*** The Tales of Beedle the Bard *** Options

[McGonagall's Cat]

Just in time for the Christmas shopping season...





Times Online says :

July 31, 2008

J.K. Rowling's wizard Christmas gift to the bookshops

The Tales of the Beedle of the Bard, a prequel to the Harry Potter series, will go on general sale after all.
Fiona Hamilton


Excitement was followed by disappointment for millions of children - and many booksellers - last year when J.K. Rowling revealed that although she had written a Harry Potter prequel, she would release only seven copies of it.

However, in a feat of transfiguration worthy of the boy wizard himself, it was announced yesterday that the book of fairytales, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, would go on sale after all, in time for Christmas.

Within hours of the announcement of a December publication, the hype that surrounded the Harry Potter novels and films was building and Amazon began to take advance orders. Extracts, spoilers and offers of a collector's edition also appeared online. It had been thought that the book, written a few months after the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final in the series, would never be published.

Rowling had released seven handmade editions last year, auctioning one for charity and giving the others to friends who supported her through the 17 years that it took to complete the Harry Potter series. She said yesterday: “There was understandable disappointment among Harry Potter fans when only one copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was offered to the public last December.

“I am therefore delighted to announce that, thanks to the generous support of Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Amazon - and with the blessing of the wonderful people who own the other six original books - The Tales of Beedle the Bard will now be widely available to all Harry Potter fans.” The release of the title will be a stroke of magic for Rowling's publisher Bloomsbury, with fans still lapping up anything related to her boy wizard.

With no new Harry Potter titles to follow, there had been speculation that the company was worried about whether it could continue to grow.

The Tales were a central part of the final Harry Potter book. Albus Dumbledore, the headmaster of Hogwarts, bequeathed a volume containing five wizard fairytales to Harry's friend, Hermione Granger. It offered clues to help Harry to defeat his great enemy, Lord Voldemort.

The book, illustrated by the author, will raise money for children in residential institutions. The news was announced to coincide with the birthdays of Harry Potter and his creator, who turned 43 yesterday. A handwritten edition of The Tales fetched £1.95million in December, becoming the most expensive modern book sold at auction.

While Amazon bought the work at the London sale, Rowling's fans were not able to get their hands on their own copy or even read the stories.

The author said: “The new edition will include The Tales themselves, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and with illustrations by me, but also notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore, which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive.”

The Tales contains five stories, The Tale of the Three Brothers, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, The Wizard and the Hopping Pot and Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump. Only The Tale of the Three Brothers was published in the final Potter book.

The Children's High Level Group (CHLG), set up by Rowling and the MEP Emma Nicholson to campaign for children's rights, particularly in Eastern Europe, will receive all profits from the book. Three editions of the tales, all in English, will be published. The Bloomsbury and Scholastic editions will feature additional commentary on each tale from Dumbledore and an introduction by Rowling.

While those books will be sold for £6.99, Amazon will produce up to 100,000 copies of a collector's edition, replicating the look of Rowling's original, for £50 each. The book will be published on December 4.

Check around. Borders is offering a 40% discount to its "Borders Rewards" members ($7.79 USD per copy), Amazon ($7.59 USD per copy), and other sellers will undoubtedly follow suit. Amazon.com is also exclusively offering a "Collector's Edition" for $100 USD per copy.




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[McGonagall's Cat]

And, Scholastic says :

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers’ attention in the book known as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger’s new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot,” “The Fountain of Fair Fortune,” “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart,” “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump,” and of course, “The Tale of the Three Brothers.” But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter.

The stories are accompanied by delightful pen-and-ink illustrations by Ms. Rowling herself, featuring a still-life frontispiece for each one. Professor Dumbledore’s commentary—apparently written some eighteen months before his death—reveals not just his vast knowledge of Wizarding lore, but also more of his personal qualities: his sense of humor, his courage, his pride in his abilities, and his hard-won wisdom. Names familiar from the Harry Potter novels sprinkle the pages, including Aberforth Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy and his forebears, and Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (or “Nearly Headless Nick”), as well as other professors at Hogwarts and the past owners of the Elder Wand. Dumbledore tells us of incidents unique to the Wizarding world, like hilariously troubled theatrical productions at Hogwarts or the dangers of having a “hairy heart.” But he also reveals aspects of the Wizarding world that his Muggle readers might find all too familiar, like censorship, intolerance, and questions about the deepest mysteries in life.

Altogether, this is an essential addition to our store of knowledge about the world and the magic that J. K. Rowling has created, and a book every true Harry Potter fan will want to have for their shelves.

This purchase also represents another very important form of giving: From every sale of this book, Scholastic will give its net proceeds to The Children’s High Level Group, a charity cofounded in 2005 by J. K. Rowling and Emma Nicholson MEP to make life better for vulnerable children.

CHLG helps around a quarter of a million children each year through its education activities, outreach work in institutions, and a dedicated telephone and e-mail help line. For more information, visit www.chlg.org.