国际英语新闻：Rowling says goodbye to Potter with fairy tales

But most fans will not be able to buy a copy of "The Tales Of Beedle The Bard" -- just seven copies of the work will be produced, with six going to people involved with the Potter books, and a seventh being auctioned.

The book is the volume of five wizarding fairy tales left to Potter's friend Hermione Granger by headmaster Albus Dumbledore in the seventh and last Potter book, "Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows", which came out in July.

One of the tales -- a distillation of the themes of the seven Potter works -- appears in "Deathly Hallows", but the remaining four are told in "The Tales Of Beedle The Bard" for the first time.

Each copy of the book is handwritten and illustrated by Rowling on translucent vellum paper as well as being leather bound and covered with silver and jewels.

Rowling said that writing the book had helped her to come to terms with the end of Potter.

"It's like coming up from a deep dive I suppose," she told BBC radio.

"I've been writing about the world. It's not about Harry, Ron and Hermione but it comes from that world so it's been therapeutic in a way, a nice way to say goodbye."

She said it was "very, very difficult" and "very, very, very sad" to end the series but added: "There is an upside. It's quite exciting to think I can write something else."

The author also revealed that she was also working on a "half-finished book for children" which will probably be the next one she publishes.

The seventh copy of "The Tales Of Beedle The Bard" will be auctioned by Sotheby's in London on December 13 in aid of Rowling's charity The Children's voice, which campaigns to help vulnerable children across Europe.

Sotheby's estimate that the book will sell for up to 50,000 pounds.

The titles of the five tales in the book are "The Fountain Of Fair Fortune", "The Warlock's Hairy Heart", "The Tale Of The Three Brothers", "The Wizard And The Hopping Pot" and "Babbitty Rabbitty And Her Cackling Stump".

The Harry Potter books have sold around 350 million copies worldwide and are translated into 65 different languages.