VARIOUS: Fans around the world snap up seventh and final Harry Potter book

Fans queue outside bookstores all over the world to get first copies of the seventh and final Harry Potter book. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" looks set to become the fastest selling book on record. The seventh and final Harry Potter book flew off the shelves on Saturday (July 21) as fans the world over snapped up copies to discover the fate of the boy wizard and his Hogwarts pals. J.K. Rowling's "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" looks set to become the fastest selling book on record based on early estimates, following months of hype and a carefully orchestrated launch designed to maximise sales and suspense. Dressed as witches, Hogwarts heroes, Death Eaters and plain old non-magical Muggles, die-hard followers from dozens of countries braved torrential rain in London and awoke at dawn in Australia and India to snap up early copies. In London, a few lucky fans had the chance to hear Rowling read out the first chapter from her new book as the writer staged a special midnight reading from "Deathly Hallows" to 500 children at London's Natural History Museum. "Chapter one: The Dark Lord Ascending. The two men appeared out of nowhere, a few yards apart in the narrow moonlit lanes. For a second, they stood quite still, wands directed at each others' chests, then recognizing each other. They stowed their wands beneath their cloaks and started walking briskly in the same direction. "News?" asked the taller of the two. "The best," replied Severus Snape," Rowling read. She then signed copies of the final book. Internet leaks of the book's contents and newspaper articles containing spoilers appear not to have dampened enthusiasm among readers old and young, thousands of whom dressed as characters from the book. Some could not wait to see what lay in store for the characters they have grown up with over the last decade. A young fan described the first chapter as "amazing." "It was actually quite dark, actually quite mysterious, and it was left on a cliff-hanger, I made me really really want to get my book and read on," he said. The book was launched simultaneously across the world. In Australia, a fan had to be rescued from a lake in Canberra on Friday (July 20) after he dived in to rescue a pre-purchase receipt necessary to pick up his book. By 9.01am local time on Saturday (July 21), the first boxes had been opened and excited fans collected their copies. Some readers could not wait to find out which characters get killed. As soon as she purchased her copy, one young lady went straight to the last page, and shouted "Oh My God!"as she found out the outcome, before running out of the bookstore. "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" hit shelves at 7:01a.m. local time in Beijing. Some devoted fans waited outside the store doors for hours, while several Chinese web sites even announced they had the conclusion of the new book as early as Wednesday (July 18). In China, the People's Literature Press is undertaking the official translation of "Deathly Hallows" with an expected release date of October 21, 2008. But Chinese-language knockoffs may appear well before then. Elsewhere in Europe, hundreds of Harry Potter fans gathered in Berlin on Friday night (July 20) at the Dussmann bookshop, which extended its opening hours from midnight to 7 am local (05:00 GMT). The German version of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" will go on sale on October 27. In Mexico, employees at the Gandhi bookstore dressed as wizards, and handed out copies of the much-awaited book to a crowd of cheering fans. Children dressed as their favourite Potter characters used their wands to cast magic spells on other shoppers. But not all in Mexico city were pleased with the release of the new book. One Roman Catholic priest said the series allowed the devil to enter children's lives. "If you put all of those ideas into a child's head, that he can become a wizard, they believe this and the devil can get in." said Father Pedro Mendoza. In the United States, aanticipation for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" survived a series of leaks of the contents of the book on the internet, both real and fake, and a mistake made by a U.S. online retailer that meant hard copies were sent to some buyers days ahead of publication. At a Barnes & Noble book store in New York, thousands of readers attended a Midnight Magic Costume Party. First in line at the store in Union Square was Joey Tartaglia-Malter, who said he wasn't much of a reader otherwise, but loved the Potter series. He planned on reading one chapter the same night and continuing the following day -- he even planned on reading it to his niece, nephew, as well as his future grandchildren. Early reviews, some of them appearing before the official publication date, were overwhelmingly positive. Book store chains in Britain said first-night sales eclipsed even those of the sixth Harry Potter volume. The WH Smith chain sold 15 books every second across Britain overnight, breaking the record set by the previous Potter instalment of 13 per second in 2005. Online retailer Amazon.com received 2.2 million pre-orders for "Deathly Hallows", up 47 percent on book six, and 12 million copies were printed for the U.S. market alone. The excitement came despite plot leaks on the Internet, some of which proved to be genuine. A mistake by one U.S. online retailer also meant up to 1,200 copies were sent to buyers several days early. Rowling, credited with putting the fun back into reading for millions of children and adults, said she was "staggered" when two U.S. newspapers ran reviews on Thursday (July 20). Just 13 years ago, the 41-year-old was an unemployed single mother, without a publisher or agent, but is now the world's first dollar billionaire writer having sold over 325 million books so far.

ITN Source | July 21, 2007

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