Fiction_L Archives bestselling books Dates: 1/2/04,2:26 PM  through  1/14/04,12:28 PM  (7 postings) Search for: Select one or more indexes to search: 2011-current     2009-2010     2004-2008    1995-2003    (Matches from each index will be displayed separately in the results page.) Return to January 2004 thread menu   |    Fiction_L Archives Menu

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FROM: Carrie Herrmann <[removed]@bcpl.org>
REC'D: 1/2/04, 2:26 PM

One of the reference librarians I work with is looking for a list of the top
50 bestsellers of all time. It can be fiction or nonfiction. He is looking
for adult books. He could find a list of childrens titles, but not a list for
adults. Please help him.

Carrie A. Herrmann
Circulation Services Coordinator
Boone County Public Library
859-384-5550 (phone)
859-384-5557 (fax)
[removed]@bcpl.org

FROM: Molly Williams <[removed]@waterborolibrary.org>
REC'D: 1/2/04, 2:42 PM

This might help:
http://www.ipl.org.ar/ref/QUE/FARQ/bestsellerFARQ.html

~ Molly Wms.

--
Molly Williams, Volunteer Web-Tender,
Waterboro Public Library (Maine): http://www.waterborolibrary.org/
... WPL Weblog: http://www.waterborolibrary.org/blog.htm

Carrie Herrmann wrote:

>One of the reference librarians I work with is looking for a list of the top
>50 bestsellers of all time. It can be fiction or nonfiction. He is looking
>for adult books. He could find a list of childrens titles, but not a list for
>adults. Please help him.
>
>Carrie A. Herrmann
>Circulation Services Coordinator
>Boone County Public Library
>859-384-5550 (phone)
>859-384-5557 (fax)
[removed]@bcpl.org
>
>
>

FROM: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
REC'D: 1/13/04, 2:03 PM

>Carrie Herrmann wrote:
>
>>One of the reference librarians I work with is looking for a list of the
top
>>50 bestsellers of all time. It can be fiction or nonfiction. He is
looking
>>for adult books. He could find a list of childrens titles, but not a
list for
>>adults. Please help him.
>>
>>Carrie A. Herrmann

As noted at the site Molly Williams suggested, the question is
basically unanswerable. (Minimal records, let alone trustworthy
ones, for anything except recent books in most cases.)

The question has also come up on Stumprers. Here's my thoughts,
from the Stumpers Archives, on the most frequently-seen "Top 10"
bestsellers list:

*********
Date: Tue, 13 Nov 2001 17:44:36 -0600
From: Dennis Lien <[removed]@tc.umn.edu>
To: "SPEED, MELISSA" <[removed]@TCCD.NET>
Cc: [removed]@crf.cuis.edu, [removed]@valdosta.edu
Subject: RE: All-Time Bestsellers - IPL Web Site

At 02:12 PM 11/13/01 -0600, you wrote: >Hi Denise- > >I have gotten that
question several times at the ref desk & >it is harder to answer than you'd
think. > >Here is the best web site I have found to answer the question.
>Perhaps the source for the soyouwanna.com list? >
>http://hypatia.ipl.org/ref/QUE/FARQ/bestsellerFARQ.html > >Here's the
citation: >The Top 10 of Everything by Russell Ash. The following lists
come the The >Top 10 of Everything, 1997 (DK Pub., 1996, pp 112-113.) >
>Melissa >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ >Melissa Speed >Public Services
Librarian >Tarrant County College - South Campus

We've got a later edition of the Ash book.

2001 edition of TOP 10 OF EVERYTHING says (page 103):

1. THE BIBLE (over 6,000,000,000) 2. QUOTATIONS FROM THE WORKS OF MAO TSE
TUNG (900,000,000) 3. AMERICAN SPELLING BOOK by Noah Webster (up to
100,000,000) 4. THE GUINNESS BOOK OF RECORDS (over 85,000,000-- "aggregate
sales of annual publication") 5. WORLD ALMANAC (73,500,000--"aggregate
sales of annual publication") 6. THE MCGUFFEY READERS by William Holmes
McGuffey (60,000,000) 7. THE COMMON SENSE BOOK OF BABY AND CHILD CARE by
Benjamin Spock (over 50,000,000) 8. A MESSAGE TO GARCIA by Elbert Hubbard
(up to 40,000,000) 9. IN HIS STEPS: "WHAT WOULD JESUS DO?" by Rev. Charles
Monroe Sheldon (over 30,000,000) and/or VALLEY OF THE DOLLS by Jacqueline
Susann (over 30,000,000)

No sources given for this information (or for most other information in the
volume). I gather documentation is considered seriously uncool these days
in the book marketplace.

This list differs slightly from the one on the website you note (last two
tied for ninth instead of rated 10th and 9th, respectively), and WORLD
ALMANAC has moved up three positions from 8th to 5th, pushing McGuffey down
one slot and Hubbard down two). Also, the site didn't give (estimated)
numbers.

I've got considerable problems with the list in any case. Some of these are
aggregate figures for a whole series of annual or other volumes (GUINNESS;
WORLD ALMANAC; MCGUFFEY READERS), which seem to me to stretch the
definition of "a" book. Large numbers of BIBLEs and LITTLE RED BOOKs
especially would have been given away rather than bought by their owners:
does this make them less best"sellers" (I suppose one could argue that they
initially sold to someone, be it the Gideon Society or Maoist political
parties or whatever). A MESSAGE TO GARCIA went through many editions as a
separate publication, and was no doubt a legitimate bestseller as such in
its time, but it's a pamphlet rather than a book (editions around 16 pages,
usually)--and it's also been anthologized in many essay/lit collections, so
perhaps one should argue that the totals of all those -- or a percentage of
the totals -- should be included in Hubbard's figures?

