The Tales of Beedle the Bard

Amazon’s original December 2007 review

There is no easy way to define the experience of seeing, holding, or reading J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard, so let’s just start with one word: “Whoa.” The very fact of its existence (an artifact pulled straight out of a novel) is magical, not to mention the facts that only seven copies exist in all the world and each of the never-before-told tales is handwritten and illustrated by J.K. Rowling herself (and it’s quite clear from the first few pages that she has some skill as an artist). Rowling’s handwriting is like the familiar scrawl of a favorite aunt–it’s not hard to read, but it does require attention–allowing you to take it slow and savor the mystery of each next word.

So how do you review one of the most remarkable tomes you’ve ever had the pleasure of opening? You just turn each page and allow yourself to be swept away by each story. You soak up the simple tales that read like Aesop’s fables and echo the themes of the series; you follow every dip and curve of Rowling’s handwriting and revel in every detail that makes the book unique–a slight darkening of a letter here, a place where the writing nearly runs off the page there. You take all that and you try and bring it to life, knowing that you will never be able to do it justice. With that, let’s dig in and begin at the beginning, shall we?

Daphne Durham from Amazon.com

Extra Stuff

The Tales of Beedle the Bard publishing will have several extra stuff:

[Dumbledore] 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.

Text published in the official website of the American publisher Scholastic in August 1st, 2008.

Passage of the book: some Albus Dumbledore’s comments:

When I was a young boy, this story made a lasting impression on me. I heard it for the first time from my mother and soon I started insisting to her to read it to me before sleep. Because of that, we were often arguing with my younger brother, Aberforth, whose favorite fairy tale was “Mumble, the Dirty Goat”.

It is very likely that the moral of the story is that man’s efforts to stop or delay death are doomed to fail. Only the third brother in the fairy tale (“the youngest but the wisest”) understands this since he has already escaped Death and knows that in the best case scenario he could only hope to delay the next meeting. This younger brother is aware that whoever mocks Death – and like the first brother uses violence or like the second brother toys with the mysterious art of necromancy – is faced with a cunning adversary who does not know defeat.

The most interesting in this case is that some kind of a legend surrounds the fairy tale, which contradicts the message of the original. According to this legend, the Hallows given to the three brothers by Death – the unbeatable wand, the stone that brings dead to life, and the invisibility cloak – are real objects. The legend also says that whoever becomes the lawful owner of the three objects will turn into the “Conqueror of Death” [aka Lord of Death, Ruler of Death, Death PWNER, etc.]”

Passage published in scans by the Bulgarian publisher Egmont in November 23rd, 2008.

Amazon’s Review

• The Wizard and the Hopping Pot

• The Fountain of Fair Fortune

• The Warlock’s Hairy Heart

• Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump

• The Tale of the Three Brothers

Cover Arts

Germany

USA

UK

As the cover arts of The Tales of Beedle the Bard are published, they’ll be filled in our Gallery. To see them, click here.

Photos

To see more photos of this book, click here.

Chronology

• December 4th, 2008 – The launch of The Tales of Beedle the Bard in English.

• July 31st, 2008 – Divulged the date of the world publication.

• April 9th, 2008 – Launched the “Beedle the Bard Ballad Writing Contest” by Amazon, which awards the series fans of the whole world a trip with one companion and all the expenses paid to London, and the great honor spending the weekend with the book The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

• December 19th, 2007 – JK Rowling reveals some curiosities about the book in a podcast to the American website The Leaky Cauldron.

• December 17th, 2007 – Published the fifth and last review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “The Tale of the Three Brothers”, by Daphne Durham from Amazon.com

• December 16th, 2007 – Published the forth review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump”, by Daphne Durham from Amazon.com

• December 15th, 2007 – Published the third review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart”, by Daphne Durham from Amazon.com

• December 15th, 2007 – Published the second review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “The Fountain of Fair Fortune”, by Daphne Durham from Amazon.com

• December 14th, 2007 – Published the first review of The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”, by Daphne Durham from Amazon.com

• December 13th, 2007 – The seventh copy of the Book of Tales is auctioned for £1.95 million (almost 4 million dollars) in a competition between six interested people. The winner was the mega store of online selling Amazon.com

• December 10th, 2007 – The author holds a party to celebrate the “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” auction.

