THE BOOKS ARE HERE!; Caravan of 124 Tractor-Trailers Weighing More Than Four Million Pounds And Delivering Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince to the Barnes & Noble Warehouse

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 27, 2005--Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller, announced that the first U.S. shipment of the new J. K. Rowling book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, lands today at its distribution center in Jamesburg, New Jersey. Between today, June 27, and the day of the book's release on July 16, Barnes & Noble expects to receive a caravan of 124 tractor-trailers weighing more than four million pounds and carrying Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Barnes & Noble will begin packing customer pre-orders as well as shipping books to its stores nationwide in time for the July 16th on sale date.

Barnes & Noble announced last week that it has received more than 750,000 pre-orders and expects that number to reach more than one million by the time the book goes on sale.

"Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince will be the bestselling pre-order book in publishing history," said Steve Riggio, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "We expect more than three million customers will visit over 700 Barnes & Noble stores in the first 24 hours, and that the book will shatter all records. Our unparalleled distribution system will put this book in the hands of our customers all across the country and the world the minute it goes on sale."

Barnes & Noble is offering the title for the discounted price of $17.99, 40 percent off the list price ($16.19 for Barnes & Noble Members). The compact disc and audiocassettes for the unabridged book will also be available. Customers can place pre-orders at any Barnes & Noble store or online at Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com).

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world's largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates 821 bookstores in 50 states. For the fourth year in a row, the company is the nation's top retail brand for quality, according to the EquiTrend(R) Brand Study by Harris Interactive(R). Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites and the number one online bookseller for quality among e-commerce companies, according to the latest EquiTrend survey.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate Web site: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com.