The Tales of Beedle the Bard (real)

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a book written by J. K. Rowling, which was published on December 4, 2008. Issued nearly a year and a half after Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it stands as the most recent book published based upon the Harry Potter universe.

Handmade Copies
Only seven copies were handwritten by Rowling herself. Six were given to friends, and a seventh copy was auctioned for charity at Sotheby's on December 13, with bids starting at $62,000 (£30,000). The copy auctioned at Sotheby's is the moonstone edition, which is silver plated Moroccan leather with moonstones inset.



The copy auctioned at Sotheby's sold for £1.95 million to Amazon.com. A dedication in the front of the book read "Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books during the last 17 years. This seventh copy will be auctioned, the proceeds to help institutionalized children who are in desperate need of a voice."

It is meant to be a copy of the in-universe book The Tales of Beedle the Bard. (However, it would not be a copy of the book Albus Dumbledore left to Hermione Granger, as that one was written in ancient runes). The fictional background of this book is that it is supposedly a version edited and translated by Hermione Granger, including commentary written by Albus Dumbledore as part of a project left unfinished by his death.

General Public
Mass market editions were published in both the UK and North America on December 4, 2008, with a portion of the proceeds going to charity. In Canada, Bloomsbury's blue-covered edition was circulated, while a new cover was designed for the US version.

Amazon.com also offered 100,000 Collector's Edition copies that are replicas of the actual copy made by J.K. Rowling and sold at Sotherby's in 2007. The Collector's Edition sold for US$100 each on a limited run that was released on December 4, 2008.

The Collector's Edition
Amazon's commentary on the Collector's Edition states as follows:

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, Collector's Edition

Offered Exclusively by Amazon (Available in Limited Quantities)

''In December 2007, J.K. Rowling unveiled The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a very special book of five fairy tales illustrated by the bard herself, embellished with silver ornaments and mounted moonstones. Amazon was fortunate to come into possession of one of the original copies, and it was our privilege to share images and reviews of this incredible artifact. Now J.K. Rowling is giving millions of Harry Potter fans worldwide cause for celebration with a new edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard (available December 4, 2008) and Amazon is thrilled to exclusively offer a luxuriously packaged Collector’s Edition designed to evoke the spirit of the handcrafted original. Tucked in its own case disguised as a wizarding textbook found in the Hogwarts library, the Collector's Edition includes an exclusive reproduction of J.K. Rowling's handwritten introduction, as well as 10 additional illustrations not found in the Standard Edition or the original. Opening the case reveals a velvet bag embroidered with J.K. Rowling’s signature, in which sits the piece de resistance: your very own copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, complete with metal skull, corners, and clasp; replica gemstones; and emerald ribbon.''

''Offering the trademark wit and imagination familiar to Rowling's legions of readers--as well as Aesop's wisdom and the occasional darkness of the Brothers Grimm--each of these five tales reveals a lesson befitting children and parents alike: the strength gained with a trusted friendship, the redemptive power of love, and the true magic that exists in the hearts of all of us. Rowling's new introduction also comments on the personal lessons she has taken from the Tales, noting that the characters in Beedle's collection "take their fates into their own hands, rather than taking a prolonged nap or waiting for someone to return a lost shoe," and "that magic causes as much trouble as it cures.''

''But the true jewel of this new edition is the enlightening and comprehensive commentary (including extensive footnotes!) by Professor Albus Dumbledore, who brings his unique wizard's-eye perspective to the collection. Discovered "among the many papers which Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives," the venerable wizard's ruminations on the Tales allow today's readers to place them in the context of 16th century Muggle society, even allowing that "Beedle was somewhat out of step with his times in preaching a message of brotherly love for Muggles" during the era of witch hunts that would eventually drive the wizarding community into self-imposed exile. In fact, versions of the same stories told in wizarding households would shock many for their uncharitable treatment of their Muggle characters.''

''Professor Dumbledore also includes fascinating historical backstory, including tidbits such as the history and pursuit of magic wands, a brief comment on the Dark Arts and its practitioners, and the struggles with censorship that eventually led "a certain Beatrix Bloxam" to cleanse the Tales of "much of the darker themes that she found distasteful," forever altering the meaning of the stories for their Muggle audience. Dumbledore also allows us a glimpse of his personal relationship to the Tales, remarking that it was through "Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump" that "many of us [wizards] first discovered that magic could not bring back the dead.''

Both a wise and delightful addition to the Harry Potter canon, this new translation of The Tales of Beedle the Bard is all that fans could hope for and more--and an essential volume for the libraries of Muggles, wizards, and witches, both young and old.

Stories
The book contains five different stories:
 * The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
 * The Fountain of Fair Fortune
 * The Warlock's Hairy Heart
 * Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump
 * The Tale of the Three Brothers