Magic touch: JK Rowling is set to release a series of fairy tales

JK Rowling has announced her first book to hit the shelves since Harry Potter's final outing - a series of fairy tales.

The book, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, was written after Rowling completed Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, her seventh and last instalment about the boy wizard.

Until now, Rowling has released only seven handmade editions of The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

She auctioned one for charity and gave the other six to friends who supported her through the 17 years it took to complete the Harry Potter series since the character first popped into her head.

Now Rowling has decided to publish the tales, which are illustrated by the author herself, to raise cash for children in residential institutions.

The news was announced to coincide with the birthdays of Harry Potter and his creator, who is 43 today.

A handwritten edition of The Tales of Beedle the Bard fetched £1.95 million in December, becoming the most expensive modern book sold at auction.

While website Amazon bought the work at the London sale, Rowling's fans were not able to get their hands on their own copy or even read the stories.

The multi-millionaire author said today: 'There was understandable disappointment among Harry Potter fans when only one copy of The Tales of Beedle the Bard was offered to the public last December.

'I am therefore delighted to announce that, thanks to the generous support of Bloomsbury, Scholastic and Amazon - and with the blessing of the wonderful people who own the other six original books  - The Tales of Beedle the Bard will now be widely available to all Harry Potter fans.

'Royalties will be donated to the Children's High Level Group, to benefit institutionalised children in desperate need of a voice.'

She said: 'The new edition will include the Tales themselves, translated from the original runes by Hermione Granger, and with illustrations by me, but also notes by Professor Albus Dumbledore, which appear by generous permission of the Hogwarts Headmasters' Archive.'

New release: JK Rowling's The Tales of Beedle the Bard

The Tales of Beedle the Bard is the volume left to Granger by Dumbledore in Rowling's final Potter novel, published in July last year.

The book contained clues to Potter's final mission to destroy Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard contains five stories - The Tale of the Three Brothers, The Fountain of Fair Fortune, The Warlock's Hairy Heart, The Wizard and the Hopping Pot, and Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump.

Only one of the five, The Tale of the Three Brothers, was published in the final Potter book.

The Children's High Level Group (CHLG), set-up by Rowling and the MEP Emma Nicholson to campaign for children's rights, particularly in Eastern Europe, will receive all funds from the sale.

Nicholson said: 'We are so thrilled to be publishing such an exclusive and special book.

'This unique project will raise vital funds for the work of CHLG, to help us change the lives of hundreds of thousands of marginalised and institutionalised children who are living in appalling conditions, and make sure that no future generation suffers in this way.'

Three editions of the fairy tales, all in the English language, will be published.

The Bloomsbury and Scholastic editions will feature additional commentary on each tale from Dumbledore, the fictional character from Harry Potter who Rowling recently revealed was gay, and an introduction by Rowling.

While those books will be sold for £6.99, Amazon will produce up to 100,000 collector's editions replicating the look of Rowling's original for £50 each.

The book will be published on December 4.