Whether or not Harry Potter has died is not something we can reveal - but it does look very much like he has leaked.

A sequence of photos showing a hand leafing through what appears to be all 700-plus pages of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows began attracting notice late yesterday on various websites. Blogs are this morning humming with speculation about what has or has not been given away.

The images appear to be of the American edition, available legitimately from midnight this Friday around the world.

With so many copies already printed of what is confidently predicted to be a huge bestseller, the risks of the feverishly anticipated story leaking have always been high, particularly so since the book's author, JK Rowling, has revealed two characters are to die before the story ends, hinting that they may also be among the most popular.

Lucy Holden, head of children's publicity at the book's UK publisher, Bloomsbury, refused to confirm that the leaked images were of the genuine book, insisting that the authentic-looking pictures could just be the latest in a blizzard of fake spoilers circulating on the net.

Nonetheless, she said: "We ask that people don't report what's being said. This could spoil things for a lot of young fans who believe that what goes on the net is real."

Her plea echoes a similar request from Rowling in May, when she inveighed against "sad individuals who get their kicks from ruining other people's fun".

The huge success of the books does mean that publishers can afford to keep plenty of lawyers busy plugging the leaks, and they have already been removed from many sites.