HARRY POTTER - NEW JK ROWLING COLLECTION TO BREAK 2008 SALES RECORD

NEW JK ROWLING COLLECTION TO BREAK 2008 SALES RECORD

The Tales of Beedle the Bard, the new collection by Harry Potter author JK Rowling, is set to become the fastest-selling book of the year.

Nearly 370,000 copies have been sold since the collection of wizarding fairy tales from the Harry Potter series went on sale last week in support of a children's charity.

Nielson BookScan, which compiles the official UK book charts, said sales had been "huge" but not close to the level of the Harry Potter novels.

More than 400 million copies of Rowling's stories of the boy wizard have been sold since the first instalment was released in 1997.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard - a "perfect Christmas treat", according to the Times newspaper - played a pivotal role in the final book in the series, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, after Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore left a copy to Hermione Granger.

The volume of fairytales contained clues that would help Hermione, Ron Weasley and Harry in their bid to bring down Lord Voldemort.

All proceeds from sales of the collection are to go to the Children's High Level Group (CHLG) charity, which works to make life better for vulnerable children across Europe.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard features additional commentary on each fairytale from Professor Dumbledore and an introduction by Rowling.

The author read aloud from one of the original seven hand-written copies of the book at a special event at Scotland's National Library in Edinburgh recently.