wowza thats a lot

first? WOW THATS A LOT OF MONEY...

3rd!

Aww, wow that's great! I'm glad the auction was so successful. =)

Wow, that's awesome!

That's awesome. Almost 2 million! =O

I'm so glad that generous people are willing to give a lot of money to go to such a great cause!

omg wow thats great!!! if i was rich i would pay that for it

Aw, lok at her, she's so cute. ^_^ She's so excited about how much she's going to give back to those kids. I love her :)

If she cares so much about the "children in need", why doesn't she donate, let's say, half of her fortune to the cause?

Why does Sotheby's website list the sales total as "3,715,028 GBP"?

i was just gonna submit this news! i think it's excellent that the book has fetched so much money - that's around $4 million! i only wish the general public could've had a look at the book -sigh- tessi: have you noticed how much work jkr does for charity? i don't see many other celebs and millionaires doing as much.

"If she cares so much about the "children in need", why doesn't she donate, let's say, half of her fortune to the cause?" JK Rowling has given hundreds of thousands of pounds of her own money to many charities well known throughout Britian and Europe. Children's and MS charities are her favorites. So she decided to do something that will entertain as well as help out needy kids, what's so wrong with that?? She's got an amazing talent, why shouldn't she utilize it to do some good in the world! Good for you Jo, your heart is as big as your bank account! God bless you for your kindness.

If she wanted to get the kids more money, she would have published this book, sold it for $19.95 each and probably put tens of millions in the charity's hands...

That's amazing!! I wonder who bought it? If I had that much money I probably would have... As for JK giving half of her fortune to charity, why should she? She has earned that money and she does some amazing things with it. Critisising her and saying why didnt she give more is just ungrateful. Plus things need to be done slowly. If you put too much money into something at one time it will just get wasted and spent where it isn't needed. Plus the economy would probably go haywire.

Cool ! Go Jo, Go HARRY POTTER !!!

It would have been nice if she has sold it worldwide and used the proceeds towards the charity. I wonder if they are allowed to make copies and sell. :-/

i soo agree. if she wanted money for charity. she could wasily sell it to the whole world and make 100s of millions. It pains me so much to read about this book...and to know i can never ever read it. I love harry potter soo much. how can she do this to us. she needs to put herself in our sshoes......personally i hope it comes on the internet. i have to read that book.

People who say JKR should have had millions of copies published, the whole point of her writing these books was to give something special back to those who've supported her, and on the side give an extra one away at auction and give the proceeds to charity. I think people who say 'she could have published millions of copies and raised so much more for charity' are actually being quite selfish because they primarilly want the book for themselves - that wasn't the point of these books.

Certainly she earned hundreds of millions of pounds through her writing of the Harry Potter series, but it would be absurd to think that she deserves that amount of money. Her idea of charity and that of many, many others who live in wealthy, industrialised societies is nothing short of perversion. Donating amounts that mean nothing to you, have no impact on your own financial situation (the average person may give GBP 50.00, she donates a million) is welcomed and praised by the media and most politicians. What's more, the one who donates even expects gratitude from the recipient. For what? By that logic, please go out onto the streets, throw a pound, a euro, a dollar at some homeless guy and demand he be grateful! God forbid we should working towards establishing a national, a global social justice that ensures no one has more money than he or she could ever spend in any reasonable fashion and no one has to starve to death either.

jkr is amazing!

Wow - congratulations Jo! For all you who say JK hasn't done enough for charity remember that this book only exists because of her generous nature: she wanted to thank six of those closest to her as she created Harry Potter over the past 17 -18 years and "for good luck" she created a seventh edition and GAVE it to charity. What about this don't people understand? In an age of self indulgent immature celebrities, JK stands out as one of the most generous persons out there! Check your own hearts and wallets before you dumb on Jo. As for not being able to read it - I for one don't mind that there is something Harry Potter that remains a mystery - who knows what Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox will do?! Perhaps they'll put it on display and those of you fortunate enough to live in London, England will get to see it after all!

To whoever said that Jo should give half of her fortune to charity: Alright, why don't you give half of everything you own? Jo has donated countless amounts of money to the less fortunate, and now all you're asking for is MORE MORE MORE! To all those who said that she should have published it and made more money for charity: She could hardly sell a hundred or so page book for $20 a piece, and I gurantee that it wouldn't have sold $4,000,000 worth because only die-hard fans would buy it. Most people wouldn't care to read wizarding fairy tales. You're just jealous that you'll never be able to read it.

I may be reacting too soon but at this point I am surprised and dissapointed that J.K. has chosen to exclude the fans, the people who bought her books. This seems very elitist. It was also a poor way to raise money for charity as it has raised much less than it would have if published. But I may be reacting too soon. These special copies could have been distributed and the books published also. This would have provided those people with very special and vauable copies and served charity and the fans. This may be the plan, but that has not been said so far, so I wonder.

