When was J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard first published?

J.K. Rowling’s The Tales of Beedle the Bard was first published on 4 December 2008.

The collection contains five fairy tales from the wizarding world. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the book is presented as a familiar children’s story collection and becomes especially important because of “The Tale of the Three Brothers,” which concerns the Deathly Hallows.

Rowling wrote and illustrated the original limited-edition copies by hand. The commercial edition was published after the limited charity project, allowing readers worldwide to obtain the stories in a standard book. Proceeds from the original project supported the Children’s High Level Group, later renamed Lumos.

The title is sometimes confused with other fictional books mentioned in Harry Potter, especially Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and Quidditch Through the Ages. Those are separate companion works with different subjects and publication histories.