Harry Potter mania was continuing to spin its web of magic over book sales today after the fifth instalment of the schoolboy wizard's adventures broke retail records.

Britain's largest bookseller, WH Smith, said Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix had broken all previous sales figures, with thousands of fans queuing at stores across the UK.

Online retailer Amazon said the novel had also broken internet sales records with more than 1.3 million advance orders received worldwide, including more than 420,000 in the UK.

The delivery of the book is the largest distribution of any single item in e-commerce history.

Fearing shelves would be cleared by Potter fans, booksellers stocked up on hundreds of copies to prevent any disappointment.

A WH Smith spokeswoman said: "We anticipated it was going to be massive but it's the fastest selling book we've ever had.

"But we still have lots of copies left - we're continuously stocking it."

Although exact sales figures have yet to be calculated, WH Smith expects the novel to be ten times more popular that the fourth book, Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.

Store books director Gary Kibble said copies were "flying out of the stores at a rate of more than eight a second".

Monday June 23, 2003