The Italian publisher of the Harry Potter books was gnashing its teeth on Friday after it emerged that hundreds of copies of the latest adventure were sold many hours before they should have been.
The Italian translation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which came out in English six months ago, officially went on sale at midnight on Thursday in scores of bookstores up and down the country.
Several big shops organised elaborate pre-sale wizarding parties for Potter fans in order to promote the launch of the sixth book in the saga, faithfully holding on to their copies until the stroke of midnight.
Similar midnight launches were organised successfully not only in London and New York, but also in later months in Paris, Berlin and Brussels.
But by Thursday afternoon, reports of embargo-breaking were already coming in. According to newspapers on Friday, the volume was on sale early in small bookshops in Rome, Pisa, Naples and several other towns.
"At midnight everyone here is asleep," said one bookshop owner who was found selling the book on Thursday in the Marche town of Fermo.
He explained that his shop was closed for the Epiphany holiday on January 6. "If we get to the holiday without putting the book on sale, it means losing a lot of sales," he added.
Salani, the publisher, distributed most of the 750,000 copies of the first print run over the two days preceding the official launch, with the result that many shops had the book well in advance.
The company expressed its vexation at the lack of discipline shown by some bookstores and said it would run checks to see exactly who the culprits were. "It's true. There are some people who have betrayed the pact, and so measures will be taken against them," it said, explaining that guilty stores could lose their right to sell Harry Potter books.
"We stipulated a written accord with bookshops on the sales ban," it said.
"We feel it is our duty to protect the relationship of trust we have with our readers and to defend their rights with regard to promises made, especially where children are concerned," it added.
