The Tales of Beedle The Bard, a set of hand-written fairytales penned by famous author JK Rowling, was sold for 1.95 million pounds ($3.98 million) for the benefit of orphaned and abandoned children.

"This is one of the most exciting pieces of children's literature to have passed through Sotheby's. We have to reach back 80 years to find a comparison when we sold the manuscript of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland on behalf of the original Alice," Philip Errington of Sotheby's said.

The auction house Sotheby's said the price is a triple record: the highest price paid for a work by Rowling, a children's book and a modern literary manuscript.

"I'm stunned and ecstatic. This will mean so much to children in desperate need of help. It means Christmas has come early for me," said Rowling after the sale.

Six bidders locked horns in a battle to secure it when, just before reaching the 2-million mark, the hammer fell to a representative if London fine art dealers Hazlitt Gooden & Fox.

The beautifully-decorated volume of five stories, bound in brown morocco leather and mounted with hand-chased silver ornaments and seven moonstones, had been estimated to fetch between 30,000 and 50,000 pounds.

The money will be given to Children's Voice, a charity co- founded by Rowling in 2005 which campaigns for children like Harry, who have been orphaned or abandoned, mostly in Eastern Europe.

A dedication written in the front of the book sold Thursday says: "Six of these books have been given to those most closely connected to the Harry Potter books during the last 17 years."

"This seventh copy will be auctioned; the proceeds to help institutionalized children who are in desperate need of a voice. So to whoever now owns this book, thank you - and fair fortune be yours!"