First 24 hour sales

Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
23 July 2007




                           BLOOMSBURY PUBLISHING Plc

  RECORD BREAKING FIRST 24 HOUR SALES OF HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS


Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, the children's, adult and reference book publisher,
announced today that first day sales of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
have been exceptional and, according to NielsenBookScan, the independent book
trade monitoring service, 2,652,656 copies were sold in the first 24 hours in
the UK. This record figure represents a 32% increase on the comparable figure
for first day sales of the previous title, Harry Potter and the Half Blood
Prince, in July 2005 of 2,009,574.

The initial sales are in line with the Group's expectations and AGM statement on
28 June, when the company announced record export sales representing a 17%
increase on last year. Ultimate sales of the book in the UK clearly remain to be
seen, however, Bloomsbury is targeting a lower level of returns than in 2005. 
The English language edition of the book has also generated sales of 398,271 in
Germany over the weekend through the group's German subsidiary, Berlin Verlag.

Bloomsbury experienced unprecedented on-line interest in the publication of the
book receiving over 9.5million hits on its website www.bloomsbury.com on Friday
20 July leading up to the publication. The first 24 hours following release saw
huge demand for the live and on-demand streaming of JK Rowling's reading of the
book with over 372,000 watching the webcast, which is still available on
www.bloomsbury.com.

In addition to the good start to the launch of the seventh and last Harry Potter
book, which is benefiting from the significant marketing campaign undertaken by
Bloomsbury and recent film launch of the fifth title, Harry Potter and the order
of the Phoenix, previous books in the series are also benefiting from the new
launch. A boxed set edition of all seven Harry Potter titles will be launched on
1 October 2007.

As stated in the 2006 Chairman's statement, Bloomsbury is looking to develop new
revenue streams including online advertising. This includes a bespoke
advertising campaign on www.bloomsbury.com for the Royal Mail, which promotes 
their collection of Harry Potter stamps. The website will also be holding a 
major web event on Monday 30 July that will see JK Rowling hold a live webchat 
at www.bloomsbury.com from 14.00-15.00 BST. This will provide fans direct access 
to their favourite author to ask her what they have always wanted to know.



Ends



Enquiries:

Bell Pottinger
Ben Woodford/ Dan de Belder                                        0207 861 3232



Note to Editors

Bloomsbury was founded 21 years ago by its chief executive Nigel Newton, based
on the principle of publishing books of excellence and originality for a wide
market. The company undertook a full stock exchange listing in London in 1994
and has since expanded its publishing categories and geographical reach. Today,
Bloomsbury has three divisions - adult, children's and reference - which span
the world's three largest book markets of the USA, Germany and the UK, where the
Company has established offices.

Bloomsbury has a strong reputation in developing new authors - Anthony Bourdain,
David Guterson, Anne Michaels, J.K.Rowling, Will Self and Ben Schott - and in
publishing established ones, including, Margaret Atwood, John Irving, Jay
McInerney, Michael Ondaatje, Donna Tartt, Joanna Trollope and Benjamin
Zephaniah. The company is well recognized for its ability to identify new
authors, and employing highly professional sales and marketing skills to publish
their books to maximum effect. With a worldwide library of over 11,500 titles,
Bloomsbury also exploits a valuable backlist, publishing regular repeat authors.
It also develops major information databases for electronic and print
publication.

Bloomsbury's books are increasingly linked to television and film tie-ins,
including The English Patient, Snow Falling on Cedars, the first four Harry
Potter titles (with the fifth film premiered on 3rd July) and on TV, David
Dimbleby's How We Built Britain, The Only Boy for Me by Gil McNeil, and the
forthcoming The Wild Gourmets by Guy Grieve and Thomasina Miers. Bloomsbury's
bestseller, The Kite Runner, will be released as a major film in the UK in 2008.

2007 bestsellers

Country    Title of 2007 Bestsellers

UK         Restless by William Boyd
           A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
           How We Built Britain by David Dimbleby
           Austerity Britain by David Kynaston
           Jesus of Nazareth by Pope Benedict XVI
           Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by JK Rowling
           Physik by Angie Sage
           101 Things To Do by Richard Horne
           Cathy's Book by Weismann, Stewart & Brigg
           Larklight by Philip Reeve

USA        Waiting for Daisy by Peggy Orenstein,
           Medicus by Ruth Downie
           Princess Academy by Shannon Hale
           Gone Wild by David McLimans
           Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain
           Real Food by Nina Plank
           Highest Tide by Jim Lynch
           Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan
           Austenland by Shannon Hale
           Kiki Strike by Kirsten Miller

Germany    Ruhelos by William Boyd
           Salz des Lebens by Benoite Groult
           Die Flucht by Tatjana Grafin Donhoff
           Handy by Ingo Schulze
           Drachenlaufer by Khaled Hosseini
           Spate Familie by Zeruya Shalev




                      This information is provided by RNS
            The company news service from the London Stock Exchange