Harry Potter author JK Rowling's new book has raised more than £4 million for charity after being on sale for a week

The Tales of Beedle the Bard went on sale on December the fourth to raise funds for the Children's High Level Group (CHLG), a charity co-founded by Rowling to help vulnerable children across Central and Eastern Europe.

The charity said 2,629,000 copies of the book - her first since Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - were sold in the first week, generating £4.2 million.

The CHLG also said that official international sales figures for Beedle suggest the book, the fastest-selling title of 2008, is set to become a Christmas best-seller.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard was launched at a tea party for 220 children at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. 

JK Rowling said: "I am absolutely delighted that so much money has been raised," 

"I would like to thank everyone who has so far purchased a copy of the book.

"All royalties will be going to help children without families, many of them with disabilities, whose voices have been unheard for many years."

The stories were originally produced in a limited edition of seven books, each hand-written and illustrated by Rowling herself.

She gave six of the volumes as gifts to people who helped make Harry Potter a global
success over the last 17 years, while the seventh hand-written copy was auctioned by CHLG last year and snapped up for £1.95 million by online retailer Amazon.

The author recently revealed that she decided to make the book much more widely available as a result of demand from Potter fans.

The tales were first mentioned in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. The book was a collection of fairy tales which played a crucial role in helping Harry to defeat Lord Voldemort.

One of the original hand-written books is on display for a month at the National Library of Scotland as part of a special exhibition to celebrate the launch of the tales.