Harry to relegate Roy from top spot

THE next Harry Potter book is set to shatter sales records worldwide, even outstripping demand for the Bible, when it is released next month.

In Ireland, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix is expected to sweep all before it well before the launch date of June 21, including the best-selling Roy Keane biography which is likely to be relegated to second division.

“It’s incredible. We’ve never seen anything like it,” a spokesman for Waterstones book store chain said yesterday. “Our advance orders are second to none. We have had thousands of calls from all over the country. This is even bigger than the last Harry Potter book and much more than the interest in the Keane biography.” All Waterstones stores will open at one minute past midnight on June 21 to facilitate buyers.

Advance sales were also coming in at Kenny’s book shop in Galway. “Getting any advance sales for a children’s book is unusual in itself,” said Kenny’s stock controller Leighton Turner. “We already have orders in and we expect more to follow.”

The book has already caused a sensation in America and Britain.

The biggest US bookseller, Barnes and Noble, said the book would be “our largest single seller in the history of the entire company, most definitely”.

Many American shops are organising midnight parties for readers. The book is already number one in the charts of online retailers Amazon, MSN, AOL and others, one month before its release.

Harry Potter hysteria is also sweeping Britain and printers have had to tighten security after two teenage boys became involved in a plot to sell stolen pages of The Order Of The Phoenix to a tabloid newspaper.

The two 16-year-olds ended up in court on charges of theft and were let off with a warning after apologising to the book’s author JK Rowling.

The four previous Harry Potter books sold 200 million copies in 55 languages.