Seattle - Calling it a "Thank you" for the 12 million copies of her "Harry Potter" books sold through its site, online retailer Amazon.com (NASD: AMZN) revealed that it paid nearly $4 million at auction to purchase one of only seven handwritten and illustrated copies of J.K. Rowling's "The Tales of Beedle the Bard." Ms. Rowling will donate the proceeds to her charity for institutionalized children in Europe, The Children's Voice.

"Even before establishing her charity, J.K. Rowling had done the world a rare and immeasurably valuable service -- enlarging forever our concept of the way books can touch people -- and in particular children -- in modern times," said Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos.

The other six copies of the book have been given by Rowling to friends in appreciation of support they provided her over the years while she was writing the Harry Potter series.

Related Links:
http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/071213/20071213006147.html?.v=1

http://www.amazon.com/beedlebard