by Travis
I decided this deserved its own post.
Exciting news: Amazon is selling copies of The Tales of Beedle the Bard, available for pre-order! (If you decide to order a copy, please do so by clicking to it from this site; that way, you can support The Hog’s Head at the same time!) Proceeds go to The Children’s High-Level Group.
This is a very exciting development for me, as I believe Rowling’s inclusion of the Tales in her story was a very creative and potent defense of the power of the fairy tale. It’s the basic premise of chapter one of my book, which I’ve titled, “The Tales of Rowling the Bard.”
If you don’t want to spend the $100 on the collector’s edition, you can get just the 5 tales, with commentary by Dumbledore, for $7.79.
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{ 14 comments… read them below or add one }
A Hundred Bucks!!! Yeah. My wife’s been pretty indulgent of my Harry Potter obsession but I’m thinking this is one book she won’t let me buy. Even if the money does go to charity.
Hopefully, Travis, you can write it off as a business expense.
Okay, my wife might let me spend the 7.79. That is, at least, cheaper than her Paranormal Romance books generally go for.
I wonder if Rowling wrote the Dumbledore commentary?
That is, I’m hoping it wasn’t written by a publishing company staffer.
I can’t imagine she’d let anyone else do it, and there’s no indication of another author involved.
As much as JKR has invested herself in HP, I also can’t see her letting anyone else write this stuff. Especially in regard to this book of tales she wrote. I don’t think she’s going to be writing everything that will go into the theme park, for example, but Beedle the Bard, yes.
Wow – while $100 is a lot, I thought of the limited copies of this book (I bet it will sell out by this weekend) and the money going to charity. I figure if you pre-order it now, and you wont’ be charged until it ships, you can try to save money each week, maybe by making coffee instead of buying it or something. It looks beautiful, and the charity it is going for is also fantastic. I worked with orphans in Romania for a summer. It was very difficult. I’m glad they’re working with kids there.
They don’t charge until they ship? That’s incentive for me to buy the Collectors Ed then! I’ve pre-ordered the standard copy because I was sure, like revgeorge, my husband would not be too crazy about me spending a hundred buck on my obsession… now I have 5 months to sweet talk him!
I also agree that Jo would not let anyone else write the commentary by Dumbledore, after all she knows him better than anyone
Yeah I doubt that JKR will let anyone else write the Dumbledore commentary. And yeah Amazon does not charge until they ship. I guess I better start saving my money.
I just read the descriptions of both. There is no textual difference between the $100 and the $8, except that the collector’s edition intro by J.K. Rowling is a copy of her handwritten intro – which we all know from the 800 prequel, we can’t read. The $100 has 10 extra illustrations, and a fancy cover with metal clasps and such. But both have all five stories and all of Dumbledore’s commentary.
Unless I missed something. Am I missing something?
No, that seems to be all the differences I saw, too. And we all know that somebody’ll post the ten extra illustrations online.
Would make a great give-away, metal clasps and moonstones and all, no?
It’s funny. Ordinarily I have no use for first editions and collector’s editions and such: I figure that it’s what’s in the book that counts. Plus metal clasps are so – pre-adolescent. And moonstones are so New Age.
So why do I covet this little fribble?
Is it a feeling that this is like an artefact which has somehow made its way into our world from the Wizards’ world? Is it a feeling that by holding this book in my hands I’d be holding something – albeit very, very faintly – magical?
Is it an incredibly successful sales pitch for those who hunger for all things Potter?
Why do those of you who do covet it, covet it?
Agree with Red Rocker. Though I’ll likely end up making the financially prudent choice, I want the collector’s edition because it feels like I’ll have part of the WW in my hands, in my world.
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