EXCITED Harry Potter readers in Cyprus yesterday joined other fans worldwide in getting their hands on the long-awaited Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix; the fifth book in the seven-book boy wizard series by JK Rowling.
At precisely 12.01am British Summer Time (BST) yesterday, millions of excited book readers around the globe were finally able to buy the latest, eagerly anticipated, Harry Potter book published by Bloomsbury.
Within two hours of bookshops opening around the island, all copies of the book were sold out, Hellenic Distribution Agency, the distributor of Bloomsbury Publishers in Cyprus, told the Sunday Mail.
Because of the secrecy surrounding the book, which had been strictly embargoed until yesterday’s post-midnight launch, publishers in Britain only sent it to print last week. This caused delays in shipments abroad and meant only a limited number of books could be reserved for bookshops abroad, particularly if they had not placed early orders for the first print run.
Only a few bookshops in Cyprus had copies of the hardback 766-page book, including the Moufflon Bookshops in Nicosia and Paphos, the Soloneion Book Centre in Nicosia, the Academic and General Bookshop in Larnaca, and the British Bases YWCA in Akrotiri.
But most of these had been pre-sold to anxious readers who had ordered them in advance, apart from Academic and General Bookshop which said yesterday it had “enough copies to reserve for our respected customers, as well as enough copies to stock our shelves”. It said this was because it had completed and processed its orders for the book in April and had agreed with the publishers not to display or sell the book before its worldwide launch.
Hellenic Distribution Agency said the first batch that it brought in sold out “in the first two hours of Saturday morning” – the first day of sales.
“Early next week a second consignment is being flown in to meet the unprecedented demand. Should the need arise we will be more than willing to bring in a third shipment,” a spokesman said.
He added: “We are aware that a lot of people want to buy the book and may find difficulty in doing so. They can call here and we will arrange for them to receive a copy.”
Moufflon bookshop in Nicosia said it had received many phone calls expressing interest in the book throughout Friday as well as yesterday morning. But none of its copies was on sale to casual callers because other customers had already ordered them in advance.
“We had 45 pre-orders. Paphos had around the same number,” said Ruth Keshishian at the Moufflon. “It will sell right through the summer. Some people prefer the American version because the cover design is different, and we haven’t had those in yet. I think most people will get their copies within a month, whichever version they prefer.”
Hellenic said it would be distributing more books in Nicosia, Larnaca and Paphos tomorrow or on Tuesday. These include the Hellenic bookshop at the Hilton hotel, the Metropolitan bookshop, Moufflon, Soloneion, Kohlias, Woolworths, Cessac in Dhekelia, Larnaca Airport and Academic and General.
