FROM IBOOKCOLLECTOR # 93

Two contrasting manuscripts - the sale's results


There are only seventeen original copies of the Magna Carta still in existence. English archives and libraries hold fifteen of them and Australia has one, and none of these are ever likely to be sold.
In New York, the only original Magna Carta still in private hands, and arguably the most important document ever to be auctioned, was sold on December 18 for $21.3 million to a telephone bidder, selling for the lower range of its pre-sale estimate of 20 to 30 million dollars.The proceeds from the sale of the Magna Carta are to go to a charity set up by billionaire and twice US presidential candidate in the 1990s, Ross Perot, whose foundation bought it in 1984 for $1.5 million. For approximately five centuries before that, it belonged to the wealthy English Brudenell family of Deene Park in Northhamptonshire, however little is known about how they acquired it. In London, the only copy available to the public of J K Rowling’s handwritten and illustrated The Tales of Beedle the Bard was sold on the 13 December at Sotheby’s, New Bond Street, for £1,950,000 to Amazon, the on-line retailer. We had forecast that the ludicrously low estimate would be beaten but we were astonished by the hammer price.
Temple Bookbinders of Oxford, bidding on behalf of a private client were the under bidder. Although Ian Barnes, the owner of Temple Bookbinders was disappointed not to be able to secure this item for his client, he and his client were both thrilled to have pushed the selling price so high because the money raised by this sale will be donated to the charity, "The Children's Voice Campaign".


Amazon, as you would expect, already have details and pictures of their purchase displayed on their web site. As we understand the situation, and Sotheby's press department had the answer phone on this afternoon so we couldn't check, Amazon are not permitted to publish the volume or indeed publish pictures of the text or illustrations. Their web site carries some 35 pictures called "Images from The Tales of Beedle the Bard". There are some great pictures of the covers of the book and several of Sotheby's building and their flag, but the nearest you get to the book are some "fuzzy" shots of pages and the brief glimpse of some of Rowling's hand written text looking from the edge of the pages of the book. This obviously presents Amazon with a dilemma - how far can they go in showing the book without breaking the agreement. And will Harry Potter fans get excited by the pictures shown on Amazon's web site!


Book of Mormon .
The Mormons consider the Book of Mormon to be scripture on par with the Bible. The Church founder Joseph Smith is said to have translated the book from gold plates delivered to him by an angel. So interest was high at a recent sale in Geneva, New York.The rare first edition of the Book of Mormon once owned by a Utah newspaper music critic fetched $97,900 including the premium. The 177-year-old book was sold to an undisclosed