Bloomsbury Auctions was packed to capacity with well over 250 people bidding to raise money for Book Aid International, a charity which provides books for schools, hospitals, universities and refugee camps in Africa.

Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe aged 16, bought JK Rowling’s handwritten family tree of The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black last night at Bloomsbury Auctions in central London. His mother Marcia Gresham, was bidding on his behalf and for £30,000 finally secured what must be the jewel in any Harry Potter fan’s collection. She then went on to buy two more original handwritten stories, a humorous piece Iain Banks about the difficulties of beginning to write a story for £980 and a short play by Tom Stoppard entitled Murder for £3700. ‘This should put paid to anyone who says that Daniel doesn’t like reading,’ said his mother. ‘Daniel hasn’t stopped since he read the first Harry Potter book and he loves Iain Banks and Tom Stoppard.’

‘It was an amazing success, the room was throbbing with interested buyers,’ said Rupert Powell Managing Director of Bloomsbury Auctions. ‘We raised over £63,000 - more than we had hoped in our wildest dreams. It was a fantastically successful evening,’ said a delighted Sara Harrity, Director of Book Aid International.

Over 40 of Britain’s major literary figures had been asked to contribute a short story of between 50 and 250 words containing the phrase ‘between the lines.’ The response was extraordinary. Readers of contemporary fiction had a field day, not only were they able to buy major original handwritten pieces by their favourite contemporary authors but the were able to help literacy in Africa as well. Contributors included PD James, Jacqueline Wilson, Joanna Trollope, Ian Rankin, Alexander McCall Smith, David Mitchell, Sue Townsend, Joanna Lumley and even Bob Geldof and Tracey Emin.

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For more details visit the Bloomsbury web site.