• 
• 

Published on July 13, 2007

Thousands of fans who have reserved "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" are expected to line up for the first copies.

The copy handout will start at 6am on Saturday, July 21, the same time as the wizardry epic's fans worldwide get a first glimpse of the book.

In Bangkok, special launches are being held at Siam Paragon, CentralWorld and The Emporium. Nanmee Books is sponsoring the Siam Paragon event and Asia Books is staging the Emporium launch. CentralWorld is hosting its own promotion.

Games, costume contests, and other entertainment will be provided at the three spots, starting from 5am. At The Emporium, fans will also be offered a tour down Diagon Alley, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and the special platform at King's Cross station.

"We have prepared for fans to pick up their reserved books," said Chavalida Nitayasomboon, a PR officer of Nanmee Books, which expects reservations to reach 3,000.

Book retailer B2S also plans to award the first person to collect the reserved book with a small golden copy.

Reserving the book before the global launch gives Harry Potter enthusiasts a discount. While the cover price is Bt1,200, a reserved copy costs Bt850. At B2S, advance buyers will also receive a Bt100 gift voucher.

Nuntawan Suwandej, B2S vice president for marketing, said the company had received about 3,500 reservations since it started taking them on February 15. The figure is slightly more than reservations for previous books in the series.

"We expect to sell 80,000 copies. This is well beyond last year when we sold 67,000 copies against the target of 60,000," Nuntawan said.

Achara Deboonme

The Nation