Rare Book Monthly

Articles - January - 2008 Issue

Rowling Book Sells For $4 Million

Beedle the Bard from the Amazon.com website.

Beedle the Bard from the Amazon.com website.


By Michael Stillman

We have come to expect that some books will sell at auction for well beyond their estimates. Sometimes an auction house may not appreciate the book's importance, at other times bidders can simply get caught up in the excitement of the moment. However, what occurred at Sotheby's December 13 was truly astounding. A book, rare (by design), though certainly not antiquarian, sold for forty times the high estimate. That high estimate was no bargain basement price either. Estimated to sell for $60,000-$100,000, a handwritten work by billionaire author J.K. Rowling, of Harry Potter fame, sold for an astonishing £1,950,000, or approximately $4 million. If I were her, I'd have my pen in hand right now, writing another, but when you are already a billionaire, who needs another $4 million?

The book's title is Tales of Beedle the Bard. It is not a Harry Potter book, but fits the same mystical, magical genre. Rowling handwrote seven copies of this book, but only one was placed up for sale. The other six are going to unnamed persons associated with the Potter saga. One can only expect that in time, and depending upon the financial needs of the six lucky recipients (who must be overjoyed by the results of this auction), these other six copies will make it to the market. Perhaps some will be offered in the relatively near future, others maybe not until the owners die and ownership falls to their estates. Eventually, the heirs are more likely to want millions in cash than a book to share amongst them.

The winning bidder was also a surprise. It was not a traditional collector or rare book library of some prestigious institution. The winner was bookselling giant Amazon.com. Amazon has undoubtedly made a great deal of money off Ms. Rowling's books, having sold many millions of them. They could afford it. Still, it is not exactly clear why they would spend so much for this book. They are already providing online reviews of the five stories that make up the book, and have created discussion forums. Perhaps the company feels the publicity and traffic to their site it generates will make it a good business decision. With a market cap of some $35 billion, this is small potatoes to Amazon, almost a transfer of funds from a billionaire 35 times over to a poor woman of just a single billion in wealth (actually, Ms. Rowling donated the proceeds to the Children's Voice Campaign, one of her favorite charities). If Amazon had chosen to distribute the $4 million to its shareholders instead of buying Ms. Rowling's book, the dividend would have amounted to a mere penny a share.

There is one mystery that remains to this story. Who were the other bidders? It was reported that there were five bidders in total, and at least one of them must have followed Amazon to the upper $3 millions before throwing in the towel. Who else was willing to pay such an astronomical amount for a book estimated at $60,000-$100,000? Some people have entirely too much money.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Bonhams, Dec. 18: A Very Fine Composite Atlas Magnificently Illuminated and Heightened with Gold in a Fine Contemporary Hand Throughout. $300,000 - $500,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Saint-Exupéry's Revised Ending for Wind, Sand and Stars. $40,000 - $60,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Edith Wharton's Gold Medal from the National Institute of Arts and Letters, 1924. $20,000 - $30,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Salinger on the Glass Family and on Detachment. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Fanny Burney's Groundbreaking First Novel. Evelina, Or a Young Lady's Entrance into the World. $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Kafka's Earliest Extant Piece of Writing. Autograph Note Signed ("Franz Kafka"). $10,000 - $15,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Wagner Signed "Ride of the Valkries." $6,000 - $9,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Dickens on the Death of Little Nell. $5,000 - $8,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Sylvia Plath's Copy of Joy of Cooking. $4,000 - $6,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Walt Whitman and Friends: Whitman to James Russell Lowell. $8,000 - $12,000
    Bonhams, Dec. 18: Walt Whitman and Friends: The Genesis of his Lincoln Lectures. $6,000 - $9,000
  • High Bids Win
    Bookbinding & Letterpress & Antiques Auction
    Dec. 4 – 19, 2024
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 67. Book Press
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 68. J. W. Daughaday Printing Press
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 69. C. & P. Pilot Press
    High Bids Win
    Bookbinding & Letterpress & Antiques Auction
    Dec. 4 – 19, 2024
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 73. Vandercook Cylinder Proof Press
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 76. Showcard Proof Press
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 80. C. & P. Printing Press
    High Bids Win
    Bookbinding & Letterpress & Antiques Auction
    Dec. 4 – 19, 2024
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 81. C. & P. Printing Press
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 82. Kelsey Star Printing Press
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 83. Pilot Press
    High Bids Win
    Bookbinding & Letterpress & Antiques Auction
    Dec. 4 – 19, 2024
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Lot 212. Kelsey Letterpress
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Wood & Metal Type. Many fonts and faces.
    High Bids Win, Dec. 4 – 19:
    Print Shop Miscellany including type, tools, and equipment.
  • Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: William Shakespeare.
    The Poems and Sonnets of William Shakespeare, 1960. 7,210 USD
    Sotheby’s: Charles Dickens.
    A Christmas Carol, First Edition, 1843. 17,500 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Golding.
    Lord of the Flies, First Edition, 1954. 5,400 USD
    Sotheby's
    Fine Books, Manuscripts & More
    Available for Immediate Purchase
    Sotheby’s: Lewis Carroll.
    Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There, Inscribed First Edition, 1872. 25,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: J.R.R. Tolkien.
    The Hobbit, First Edition, 1937. 12,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: John Milton.
    Paradise Lost, 1759. 5,400 USD

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