J.K. Rowling was close to tears Monday in Manhattan federal court as she faced off against a U.S. publisher, who plans to release an unauthorized Harry Potter encyclopedia.

Rowling, 42 is seeking to halt publication of the Harry Potter Lexicon, which is being written by Steve Vander Ark, a longtime fan who operates a Harry Potter Web site.

She said it is "sloppy" and that the "book constitutes wholesale theft of 17 years of my hard work."

More so, she argued, she has an emotional attachment to the series.

"I really don't want to cry because I'm British, you know," she said. "You know, these books, they saved me, not just in the very obvious material sense, although they did do that...I would have to say that there was a time when they saved my sanity."

Lawyers for RDR, the publishing company, argued that the encyclopedia was a "legitimate effort to organize and discuss the complicated and very elaborate work of Harry Potter," and thus a fair use allowable by law as a reference guide.

But Rowling said that she has been working on her own encyclopedia, but it wouldn't be done for another 2-3 years.

If the Lexicon were published, she said she wouldn't have "the will or the heart to continue with my encyclopedia.”

She also claimed the encyclopedia has halted her ability to work on another novel.