ROWLING, J.K. (author). Beedle the Bard. Translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger. London; Children’s High Level Group. Bloomsbury. 2008

8vo.; publisher’s decorated boards, designed to appear aged; pp. [x], xi-xvii + [iii], 3-108 + [i]; illustrated by Rowling; a fine copy, without ownership inscription.

First trade edition, first printing; issued without a dustwrapper.  A companion volume to Joanne Rowling’s famous Harry Potter series, being a collection of five wizarding stories referenced in the seventh, and final, volume in the saga “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” (2007).

This book was conceived as a personal present, and a hand-made project, to thank the few people in her immediate circle who were most involved with the creation of the Harry Potter phenomenon.  She produced, in manuscript, seven unique copies, each handwritten and embellished by her. Six were gifted and the seventh auctioned at Sotheby’s on December 13th, 2007 in aid of the Children’s High Level Group, a charity founded by the author to benefit vulnerable children in Eastern Europe. Amazon bought this copy for £1.95 million.

Rowling and her publisher then decided to produce a trade edition to support the same charity, as here.  It was released in the U.K. by her publisher Bloomsbury and in the U.S. by Scholastic.