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Fans of Da Vinci Code novelist Dan Brown queued up to buy a signed copy of his long-awaited new book outside a London store early today.
The Lost Symbol, Brown's first new book since The Da Vinci Code became an international phenomenon, is released worldwide today and is predicted to become one of the biggest-selling books of all time.
Waterstone's Piccadilly, Europe's largest bookstore, opened its doors two hours early today, at 7am, to sell 200 limited edition hardback copies of the book, the only signed copies of the UK edition, on a one-per-person basis.
More than 50 fans queued to get their hands on a copy. First in the queue was Christine Spliid, from Denmark, who said: “I came here at 4am to make sure I got a copy. I'm hoping it might become valuable.”
The Da Vinci Code sold more than 81 million copies worldwide and is Britain's biggest-selling paperback. It led to a blockbuster film starring Tom Hanks and Audrey Tautou.
Reader views (9)
This article is complete BS. I got to the queue at 6:55 and was 25th in the queue. There were so many books left that at 8am, I went off and bought another copy of this. Absolutely mental that anyone would queue at 4am. There's probably still some for sale now in the shop.
- Paulie, London
Anybody made a bid for the film rights yet? Hope Tom Hanks is standing by.
- Graham Rodhouse, Helmond, Netherlands
The Da Vinci code was a great read , call it guff if you like but religion is all guff anyway.
- M Wilkinson, London UK
Like the "Harry Potter" series and Bill Bryson's books it will become a best seller although in no way a best book. Nowadays best sellers are just the ones promoted by the supermarkets - be they general purpose or book specific ones. We now have clone towns with people reading clone books on clone coffee shops!
- Michael, London
I bet your all going to read it though!
- Tony, London
One fan there saying she hopes her copy becomes valuable. What's happened to buying a book purely for the enjoyment of reading it?!
Anyway, I'm sure there will be more valuable doorstops around when she comes to sell it.
- Jock, London
Whatever it was, it was all the Freemasons that did it, no doubt helped with chapter after chapter of poor use of English, poor geography and an absence of facts derived from the real world.
- Escobar-Alop-Lop, Camden County
In the wonderful of world of conspiracy-theory-chavland, literature is truly dead. But, I fear, the tradedy is that Dan Brown's readers actually BELIEVE his guff.
Come to think of it, Harry Potter...; no, don't go there!
- Ted, London
I understand major pharmaceuticals are expected to be bidding too, I understand it's a very good cure for insomnia.
- Bob, Cheam
