Records tumble as Harry Potter arrives

Harry Potter fans poured into bookshops around the world today, snatching up copies of the latest instalment in the series that promises to be the fastest-selling book in history.

Ending months of hype, and elaborate measures to prevent details of the boy wizard's latest adventures leaking out, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince hit the shelves at 11.01am NZT.

Children from around the world descended on the Scottish city of Edinburgh, where Potter author J.K. Rowling began reading from the latest book as soon as the deadline passed.

Special events were planned at bookstores and libraries throughout New Zealand to celebrate the release.

One Wellington store had pre-sold all its stock of at least 1000 books by the time sales were permitted to begin at precisely 11.01am.

Several hundred people queued between the aisles and around the walls of Dymocks as the countdown for the latest Potter instalment entered its final minutes. Some children were dressed in costume, but the throng included many teenagers and adults.

Muggle-style wizard Zappo kept the waiting fans entertained until the moment arrived to open the boxes and see for the first time the sixth and penultimate volume in the series.

Among those near the front of the queue were Joseph Wijnstok, five, who was dressed as Harry with a cloak and pointed hat, and his sister Alana, nine.

Joseph insisted he would be able to read the book, while father Rob said the Eastbourne youngster had seen all the films and knew all the spells. His son liked to dress up as Harry probably about once a month and also had plenty of Harry Potter toys.

The trio had got to the store early to see the magician, with the launch having fitted in conveniently with the school holidays during which Alana was having a break from her normal weekend soccer games, Mr Wijnstok said.

Also in appropriate costume - a floppy pointed hat and wand - was Georgina Forsyth, a visitor from Scotland. The Harry Potter books were full of magic and wonder, the 25-year-old said.

"It came out today. I had to get it."

She said she would be reading it today.

While some people might question her enthusiasm for Harry Potter, many of them still read the books, even if they did it on the quiet.

"It's not a children's book any more. It's all good mythology."

Store owner Bruce Caddy said the shop had pre-sold all its first stock of the books, with numbers "into the four figures".

"Only those who pre-ordered got a copy today," he said. He hoped to have more copies available for sale early next week.

Mr Caddy said the store had pre-sold four times as many books as it did for the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

"Interest is high, the movies keep coming out, there doesn't seem to be any sign of it dwindling."

Even he had not seen the book until the set time, he said.

"We're under a strict embargo. We have a two page legal document." Representatives of the publishers had visited the store this morning.

For 10-year-old Ani Morison of Seddon in Marlborough the launch of Half-Blood Prince was a fantastic treat as she was among 70 children from around the world at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland where author Rowling read the first chapter of the book. Ani won her place at the gathering in a competition.

Travelling by carriages, drawn by black and white horses adorned with ostrich plumes and driven by coachmen in capes and black top hats, the youngsters arrived at the castle to cheers from thousands of the boy wizard's fans gathered outside.

Inside, prefects with lanterns led the lucky 70 to the castle's Queen Anne building, transformed for the evening into the entrance hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

Some 10 million copies of the book were expected to be sold worldwide within the first 24 hours.

Publisher Scholastic is serving a record 10.8 million copies of the book up to the United States.

In Sydney, about 300 Potter fans crammed into the city's largest bookshop waiting for secured boxes of books marked "embargoed" to be opened.

More than 1000 followers were aboard a special train called the Gleewarts Express, which took them to a secret location outside the city where they would receive their copies.

Train owner Roger Mackell refused to disclose their destination.

"They are going to another land. If I told you where, I'd have to kill you," he joked.

In London, Pottermania broke out with hundreds of parents and children queuing outside bookshops.

"Every book just gets bigger and bigger," said David Roche of Waterstone's book retailer, speaking hours before the launch.

"It's like a film premiere now but for a book, which is quite extraordinary. We had 2000 people queuing in the West End the last time a Harry Pottter book came out; we anticipate the queue is going to be even bigger this time."

Staggering forecasts

Staggering sales forecasts may explain why so much time and effort has gone into protecting the contents of the sixth and penultimate book in the Harry Potter series.

Waterstone's predicts the book will sell over 10 million copies worldwide in the first 24 hours. Around 275 million copies of the first five books in the series have been sold to date and three Harry Potter movies have grossed US$2.5 billion ($3.7b).

With book sales likely to run into the tens of millions, when a handful of copies were inadvertently sold before the deadline in Canada, purchasers were ordered not to disclose its contents, and, according to media reports, even not to read it.

A website offering what it claimed was an electronic version of the book was closed down, and two British men were charged last month with firearms offenses after allegedly trying to sell a stolen copy of the Harry Potter book to a tabloid newspaper.

Retailers are engaged in an aggressive discount battle.

"There is no sign of the sales figures waning, and booksellers have been working hard on marketing and the discounting has been even heavier," said Caroline Horn, children's book expert at Bookseller magazine.

"That's what it is about this year - market share."

Rowling first thought up the Harry Potter character in 1990, and after the original book Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was turned down by several publishers, Bloomsbury finally offered to print it.

The adventures of Harry Potter and his friends at Hogwarts School of Wizardry and Witchcraft have won over a new generation of young readers and been adapted into a movie series.

They also made Rowling the wealthiest woman in the United Kingdom, with a personal fortune estimated in 2004 at $1 billion.

- REUTERS