The proceeds form the book go towards a charity that Rowling co-founded called Children’s Voice.
In addition, the Sotheby’s sale broke a number of records:
- The highest price achieved at auction for a modern literary manuscript.
- The highest price achieved at auction for a work by J.K. Rowling.
- The highest price achieved at auction for a children’s book.
I guess that’s quite the thank-you.
[Via: Mashable]
With the Kindle, Amazon hopes to revolutionize (and digitize) the book.
