"The release date and time embargo of 0001 BST on Saturday July 21 is being enforced unflinchingly and without exception by the publishers," it said.

Scholastic, Rowling’s US publisher, has announced legal action against US book distributor Levy Home Entertainment and retailer DeepDiscount.com for breaching the embargo.

Last Potter book breaks firm’s record - July 2 2007
Fans around the world have pre-ordered nearly 1.6 million copies of the final Harry Potter book, Amazon has said.

High global demand has already made Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows the online retailer’s most pre-ordered product ever.

JK Rowling’s seventh and final tale about the young wizard has eclipsed pre-launch demand for the previous instalment, which drew 1.5 million global pre-orders on Amazon.

The online store predicts Harry Potter "mania" will hit even greater heights ahead of the new book’s July 21 launch date.

Christopher North, head of books at Amazon.co.uk, said the retailer was braced for another rush of orders before the book’s release.

"There was never any doubt that Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows was going to be the best-selling book of 2007 but to break the Amazon pre-order record with so much time still remaining before release is extraordinary," he said.

UK customers must place their orders before midnight on July 17 if they want their copies delivered on release date, Amazon said.

The latest Harry Potter film, Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix, premieres on July 3.


Potter first edition fetches £7,200 - June 22 2007
A rare first-edition copy of the first Harry Potter novel has been sold for more than £7,000 at auction.

The copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was snapped up by a specialist book collector for £7,200 following a bidding war.

The hardback copy, with an original price tag of £10.99, is one of only 500 produced in the first print run of the book in 1997.

The Philosopher’s Stone by JK Rowling was the first instalment of the Harry Potter series that went on to become a publishing phenomenon.

The book was owned by Toby Rundle, 19, from Williton, Somerset, who was sent the book by his mother as a gift while he was at boarding school.

But the teenager wanted to cash in on the book and put the funds raised towards a classics and English degree at Oxford University.

The book was auctioned at Dominic Winter auctioneers in South Cerney, Gloucestershire. Including the buyer’s premium the book fetched a total of £8,460.

Book specialist Chris Albury from the auctioneers said Toby’s copy was a "genuine rarity".

The Harry Potter series has gone on to become a publishing sensation, with each new book resulting in children and adults alike queuing outside bookshops across the world.

Later this summer the seventh and final book in the series - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, will be released.


Harry Potter author to tour US - June 14 2007
JK Rowling is going on the road in America.

The Harry Potter author will give four readings in the United States this autumn, her first US promotional tour since 2000, when she was just becoming an international sensation and had yet to give birth to her second and third children.

"What JK Rowling loves most is to talk with her readers, and that is what she will be able to do on this very special US tour," Lisa Holton, president of Scholastic Trade and Book Fairs, said.