"The Tales of Beedle the Bard" Hits Shelves in-time For Christmas

On Thursday, July 31, Mugglenet.com announced to many that the ever-anticipated The Tales of Beedle the Bard, by J.K. Rowling is going to be available to the public on December 4, 2008. In the past, only seven copies (all hand-penned and illustrations drawn by Rowling herself) were sold at a charity auction, one purchased by Amazon.com for $4 million. And now, in a press conference on the morning of the 31st, it has been announced that Jo’s charity, the Children’s High Level Group (CHLG) will be publishing the collection of stories, originally designed for the ever-fascinating story of the last book in the Harry Potter saga.

Rowling had this to say at the conference: “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 (who bought the handwritten copy at auction) - 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 institutionalized children in desperate need of a voice. 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."

The Scholastic site on the Potter saga has been updated with a page on the book, and has given us some very good insight on what’s in store for us.

“…and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore. Never before have Muggles been privy to these richly imaginative tales: “The Wizard and the Hopping Pot”, “The Fountain of Fair Fortune”, “The Warlock’s Hairy Heart”, “Babbitty Rabbitty and Her Cackling Stump” and of course, “The Tale of the Three Brothers”. But not only are they the equal of fairy tales we now know and love, reading them gives new insight into the world of Harry Potter…Professor Dumbledore’s commentary - apparently written some eighteen months before his death - reveals not just his vast knowledge of Wizarding lore, but also more of his personal qualities: his sense of humor, his courage, his pride in his abilities, and his hard-won wisdom. Names familiar from the Harry Potter novels sprinkle the pages, including Aberforth Dumbledore, Lucius Malfoy and his forebears, and Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington (or “Nearly Headless Nick”), as well as other professors at Hogwarts and the past owners of the Elder Wand. Dumbledore tells us of incidents unique to the Wizarding world, like hilariously troubled theatrical productions at Hogwarts or the dangers of having a “hairy heart.”

For Potter fans, all we can do is wait until what is estimated to be an $8 million profit book to come out, written by the one and only J.K. Rowling.