By Tim Saunders on
JK Rowling's new book, The Tales of Beedle The Bard, has created history by raising over £4 million (US$8 million) for charity in its first week of release.
The Children's High Level Group – the charity Rowling established in 2005 to improve the well-being, health and protection of vulnerable children – has said that 2,629,000 copies of the book were sold in the first week, generating £4.2 million for the organization.
“I am absolutely delighted that so much money has been raised,” Rowling said. “I would like to thank everyone who has so far purchased a copy of the book. All royalties will be going to help children without families, many of them with disabilities, whose voices have been unheard for many years.”
The Tales of Beedle the Bard is a collection of five tales first referred to in Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the seventh and final part in the author’s series of wizarding masterpieces. It was initially produced as seven handwritten copies, six of which were given away by Rowling as gifts, and one was bought by Amazon.com at auction last year for $4 million.
“We had no idea what to expect in terms of sales figures so we are thrilled by such impressive sales in the first week alone … the project will certainly raise a huge amount to fund our work,” said Richard Alderslade, chief executive of the CHLG.
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