• November 26/27/28th, 2007 – The Sotheby’s, auction house, promotes in New York an open public exhibition from a copy of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”.

• November 26th, 2007 – The American ABC TV Show, Good Morning America, presents a preview of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard”.

• November 24th, 2007 – The first images of the pages from the Book of Tales are published.

• November 22nd, 2007 – The first cover art images of the Book of Tales are published. It’s also said the dates of an exhibition of a copy from the book in New York.

• November 17th, 2007 – J.K. Rowling adds to the auction some of her draws from the series along with the Book of Tales.

• November 1st, 2007 – Update of J.K. Rowling’s official website. The author publishes the creation, donation, and auction of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Release Day

Borders are to host several midnight parties in the London area at; Charing Cross Road, Watford, Islington, Kingston and London Colney. If you pre-order your copy with them before November 21st, with a reserve charge of £2, you will get Jonathan Stroud’s The Amulet of Samarkand and Justin Somper’s Vampirates: Demons of the Ocean for FREE when collecting Tales of Beedle the Bard.

Other Borders will also hold events in Dublin, Ireland; Dundee, Scotland and Glasgow-Fort, Inverness, Scotland (day party only and a weekend event). The Borders in Fort Kinnaird, Scotland will also have a midnight release party, plus a weekend event.

Waterstone’s have also announced plans for day parties on December 4th, beginning at 8am.

Curiosities

• Each one of the seven copies of “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” has a different dedication.

• Every seven copies have Morocco leather cover and are decorated with silver and different semi-precious stones.

• The Tales of Beedle the Bard has almost 30 fairy tales, hand-written, which was mentioned on her last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (with the increase of the tale “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart”).

• An interesting and curious fact: according to the initial pages from the book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard were translated from ancient runes language to English by the author herself.

• The fairy tales, illustrated by the author herself, were her first work that she wrote after the launch of the last series’ book in July.

• “The Tales of Beedle the Bard” was a book left by Dumbledore to Hermione.

• The seventh book (the edition with the Moonstone) was auctioned at Sotheby’s in London in December 13th, 2007, where raised almost 2 million pound sterling. The buyer was the mega store of online selling Amazon.com, which plans to take the book to the reach of the young people in schools and libraries.

• The book was on public show for a short period of time before its sell, and catalogs were sold, all the profits going to the Children’s Voice.

• The author, J.K. Rowling, donated the total profit from the seventh book’s auction to The Children’s Voice (before was called Children’s High Level Group), the charity organization which she is co-founder and fights for the rights of the children who live in institutions.

• The launch of the Book of Tales coincided with the closure of the series in 2007. In an interview, the author said: “these books are a ‘wonderful way’ to say goodbye to Harry Potter”.

Quotations

“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.’ ‘Dumbledore’s commentary on the Tales, which was discovered among his papers after his death, includes some historical notes, personal reminiscences, and insights into that most mysterious branch of magic: wandlore. I very much hope that readers coming to these classic wizarding fables for the first time will find his commentary both entertaining and helpful.”

J.K. Rowling publishes note on her official website in July 31st.

“I hope that ‘The Tales of Beedle the Bard’ will not only be a welcome Christmas present to Harry Potter fans, but an opportunity to give these abandoned children a voice.”

J.K. Rowling comments in special event “Beedle Tea Party” in Scotland in October 28th.

The Children’s Voice Campaign

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is published by The Children’s High Level Group (CHLG), registered charity number 1112575, a charity co-founded in 2005 by J.K. Rowling and Emma Nicholson MEP to make life better for vulnerable children.

All net proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Children’s Voice campaign.

The Children’s Voice campaign is run by CHLG. It campaigns for child rights across Europe, particularly in Eastern Europe where over a million children and teenagers are growing up in institutions, often in unacceptable conditions. In most cases they are without adequate human or emotional contact and stimulation, while many only just survive without life’s basics such as adequate shelter and food.

CHLG’s Children’s Voice campaign helps around a quarter of a million children each year through education activities; outreach work in institutions; and a dedicated telephone and email help line.