Reading Copy Book Blog

I’m not really supposed to link to the websites of auction houses (because they are rivals) but I have to show you this page.

Item 1 - a super rare first edition of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone that looks like it’s been chewed by a dog and shoved down the back of a sofa for the past 11 years.

Item 2 - a piece of Charles and Diana’s wedding cake from 1981.

I know someone will buy the Harry Potter but what lunatic will want the wedding cake? Someone who likes to host dinner parties and then say ‘Hey, you’ll never guess what unique piece of Charles and Di memorabilia I’ve got.’

To celebrate 10 years of Harry Potter, Scholastic is going to open the doors of its NYC headquarters on September 23rd for a 10-hour reading marathon where fans will be able to participate in a collective reading - while taking turns sitting in the throne Rowling used during past Harry Potter events at Radio City Music Hall and Carnegie Hall.

There will be a live webcast that day, as well as an anniversary edition of Sorcerer’s Stone going on sale the same day, fans who participate in the reading will receive commemorative souvenirs.

According to Scholastics website readers will be selected on a first come, first served basis with the first 100 also recieving an anniversary edition of the Socerer’s Stone.

Just in time for Christmas JK Rowling will have another book out. The Tales of Beedle the Bard is going be transformed from seven privately, held hand written, jewel incrusted tomes into a publicly printed charity project.

“Over the course of four years I made time to read all of the Harry Potter books out loud to my daughters. If I can do that and run for president, then you can find time to read to your kids. That’s some of the most special time you have with your children.”

Barack Obama apparently said this yesterday. Well said.

A collection of Harry Potter deluxe editions - all first editions of this particular version - have sold for £17,800 at auction, reports The Guardian. Don’t confuse these deluxe editions with proper firsts. I wonder if the value of collectible Harry Potter books is falling - I think it is.

This past weekend the presentation of the Nebula Awards took place in Austin Texas. Here’s a list of the major prize winners.

Novel: The Yiddish Policemen’s Union - Chabon, Michael
Novella: Fountain of Age - Kress, Nancy (Asimov’s, Jul07)
Novelette: The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate - Chiang, Ted (F&SF, Sep07)
Short Story: Always - Fowler, Karen Joy (Asimov’s, apr/may07)
Script: Pan’s Labyrinth - del Toro, Guillermo (Time/Warner, Jan07)
Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Rowling, J. K. (Scholastic Press, Jul07)

Damon Knight Grand Master for 2008: Michael Moorcock

There is a bit of a recap on the weekends activities in the blog of the nominees, Sarah Beth Durst

We analyzed sales data from 2007 and compiled an ‘author collectability index’ based on sales of books priced more than $500.

JK Rowling toped the index due to a rush on signed copies of the Deathly Hallows, and Roderick Gordon and Brian Williams placed second with their debut The Highfield Mole, reached its zenith last summer when it was republished with a new title, Tunnels.

The collectibility index turned out to be a who’s who of literature, including Austen, Cervantes, Dante, Darwin, Dickens, Joyce, Orwell and Verne. Khaled Hosseini finds himself between Harper Lee and Ernest Hemingway because signed first editions of The Kite Runner now change hands for more than $1,000 on the Internet.

The Harry Potter Lexicon is one of the most visited websites among muggles, in fact Rowling herself has linked to the page and gushed over its factual accuracy. However now that the sites creator intends to publish the contents as a book J.K. has marched out the army of lawyers.

Nothing much going on today - JK was pretty in purple last night in London where a bunch of bestselling authors were acclaimed for selling lots of books. There must be something else?

A Northamptonshire resident got lucky after purchasing a Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone first edition from a local library sale. The book was sold at Christies today for 4,000 pounds, but not without some amount of drama.

It turns out Christies had not checked the barcode on the book to see if the copy was really ex-library or if it was stolen. In the end a local just knew what to look at the library sale and netted a whack of dough for their efforts!

The Guardian has an obituary for the French author, Alain Robbe-Grillet.

A Harry Potter nutter is hoping to get a £40,000 pay day by flogging off his collection of 553 first editions reports the Ediniburgh Evening News.

Book recommendation of the day - Uppies and Downies: The Extraordinary Football Games of Britain by Hugh Hornby. Read this article about a real sport to find out why you should buy this book.

Ten literary suicides.

JK Rowling is going to Harvard…. To speak, not study.

I thought this was a spelling mistake when I saw the story on the BBC. JK Rowling’s handwritten book, the Tales of Beedle the Bard, has sold today for almost £2 million.

£2 million - did the buyer get mixed up at the auction? Did they think £2 million was actually £200,000? Am I alone in thinking that this is just plain crazy?

So the hammer came down at the end of our charity auction yesterday and we are pleased to announce that we raised a total of $5267 for the United Way’s Project Literacy and PEN Canada. The final prices for each of the lots were as follows:

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows signed by JK Rowling went for $3950.00
Limited edition copy of The Door signed by Margaret Atwood went for $835.00
The Life of Pi illustrated edition signed by Yann Martel went for $405.00
Kiran Desai’s two signed books (Hullabaloo in the Guava Orchard and Inheritance of Loss) went for $77.00

Thanks to everyone who helped make the event a success.

Here are the first pictures of JK Rowling’s new handmade book - The Tales of Beedle of the Bard.