Randy, just picture that you're the person who just paid $4,000,000 for this book because it's valuable and what-not. If they decided to publish it, then the person who bought it would be pissed off because what they paid millions of dollars for just went down to about $100,000 at most. It won't be published.

Well it would be worth less if it wasnt rare. she did it first as a privte gift for her friends not for the community. so stop it. she is more genourus then most people. and it would be more fun to write fanfictions to fit with the stories names. And of couse it sold for so much. It's Harry Potter. It's Jo book. And they are both AWESOME

Why do people feel JK owes them anything else? I mean more stories more information about Harry? Aren't the seven incredible books more than enough? Use your imagination and write your own 'tales of the bard' - leave the poor woman alone - she's gifted the world with Harry and if that's not enough than its your problem not her's. I can't imagine this kind of conversation after C.S. Lewis finished the Narnia series or J.R.R. Tolkien completed Lord of the Rings. This sense of entitlement and wanting more more more is crazy. Yes, I'm sorry book seven is finished and there isn't anymore but get over it and get on with your lives. For Pete's sake - its just a book - yes a book we all loved and enjoyed - but a book nonetheless. Thanks Jo for 7 great books and I for one am thrilled that "Children's Voice" gets nearly two million pounds - who knows what that will mean for kids who have nothing!

if she had made loads of copies and sold them worldwide it wouldn't have been so special. also they'd have publishing costs, money taken by the publishers etc. and the fact not everyone who buys harry potter would buy it it may not have got much more anyway. i think this was a good idea. VERY jealous though :(

Hm.. If we can gather 4 million Harry Potter fans to sign a petition that we really want to read the tales of Beedle the Bard? Maybe that helps :p We'd better had to find 4 million Harry Potter fans all paying $1, go to Sotheby's, get the book and then we could copy the book for all of us... I know that's impossible, but don't you get the point? We've been stupid! :D

That is wonderful. :)

JUST PUBLISH THE THING ALREADY!!! Kidding, kidding...

These are unique books and will become more valuable as time goes by even if there is a publication. I dont think anything can affect their value, being hand written. It occurs to me that a very good way to increase sales on a book eventually to be published for charity would be to handle it this way. How many more people will want it because its something they can't have :)

Congratulations Jo, wish I could read it though =P he he

Wow - I watched that on newsround, they showed a big shot of someone flicking through the book which you could probably read if you were realyl obsessed...

While I agree it wouldn't be as special if the book were published and available to the fans, I think it would still be a good idea. I know a lot of people who would buy and read it just like people bought "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" and "Quidditch Through the Ages". The copies Jo gave to friends and the one that went up for auction were hand-written and that makes them a lot more special, in my mind, than a commercially published work. I applaud Jo for doing what she does best, but I would still like to read "Tales of Beedle the Bard" one day.

tessi, who would get to decide the "reasonable fashion" everyone gets to live in? and what would motivate people to excell beyond their current situation if all they can ever hope for is how they're dictated to live? anyway it's hardly JKR's fault that the proceeds from her entertaining books vastly exceed the penance of being an typical mortal;)

Wowza! That's an awful lot of money...Good for charity...

WOW!!!! that is just amazing!!!! i freakin LOVE jk rowling...she is the best ever!!!!! shes so generous!!!!

!@*&^!*@^#(@!&*#^(@!&*#^! @#@!&* Then the book will never be published!!!!!! Quit dreaming, it won't be published!!!! =(

That is absolutely wonderful! Jo is so generous to sit down and hand-write each one of those books just when she had the chance to relax, and then give one to charity. Of course I would have liked to have read it, but the fact that only seven people have the book is what makes it so special. She has already published two books for charity and let everyone in the world buy them, and I think what she did this time was perfectly fine. Not only did it probably raise more money, but it will have a lot more sentimental value to those other six people who have been with Jo all the way.

that is soo amazing.....too bad its not being published,..but thats so amazing that she raised so much money for it!!!!!! i love jo

That's so great! I have two questions though: 1) Who bought it? 2) What does the money go towards?

Wow that's a lot more than they expected it to go for. That's great. At least she's helping charity. She totally earned the money she has, and she could do whatever she wants with it but she uses it for charity.

If i had that much money i would have spent that too.

Oooh! I wonder who bought it!

Even if I had the money, I wouldn't spend it on the book. Haha, I hope someone scans/takes a picture and puts it on the internet.

WOW! That is sooooo much money

Oh woww .... That's a LOT of money. But they are worth more than that. Lol :) I'd love to read another story from Beedle the Bard ! :)

Y'know, I can see one of these books ending up on the Antiques Roadshow in a couple of hundred years time. =D Hahaha.

lucky person they are indeed....Its so great the jo donates to charity and stuff. :)