On what date was J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter finale first published in the UK?

J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter finale, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, was first published in the UK on 21 July 2007.

Bloomsbury released the seventh novel at one minute past midnight, British Summer Time. The unusual launch time reflected the enormous anticipation surrounding the conclusion of Harry’s story and allowed bookstores to begin sales immediately after the date changed.

The book followed Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which had been published in 2005. Deathly Hallows resolves the central conflict with Lord Voldemort and brings the original seven-novel sequence to a conclusion. It is longer than most earlier installments and includes an epilogue set nineteen years after the main action.

The American edition was also released on 21 July 2007, by Scholastic. The date is therefore not the publication of the first Harry Potter book; Philosopher’s Stone appeared in Britain in 1997.