The seventh and final Harry Potter book flew off the shelves on Saturday as fans the world over poured into stores or waited for the first post to discover the fate of the boy wizard.

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.

Plot leaks
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 for the midnight openings.

Some could not wait to see what lay in store for the characters they have grown up with over the last decade.
“I couldn’t stop myself from finding out the end first,” said Vineet Sharma in Mumbai. In Johannesburg, Liezl van Rensburg added: “I usually read the last page first, but this time I’m going to try not to.”

In London, thousands of die-hard Potter followers from dozens of countries dressed as witches, Hogwarts heroes, death eaters and plain non-magical Muggles waited for the midnight launch. Many more awoke at dawn in Australia and India to snap up early copies. In New York, two teenaged boys disguised as wizards ran around with brooms between their legs, pretending to battle each other in a game of Quidditch.

In Australia, an avid fan had to be rescued from a lake in Canberra on Friday after he dived in to rescue a pre-purchase receipt necessary to pick up his book.

Magic numbers
London, AFP: The seventh Harry Potter adventure — Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — published on Saturday was the last installment of the most successful book series in history.

Here are some figures illustrating the Potter phenomenon:

* July 1997: Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, the first book in the series, is published in Britain. It has an initial print run of 1,000 copies. It is re-edited and translated.

* 325 million copies: The number of copies of the first six books sold across the world, including 65 million for the sixth, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which came out in July 2005. About one million audio-books have been sold across the globe.

* 64 languages: Harry Potter is available in 64 languages, including Latin. It will soon be available in a 65th — Frisian, a Germanic language spoken in parts of Germany and the Netherlands.

* 2001: The first film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone came out in 2001. The first four films have brought in USD 3.5 billion in box office receipts across the world.

The fifth, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix came out on July 11, 2007 and grossed USD 330 million around the world in its first five days.

* 167 million DVDs: About 167 million DVDs and videos of the films have been sold since 2002.

* $ 1 billion: The estimated amount made through Harry Potter merchandising, including gadgets, posters, calendars, toys, video games, soft toys, crockery, household goods, stickers and stamps.
 
* £545 million: Author Joanne K Rowling’s estimated fortune, making her richer than Queen Elizabeth II.

* £17 million: Estimated earnings of actor Daniel Radcliffe, 18, who has played Harry Potter in the films since 2001. He is Britain’s richest teenager.

* 2.2 million: Online reservations around the world on Amazon for the seventh book, beating the previous record of 1.5 million for the sixth.

* 12 million: Copies printed by American publisher Scholastic — a record.

* 151 million: Results on search engine Google for the term “Harry Potter” compared with 8.5 million in 2005.