The Most Expensive Books in the World

The Tales of Beedle the Bard

JK Rowling’s first book since the conclusion of the Harry Potter series fetched a huge chunk of change. Published in December 2007, Beedle was the complete book of fairy tales that play a crucial role in the final installment of the Harry Potter series. JK Rowling produced seven separate handwritten copies of Beedle, filled with illustrations she herself had drawn. These books were incredibly beautiful: leather-bound, with silver and moonstones decorating the cover. Rowling gave six of these “Moonstone Editions” to friends and people who worked on the Harry Potter books, but one went up for auction on Amazon. One mega-fan paid $3.98 million for it, and Rowling donated the proceeds to a children’s charity. While far from the most expensive book on this list, Beedle was the priciest book ever purchased that was written and published in the twenty-first century. If you own one of these rare books, you’re sitting on a gold mine.

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