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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Harry Potter information pages and message board.

For more details visit the Bloomsbury
web site.