Amazon has taken almost one million pre-orders for the new Harry Potter book, which will be released in June.

Internet retailer Amazon says the latest insatlment Harry Potter book series has already become its best-selling product ever, with more than 250,000 pre-orders on its British website and a worldwide total of 875,000.

The firm's US website Amazon.com has taken more than 500,000 copies ordered in advance of the book's publication on 21 June.

"Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix", the next book in the series about a boy with magical powers, has surpassed "Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire", the fourth instalment, as the top new product released on the site, www.amazon.com.

In total, Amazon. com has received more than 875,000 orders for the book on all of its websites worldwide in the last four months, the retailer said.

Visitors of the flagship US site received a 40 percent discount off the list price and the chance to get the book delivered to their homes on the day it is released, Amazon.com vice president Steve Kessel said.

Amazon.com said the deliveries will be the largest distribution event of any item since buying and selling began over internet.

Scholastic which has the US rights to the Harry Potter series, has said it plans an initial printing of 8.6 million copies of "Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix."

Bloomsbury Publishing, which holds the British rights, has said only that it plans to print a "massive number" of copies.

Bloomsbury launched an investigation after a newspaper reported that two copies of the book, which has been guarded with as much vigilance as a vault in the book's Gringotts Bank, had been found in a field.

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