And which edition of the BIBLE is being credited with those 6,000,000,000
copies: King James? Revised Standard? Douay? Good News? Surely the
list-maker is not intending to claim these are all the same--aside from
differences (sometimes vast) in the translations, those that include
various permutations of the Apocrypha are surely different books by
reasonable definition. Then there's THE INTERPRETER'S BIBLE or other
versions with both text and massive commentaries, and there's editions just
of one testament and/or only of certain books...

For what it's worth, the 2002 GUINNESS WORLD RECORDS says only that the
Bible is the "world's best-selling and most widely distributed book . . .
with an estimated 2.5 billion copies sold since 1815." (I don't know if
they're using US or UK usage for "billion" here.)

The old PEOPLE'S ALMANAC (1975) on page 1226 listed "Some Leading
Best-Selling or Distributed Books," which sounds a lot more honest to me.
Too bad it's now so old, but for what it's worth, their list was:

1. THE BIBLE (1.5 billion) 2. QUOTATIONS FROM THE WORKS OF MAO TSE-TUNG
(800 million) 3. THE TRUTH THAT LEADS TO ETERNAL LIFE--Jehovah's Witnesses
(65 million) 4. AMERICAN SPELLING BOOK (50 to 100 million) 5. A MESSAGE TO
GARCIA (50 million) 6. IN HIS STEPS (30 million) 7. THE COMMON SENSE BOOK
OF CHILD CARE (24 million) 8. THE GUINNESS BOOK OF WORLD RECORDS (24
million) 9. VALLEY OF THE DOLLS (17 million) 10.AMERICAN RED CROSS FIRST
AID BOOK (16 million) 11.INFANT CARE--US Gov't, 1914 (15 million) 12.YOUR
FEDERAL INCOME TAX--US Gov't (14 million)

(I guess I'm not doing my share--I think I bought a Bible forty years or so
ago, but other than a couple of ex-lib used copies of the World Almanac,
I've never bought any of the other worldwide bestsellers. Nor, aside from A
MESSAGE TO GARCIA, have I ever read any of the above all the way through.)

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

***********

Dennis Lien / U of Minnesota Libraries // [removed]@tc.umn.edu

FROM: Christine Kujawa <[removed]@mail.infolynx.org>
REC'D: 1/13/04, 2:29 PM

Right, there probably isn't one authoritative list of the best books of all
time but there are various book lists out there to give a patron a few
ideas. If you have access to "Good Reading: A Guide for Serious Readers"
There's a section at the beginning on "101 Significant Books". It includes
fiction and non-fiction divided into categories: Ancient Times, 17-18
Century, 19 Century, 20th Century.

Christine

************************************************************
Christine Kujawa <[removed]@mail.infolynx.org>
Head of Circulation Department/Reference Librarian
Bismarck Public Library
North Dakota
************************************************************

FROM: BookBitch <[removed]@yahoo.com>
REC'D: 1/13/04, 5:55 PM

According to Fox News: "Rowling's first four Potter
books have sold an estimated 192 million copies
worldwide..."
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,90119,00.html

Those numbers should put Harry Potter in the number
three spot, even though it reflects a series. For all
intensive purposes (as Dennis pointed out) so does
GUINNESS; WORLD ALMANAC; and MCGUFFEY READERS.

Stacy Alesi
Southwest County Regional Library
Boca Raton, Florida
www.pbclibrary.org

=====
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FROM: "Jeanne Etling" <[removed]@nsls.info>
REC'D: 1/14/04, 10:09 AM

My 2 cents (probably 4 due to inflation, 6?) is to remind all of us that
numbers of books sold of many titles might simply reflect the times when
each was written. During the depression many books were passed around over
and over because few had the funds to purchase something as "frivolous" as a
book and many did not have the energy to read after working long hours or
the ability to read at all. I certainly agree with lists that contain the
Bible, the McGuffey Reader, Almanacs and the like, but I suspect that's not
what people are hoping to find. Books become classics because they can
withstand the test of time. Perhaps Harry Potter books or Da Vinci Code or
Grisham's legal thrillers will be able to withstand the test of time, but
only time will tell. Also, don't forget that in the last decade disposable
income has been at an all time high so the ability to purchase books
increases. All done now.

Jeanne Etling
Dundee (IL) Township Public Library District

FROM: "Lisa Colcord" <[removed]@glendaleaz.com>
REC'D: 1/14/04, 12:28 PM

When I did a discussion for Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank I read somewhere that her diary is one of the most published nonfiction books of all time. I don't remember where I saw it, of course, but for what it's worth...

Lisa

Lisa Colcord
Librarian
Glendale Public library
Glendale, AZ

....my views are my own....

-The secret to life is enjoying the passage of time- James Taylor

>>> [removed]@nsls.info 01/14/04 09:06AM >>>
My 2 cents (probably 4 due to inflation, 6?) is to remind all of us that
numbers of books sold of many titles might simply reflect the times when
each was written. During the depression many books were passed around over
and over because few had the funds to purchase something as "frivolous" as a
book and many did not have the energy to read after working long hours or
the ability to read at all. I certainly agree with lists that contain the
Bible, the McGuffey Reader, Almanacs and the like, but I suspect that's not
what people are hoping to find. Books become classics because they can
withstand the test of time. Perhaps Harry Potter books or Da Vinci Code or
Grisham's legal thrillers will be able to withstand the test of time, but
only time will tell. Also, don't forget that in the last decade disposable
income has been at an all time high so the ability to purchase books
increases. All done now.

Jeanne Etling
Dundee (IL) Township Public Library District

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