Auction bidders don't think a Lot of Potter books

Has the bubble finally burst on the worldwide phenomenon that is Harry Potter?

A collection of first-edition volumes in 63 foreign languages failed to sell at auction yesterday.

The books were put up for sale by a fan who started collecting in 2002, with the aim of having every Harry Potter book ever published.

In all, Tim Toone, 33, from Cambridgeshire, bought 553 first editions, including ones in Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, ancient Greek and one in braille. The entire collection was valued at £40,000.

A spokesman for Bloomsbury Auctions in Mayfair said English-language versions had sold. But when asked why the rare foreign language ones had not, he said: "I think it's a lot to do with space for some collectors. You'd have to have a fairly big place to store 500-odd books and there's a limit to what you can do with them."

The most Mr Toone paid was £4,500 for a first-edition hardback copy of The Philosopher's Stone found in a public library. Two books have signed dedications from author JK Rowling.

Roddy Newlands, at Bloomsbury, said: "No one has ever amassed such a collection of international editions."

Mr Toone refused to comment on the lack of interest in the auction.