Almost 250,000 copies of the long-awaited fifth Harry Potter book are being delivered to shops around Ireland in advance of its launch tonight.
Copies of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix are being delivered only to shops which months ago signed embargo agreements not to put the book on sale until a minute past midnight tonight.
Hundreds of thousands of copies have already arrived in the country in time-locked containers and were opened earlier this week at a number of warehouses.
Secrecy about the contents of perhaps the most fervently anticipated book in decades is such that even those packing the book for despatch at the Easons central warehouse in Santry yesterday were not able to actually open a copy of it.
Mr David O'Callaghan, children's book buyer with Easons, explained that the books had arrived in batches of six, vacuum-packed in plastic.
"So if a small shop has ordered 20 copies, they'll get 24. You might be tempted to rip open a pack and look at it, but you just wouldn't," he said.
"There's a black seal on each delivery warning the shops not to put the book on the shelves until just before midnight."
Mr Martin Black, general manager of the Easons flagship store on O'Connell Street, Dublin, said up to 2,000 copies had already been delivered.
These were "under lock and key" in a room with access limited to a small number of nominated staff.
Asked whether any staff had had a sneaky look at the book, he said they had not. "It would ruin our relationship with the publishers and we're too big for that."
The other company involved in ensuring all the bookshops have copies of the book in time for midnight tonight is Securicor Omega Express.
A spokesman for the company said they had taken extra security precautions for the task.
"This is a particularly sensitive job," he said.
Meanwhile about 15 bookshops around the country are preparing to open at midnight to allow Pottermaniacs get their hands on the book the minute the embargo expires, with others planning to open early for business tomorrow morning.
In Galway however, the two best-known independent bookshops, Kenny's and Charlie Byrne's, have resisted the urge to welcome the Potter circus into their shops at midnight. "It will be business as usual for our customers and I expect to be out drinking tomorrow night at midnight," said Mr Vinny Browne of Charlie Byrne's yesterday. "We have ordered some copies, but it's not really our kind of thing."
Mr Des Kenny of Kenny's bookshop said he expected to be "asleep in bed" at midnight.
