HARRY Potter is ready to cast a spell over the book industry this weekend, with the seventh volume in the boy wizard series going on sale at Larnaca and Paphos airports at 2.01am tomorrow morning
Millionaire author J.K. Rowling will mark the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with a midnight reading at London’s Natural History Museum.
“As launch night looms, let’s all, please, ignore the misinformation popping up on the web and in the press on the plot,” Rowling wrote in a message posted on her website on Wednesday.
“I’d like to ask everyone who calls themselves a Potter fan to help preserve the secrecy of the plot for all those who are looking forward to reading the book at the same time on publication day. In a very short time you will know everything.”
A spokeswoman for the Hellenic Distribution Agency in Nicosia, the official Cyprus distributors of publishers Bloomsbury, yesterday told the Cyprus Mail that, “120 copies of both the adult and children’s editions have been sent to Larnaca airport, with a further 50 or so delivered to Paphos.” She stated that top-up orders would follow.
Jenni Fernando, spokeswoman for the Hermes Group, the consortium running the airports, said that they were looking at putting up special events for the launch and were trying to bring in some magicians.
CTCARI, who hold the airports’ exclusive retail rights, stated that the book would also be available to non-travellers, through the landside express shop.
Elena Ourri added: “We want Cyprus to be part of the worldwide launch.”
Akis Christou of the Soloneion Book Centre in Nicosia said the store had ordered 192 copies of the book, priced at £18.90, which have all been reserved.
“It will go on sale at 8.30am tomorrow morning but only to those who have reserved,” he explained.
“We have placed an order for further copies from the publisher but cannot say for sure when they will be arriving. In the meantime, we will be taking down the names of people who want to buy the book.”
According to Christou, the Greek version will go on sale by the end of November.
The manager of the Moufflon Bookshop in Nicosia thinks sales will be better than for the previous volume in the series. “I’ve noticed that more people have been ringing up enquiring about availability, with many reserving a copy,” she said.
The six earlier novels in the series have sold more than 300 million copies, making Rowling wealthier than Queen Elizabeth II with a £545 million fortune, according to the Sunday Times Rich List.
