Katie Collins, Bloomsbury spokeswoman, said she knew of four books that from news accounts had from 48 to 98 pages missing in various parts of the book. It was printed by St Ives-owned Clays.

We want each one to be perfect but this is better than expected. When you think that nearly 1.8m were sold in the first day, then four rogue copies is a pretty good hit rate, said Collins.

The publisher has been criticised for not producing a large-print edition, but one is scheduled for 1 September. Usually it takes at least a year for a large-print version to come out, added Collins.

Australian printers were reported to have missed out two chapters in 10,000 of the 750,000 copies printed for the Australasian market.