First Edition of Harry Potter 'Featuring JK Rowling' Sells For £150,000

A first edition copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, with author JK Rowling's notes and original illustrations, was sold for £150,000 at auction in London.

The book, which was auctioned by Sotheby's at a charity sale in aid of the English Pen writers' association, was purchased by an anonymous bidder by telephone.

The annotations by Rowling include comments on the process of writing and a section from an early draft of the novel, along with a number of illustrations drawn by her and a note on how she came to invent Quidditch, a sport played by characters in the books.

She and others had been asked to "scribble second thoughts, marginalia or drawings" on a first edition copy of one of their books for the event, which raised £439,200 in total.

Rick Gekoski, a rare book dealer and trustee of English Pen, curated the collection of annotated first editions for the sale. He said: "This is a triumphant conclusion to a wonderful project, which has involved the hard work and good will of so many people. I am sure that the buyers of the individual books will be thrilled with their purchases."



Read the full article here :-

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2013/may/22/annotated-harry-potter-first-edition-auctioned

Dan Brown on Overpopulation and "Saving The World"

"This is not an activist book - but overpopulation is something that I'm concerned about”

 
...were Dan Brown's opening statements in a recent interview with the BBC.

The latest thriller from The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown is expected to be the best-selling book of the year. But that has not stopped literary critics from gleefully tearing Inferno apart. According to the BBC, "Bilge", "noxious malarkey" and "entertaining twaddle" are just some of the choice phrases that have been picked to describe Dan Brown's Inferno in the press. Of anywhere in the world, he says his books get the worst reviews in the UK, where it "seems to be sport to kick me around a bit".

The Da Vinci Code drew protests around the world,
including being burned in India in 2006

"I wish everybody loved what I do, of course," he replies. "Of course it's hurtful. I've learned that universal acceptance and appreciation is just an unrealistic goal.

"If a reviewer is beating me up, I just say, 'Oh well, my writing is not to his or her taste.' And that's as far as it goes. Because I will simultaneously read a review where somebody says, 'Oh my God, I had so much fun reading this book and I learned so much.'

"The best thing to do is just put on the blinders, write the book that you would want to read and hope that other people share your taste. It's really that simple.

"There is a little cloak and dagger when I'm researching," he says. "Usually, half of what I'm looking at is for the book, and half is to create the illusion that I'm looking at something else.

"A lot of people assume, [because] you're writing about Dante, it's got to be about the church. Dante was very critical about the church, and I think a lot of people wanted to draw that line with me and say, 'That's where he's headed'."


That may have been a logical assumption, given that Brown's most popular and notorious work The Da Vinci Code famously raised the ire of the Catholic Church by claiming the church had been involved in an age-old cover-up over the fact Jesus had married Mary Magdalene.


"I talked to a lot of scientists who are also concerned about it and I came to understand that overpopulation is the issue to which all of our other environmental issues are tied.

"For example, things like ozone, where do we get our clean water, starvation, deforestation. These we consider problems. But they're really symptoms of overpopulation. So overpopulation to me seems like the big issue."


 In the story, Langdon and Zobrist both believe they are saving the world.


"There are moments in the novel, or at least when I was writing it, when I thought, wow, Zobrist may save the world here. Maybe this is how far we have to go to stop this."


He pauses before quickly adding a final "I don't know" to emphasise that he is not actually suggesting such an extreme solution.


"I don't have an answer," he says. "If I did, I wouldn't be writing novels, I'd be trying to help out for real."



Read the full article here :-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-22594345

Major Restructure for Waterstones Management Staff

Waterstones has begun a company-wide consultation with around 560 management-level staff as it prepares for a restructure set to put more emphasis on traditional shop floor bookselling.

Daunt also said its website offering to customers was "subject to fundamental review", with work currently underway to revamp it. "I would not be entering into this unless I thought it necessary, and unless I was sure that we will emerge a better, stronger bookseller for having done it."


Read the full article here:-
http://www.thebookseller.com/news/major-restructure-waterstones-management-staff.html