‘Potter’ words worth their weight in gold

A private U.S. buyer coughed up $485 a word on Thursday for a 93-word synopsis of the yet-to-be-completed fifth book about wizard boy wonder Harry Potter.

“It was sold to a telephone bidder from America for 28,680 pounds [about $45,180],” said a spokesman for auction house Sotheby’s. The final price for the collection of random words giving a tantalizing glimpse into the plot of “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” was nearly five times the presale estimate.

J.K.Rowling, the author of the world’s most popular children’s books, offered the teaser for sale to raise funds for Book Aid International. The charity supports book distribution in 40 of the world’s poorest countries.

The actual content of the plot preview will remain the secret of the buyer who bought it sight unseen -- although Sotheby’s did release a selection of the chosen words as a taster before the auction. “Thirty-eight chapters ... might change ... longest volume

“There was a lot of interest in this item,” the Sotheby’s spokesman said.

Philip Errington, children’s book expert at Sotheby’s, told Reuters before the sale that Rowling’s contribution was unique: “It is a very exciting item, and this type of thing does not come up very often. The word ‘die’ certainly is a bit of a teaser.”

“Harry Potter” has sold 175 million copies in 59 languages, and Rowling has been hailed by the publishing industry for teaching children the joy of reading in an age of TV, cartoons and computer games. Movies based on the first two Potter books have been worldwide hits. The latest, “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” broke the box-office record in Britain on its first weekend. That record had been set last year by “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Rowling produced the teaser for her next book at a Society of Authors conference earlier this year when several writers were asked to submit items for auction to help benefit Book Aid International.

“It’s a wonderful Christmas present for readers in some of the world’s poorest countries,” said Sara Harrity, director of Book Aid International.

The money from the sale will be used to buy 18,500 books for schools in Eritrea and elsewhere in Africa, Book Aid said.