The late Pope John Paul's last book has become the all-time bestseller in his native Poland, eclipsing the previous record-holder Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
The initial print run of 600,000 copies of the pope's fifth and final book, Memory and Identity has sold out and publisher Znak said it has an order for another 500,000 copies.
"This is the absolute bestseller of all time in Poland," said Andrzej Rostocki, who monitors Poland's book market for the Rzeczpospolita daily, told The Associated Press.
"I expect that sales could exceed 1.5 million copies," he said.
Even just counting initial copies sold, the pope's book has beaten out the fifth instalment of the popular Harry Potter series, which has sold 460,000 copies. Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code is in third place with 450,000 copies sold.
"After the pope's death we were bombarded by calls from book stores across Poland asking for more copies of the book," said Znak's head of promotion, Sylwia Wcislo.
Memory and Identity touches on topics that include the 1981 attempt on John Paul's life and the damage done by Nazism and communism to Europe in the last century. It is based on a transcript of conversations the pope had with two Polish friends, philosopher Krzysztof Michalski and the late Rev. Jozef Tischner, in 1993.
It was first released in Italy on Feb. 23.
At the pope's request the proceeds from the Polish edition, which sells in hardcover for $10.60 US and a paperback for $7.50 US will go to poor students in central Europe.
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