The Bungay-based book printer, which has a long-standing relationship with Rowling having printed all seven Harry Potter books, has printed her first post-Potter novel, which was published by Hachette UK subsidiary Little, Brown.

As with the majority of the Potter book, details of The Casual Vacancy, which charts the events following the sudden death of a member of the parish council in the fictional town of Pagford, have been closely guarded prior to its launch and it is not yet known how many copies were printed in the initial run.

However, with 2.6m copies snapped up in pre-sales and many bookshops opening at 8am this morning to try to take advantage of commuters eager to get their hands on the novel, their can be little doubt that it will be one of the hottest sellers this year.

In fact, UK booksellers were predicting the title would be the best-selling fiction title of the year long before anyone had even read it and on pre-sales alone it has already taken its place at the top of the weekly bestsellers list.

Neither Little, Brown production director Nick Ross, nor Clays managing director Kate McFarlan could be reached for contact at the time of writing.

JK Rowling will appear at the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London's Southbank Centre tonight for a live interview with BBC journalist Mark Lawson followed by a book signing, although tickets for the event are sold out.

The event will be live-streamed on Southbank Centre’s Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/southbankcentre