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 Entertainment | Books | July 2005 
Bookstores Plan Midnight Sales, Parties
 John Rice
| | The price of the latest Harry Potter installment is 277 pesos according to the Gandhi website. |
Se habla Hogwarts?
Saturday's release of the new Harry Potter book is causing a minor sensation in Mexico, though the book is available only in a foreign language, English.
One of the country's most famous bookstores, Libreria Gandhi in Mexico City, has announced its main branch will hold a special midnight sale of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" so fans can get their hands on J.K. Rowling's new book the moment it becomes available: 12:01 a.m. Saturday.
Several Argentine bookstores also have announced plans for midnight sales of the new book.
Francisco Sánchez of publisher Scholastic-Mexico said the company sold 35,000 Englishlanguage copies of the last Harry Potter book in Mexico and "we are expecting to double that quantity" with the sixth book in the series.
That's a sliver of the 10.8 million copies Scholastic is printing worldwide, but it's a hefty number for a foreign-language book in a nation where many Spanish-language books sell only a few thousand copies.
Spanish-language translations of past Potter books have lagged behind the English editions.
Customers at a Guadalajara store specializing in English books, Libreria Sandi, have already reserved 150 copies of the first batch of 200, said manager Eric Day.
Day said he had not scheduled a midnight sale because he wasn't sure his shipment of books would get through customs at the airport on time.
Libreria Gandhi said it would have a daylong Potter festival on Saturday, featuring costumes, round-table discussions and quizzes.
Another Mexico City shop, Libros Libros Libros, said it planned to open an hour early on Saturday because of the Potter book.
And the national Sanborns chain of drug and variety stories said it would put the books on sale at midnight as well. Many of its stores' book sections are open 24 hours. |
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