Germany gripped by Pottermania

Pottermania has hit Germany as children and booksellers await the publication on Saturday of the German translation of the fourth Harry Potter book.

An almost identical campaign to that run in the UK by Bloomsbury in July is backing Harry Potter und der Feuerkelch, and the book is expected to break all previous sales records. Publisher Carlsen faces a logistical challenge to fulfil advance orders of more than one million copies. The translation by Klaus Fritz was not finished until the end of August, and seven printers in Austria, the Czech Republic, Finland and Norway, as well as Germany, have been printing the title since the end of September.

Many booksellers plan extensive events for the launch, with some shops staging parties and selling the title from midnight. Because of the strict German law governing opening hours shops cannot open officially after 8 p.m. they will circumvent this obstacle by turning events into invitation-only private parties. One of Germany's largest booksellers, Kulturkaufhaus Dussmann in Berlin, has increased its guest list from 500 to 2,000.

Booksellers have signed an agreement warning them that to sell the book before publication day would be a violation of the retail price maintenance rules for books. Anyone who breaks the deadline faces a fine of DM25 (£7.50) for every copy sold.

In China, the people's Literature Publishing House has printed 600,000 copies of the first three Harry Potter books.