'Harry Potter' Fans Disappointed
Only seven handwritten copies of the books exist, disappointing fans.
LONDON, Nov. 2, 2007 — -- "Harry Potter" fans brace yourselves. The wizardry tales of "Beedle the Bard" -- mentioned in the final book "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" -- are handwritten and the illustrations are by J.K. Rowling herself. But here's the catch: Only seven of the books exist in the world!
"Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the 'Harry Potter' books during the past 17 years. This seventh book will be auctioned," Rowling explained in a recent BBC interview.
Harry Potter and his world of wizards, witches and warlocks has made Rowling a rich woman. The author has sold 350 million books and counting, been translated into 65 languages and had her work made into highly successful movies. But this time, Rowling told the BBC, the money will go to a charity in Europe close to her heart.
"I could not think of any person with less of a voice, more disenfranchised than a child with mental health issues or mental illness or mentally handicapped who has been taken from their family or given by their family to a mental institution and then placed in a cage," she said.
Rowling put pen to paper to say farewell to all things Harry Potter.
"I've been writing about the world, about Harry, Ron and Hermione, but it comes from that world. It's been partly, I didn't expect it to be, but it's been therapeutic in a way -- a nice way to say goodbye," she said.
What about those fans who won't get to enjoy the tales?
Fourteen-year-old Terrel Phelps is not too happy. "It's kind of depressing," he told ABC News, "because I know there's gonna be something in it that I really don't know yet I won't get to know, and that makes me upset."
Fourth-grader Alexis Harris from New York is more resigned. "I think it would be nice to read it but … what can you do?''
If you're thinking of bidding on the one book up for auction next month, the starting price is a mere $60,000.
But diehard "Potter" fans shouldn't be too disheartened -- Rowling owns the copyrights to her new fairy tales, and their mysteries may still one day be revealed.
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