Harry Potter Books Sold by Accident

Book 6: HP & the Half-Blood Prince Forum

Harry Potter Books Sold by Accident

COQUITLAM, British Columbia - A handful of people in Canada got a sneak peak of the latest Harry Potter book, but a British Columbia Supreme Court judge ordered them to keep it a secret.

The book was sold to 14 people who snagged a copy of J.K. Rowlings' much anticipated "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," when it landed on shelves last Thursday at a local grocery store.

The book, officially set for release this coming Saturday, has been shrouded in secrecy and its debut has been highly orchestrated to enable everyone — readers, reviewers, even publishers — to crack it open all at once. It's the sixth in Rowling's seven-book fantasy series on the young wizard.

But the store slipped up and sold 14 copies before realizing its mistake.

"It was an inadvertent error on behalf of one of our staff," said Geoff Wilson, a spokesman for the Real Canadian Superstore. He said the books were quickly removed.

Justice Kristi Gill last Saturday ordered customers not to talk about the book, copy it, sell it or even read it before it is officially released at 12:01 a.m. July 16.

The order also compels them to return the novel to the publisher, Raincoast Book Distribution Ltd., until the official release. At that time it will be returned to them.

As an added incentive, Raincoast will include Rowling's autograph and a gift pack.

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"I order you not to read it..." what a joke. An autograph from the author. Please. I would sell this bad-boy in a second!

Would you read it if your local supermarket sold it early?

-HECK!

Damn straight I would.

It just amazes me that a judge thinks he/she can do that. Well, it is Canada. They're a bunch of damn hosers.

(Is SD a HP fan? If so, he's gonna be PO'd.)

-HECK!

Well, it says they had to hand the book back to the publisher; they probably had to do it almost right away... Though, I'd think most of them have read it already

Well what i one of those 14 weren't from Canada, they could leave the country, and not be under Canadian law, and they could read it ... And whats an autograph and a gift pack when you can read the book early?

what if the book ends up being crap?

It wont ...

Dekka ... 9k posts

I would have read that book the day purchased, and then sold it for some HUGE profit. There are people who would have paid THOUSANDS for it!!!

Just kidding.... I don't think that I could do that.

Well, I may be the only one, but I would return it and get the autograph and gift. We've had to wait two years already, what's another day or two compared to that? Granted, I would read as much as is humanly possible before I had to return it. I would even have somebody drive me back so I could read in the car.