Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2775 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-04
• Released on: 2008-12-04
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: 3.40 pounds
• Binding: Hardcover
• 352 pages

Customer Reviews

Physical Quality and Description of Collector's Edition
I was thrilled on Thursday to have received in the mail my copy of the collector's edition of JK Rowling's Tales of Beedle the Bard. It was shipped well in a doubled up cardboard box that fit it perfectly (actually had the name of the book on the box, so it was made specifically to ship this book. When you open it, it's in a thin white cardboard cover that says "this side up"

When you slip it out of that cover, you see a wonderful fake leather "book" that is about 10 1/4 x 12 1/4 x 2 3/4 inches. The binding has the name, author and small drawing in gold lettering; the front cover is the name, author and decorative drawn border pressed into the faux leather. The back cover has part of the same drawing pressed in.

When you open it up, you find that it's a case for the actual book that is imbedded into the middle, covered in a lovely red velvet bag with JK Rowling's signature embroidered in gold. The draw strings are also gold. On the left side there is a folder with Collector's Edition Prints. They are beautiful, and can either be framed, or kept tucked away in this case.

The actual book it's self is great quality. Dark brown, with silver decorative pieces on top each piece having emerald colored stones in them. This includes the side clasp. There is also an emerald colored ribbon bookmark.

The introduction is a straight copied from JK's original work that Amazon purchased. If you're not the best with handwriting, some words can be a little hard to read. After the intro, it switches to a very Harry potter/magic like font that works well with telling the stories. All together with the stories, Dumbledore's comments, and JK's comments, it took me about an hour to read straight through.

This edition was worth every penny for someone who really loves Harry Potter, and wants quality.

The Collectors Edition is a Must Have
A short while ago I opened my door to find a large package from Amazon: I could not believe it was actually my copy of The Collectors Edition of the Tales of Beedle the Bard! While I first ordered this a while ago, there was a problem with my credit card and I had to reorder, so I did not think I would get this book at all, much less on the relealse date! Thank you Amazon, I don't know how you do it!

The book is an absolutely must have for every Harry Potter fan. I had already read the tales themselves when I opened this volume, and they are truly delightful and full of wonderful messages for our children (and for all the magic lovers among us). The stories aside, this edition is truly beautiful and a pleasure to hold in one's hand. There are some wonderful and unique features to it -- the set of reprints is just beautiful; the small book inside the velvet bag inside the larger volume makes you feel like you are opening a treasure and indeed you are!

I bought this volume for my son for a Christmas present, but now I'm thinking, maybe I will need another one! It is well worth the money to own such a special item, and it makes it that much greater that a portion of the proceeds goes to Ms. Rowling's incredible charity. I know the holidays are going to be very special in my house. Thank you Ms. Rowling, for yet another gift to your legions of fans.

just not as well-crafted as i hoped (good stories though)
I'm glad to hear that people are enjoying their books so much, but I'm having a moment of desperate indecision. My CE copy came yesterday and I was so excited! Even the packaging was exciting (a lot of people were upset because they bought it as a surprise and the packaging ruined it).

But when I finally got my first look at the actual book, I was a bit disappointed. I mean, I just paid $100 for this book and I expected it to be perfection. But it wasn't. The metal corner pieces weren't straight or even, which made the center piece off-center, and even the clasp was in the wrong place (in my opinion of course). Now, I was happy to spend the $100 (which is a LOT of money for a book when you are a really broke 20-something struggling to pay bills) as I imagined this beautiful volume in my collection, but I have to be realistic. It looks cheap. The stories are very good, but I could have read those in the $10 regular edition.

Maybe I'm being too nit-picky. I haven't found a single other review that was complaining of these same issues. Did I just get a dud copy? Or am I being silly to be upset by these problems?