Rowling fairytales fetch £1.95m

Guardian Unlimited

Pic show the inside cover of JK Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Photograph: Stephen Kelly/PA

A book of fairytales by the Harry Potter author, JK Rowling, has fetched £1.95m at auction.
The Tales of Beedle the Bard had been expected to fetch £30,000-£50,000. But there were frenzied scenes in the sale room at Sotheby's in central London as bidding got under way.
Only seven copies of the book exist and the other six were given to friends closely connected with the Harry Potter books.
The winning bidder was the fine art dealer Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, based in St James's, central London.

All proceeds from the sale will go to Rowling's charity, Children's Voice.
The handwritten book, bound in brown Morocco leather, is mounted with hand-chased silver ornaments and seven moonstones.

A dedication in the front reads: "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 institutionalised children who are in desperate need of a voice. So to whoever now owns this book, thank you - and fair
fortune be yours!"

The Tales of Beedle the Bard played a central role in Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final book about the schoolboy wizard.
A volume of the five fairytales was left to Hermione Granger by the Hogwarts headteacher, Albus Dumbledore, providing clues to help Harry and his friends defeat his nemesis,
Lord Voldemort.
Rowling has described writing the tales as "a wonderful way to say goodbye" to Harry.
Her charity campaigns to improve the lives of children in care across the world, particularly in
eastern Europe.