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Reading is such a subjective activity that each individual and culture approaches it differently. Some interesting facts about books and reading: Some readers don’t visualize at all while reading. In his 2014 book What We See When We Read, Peter Mendelsund wrote that even people who visualize while reading experience it vastly differently. Some people consciously picture characters and scenes; some experience them spontaneously, like performances occurring in front of them. There are myriad ways to experience storytelling, but it’s easy to assume what we’re familiar with is the only or best way.
Years ago, I learned many myths and exaggerations from textbooks or outdated articles, so I’ll try to debunk some of those. Many of these were inaccurate and Eurocentric. For example, Johannes Gutenberg was the first person in Europe to invent a printing press, but Bi Sheng was the first person in the world to invent one. All the knowledge of the ancient world wasn’t lost forever when the Library of Alexandria burned. That’s hyperbole.
Other myths result from over-generalizations. I wish I could confidently name the most popular book or author of all time or the first novel ever. However, for questions like these, there’s no single, definitive answer. It’s more accurate to say these are SOME OF the oldest surviving, most expensive, or most popular, books of all time, for example. The answers vary across cultures and eras and are impossible to know for sure.
What’s the Best-selling Book of All Time?
In 2021, the Guinness Book of World Records named the Bible the best-selling book of all time, with over 5-7 billion copies sold. They’re referring specifically to the Christian version of the Bible. There are so many editions and versions of the Bible, including ones that have been lost or never meant to be sold (for example, if they were made in monasteries). This makes statistics about it hard to pin down.
So, if the Christian Bible is the best-selling book overall, what’s the best-selling novel ever? In May 2023, Kevin Wong at IGN compiled this list, explaining why this task is so challenging, and excluding political and religious texts. According to the list, the best-selling novel of all time is Don Quixote, with 500 million copies sold since it was first published in Spanish in 1605 and 1615.
What Was the World’s First Novel?
A lot of scholars consider The Tale of Genji, written by Japanese courtier Murasaki Shikibu before 1021 CE, the first novel ever. But, as this article explains, there are many older works fitting the definition of a long, fictional, prose narrative. Callirhoe, from 1st century Greece, is a much older example.
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Who Was the Earliest Known Author?
An Akkadian (ancient Mesopotamian) princess and high priestess named Enheduanna signed her temple hymns in 2300 BCE. This is the earliest surviving example of a single author signing their work. Many more were anonymous or are unknown today.
When Were Books First Printed?
Around 1000 CE in China, Bi Sheng invented movable type, which was much faster than copying by hand. He invented the world’s first printing press technology.
In 1440 in France, German printer Johannes Gutenberg invented the first movable-type printing press in Europe. The first book mass-produced with his printing press was the Bible. Today, this is called the Gutenberg Bible, and only 49 copies still exist (more on that in the library section later in this article!).
OK, But Why are Books that Shape?
Most books are long rectangles because specific proportions are comfortable for most people to hold or for their eyes to scan. Audiobooks and adjusting fonts, spacing, and contrast on ebooks make books more accessible. If books got much wider or heavier, the pages would put too much strain on their spines.
Books with non-standard formats (for example, triangular or covered in fuzzy material) can be nightmares for publishers and booksellers. As always, there are exceptions. The tactile board book Pat the Bunny has been a bestseller since it was first published in 1940.
More Library Facts About Books
In a 2023 YouTube video, Kaz Rowe debunked several popular misconceptions about the Library of Alexandria. Many people believe that when the library was burned down, most of the ancient world’s knowledge was lost, setting literature and science back centuries. But as Kaz says in their video, this is wrong or grossly exaggerated on several counts. Historians don’t know who destroyed the library or why. There were two major centers of learning in Alexandria, not just one. Ancient Roman writer Galen wrote that Ptolemy required copies to be made of almost every book in the library. This counters the myth that countless, unique books were lost forever.
The beloved marble lions outside The New York Public Library’s Beaux-Arts Building in Manhattan are named Patience and Fortitude. I learned this through experience when I visited a friend, who was then an NYPL librarian. I was baffled when she asked me if I’d taken “a picture with Patience and Fortitude.” Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia named them during the Great Depression, thinking the names Patience and Fortitude would be encouraging. The nonfiction book Top Cats: The Life and Times of The New York Public Library Lions by Susan G. Larkin chronicles their history.
In 2020, for its 125th anniversary, the NYPL listed their top 10 book checkouts of all time in a blog post. At the time, The Snowy Day had been checked out the most: 485,583 times!
The Morgan Library in NYC has 3 Gutenberg Bibles, the most of any institution.
There was an unsuccessful attempt to steal Harvard’s Gutenberg Bible in 1969, but the thief underestimated the volumes’ weight.
Nineteenth century steel magnate Andrew Carnegie spent $60 million to create and fund 1,689 public libraries all around the U.S. Many libraries at the time were subscription-based or racially segregated, but Carnegie’s were free, public, and open to everyone. Many workers criticized Carnegie for cracking down on strikes and prioritizing libraries over fair wages.
What’s the Most Expensive Book?
This blog post about auctions details the most expensive book ever sold: a handwritten, original version of the Book of Mormon, dictated by Joseph Smith, sold for $35 million in 2017. Other books on the list include a first printing of The Canterbury Tales and the Northumberland Bestiary from 13th century England.
Infamous Typos
Typos can be a pain, but some people have faced steep penalties for them. In 1631 England, Robert Barker lost his printer’s license and was fined for printing a version of the King James Bible saying, “Thou shalt commit adultery” (omitting the word “not.”) Another notorious typo in an edition of the Bible said, “sin on more” (instead of “sin no more”). At least one of these versions was in Aziraphale’s bookshop in Good Omens, I think.
Longest Series
In 2020, we broke down some of the longest book series by genre. One of the longest SFF series ever is The Guin Saga by Kaoru Kurimoto and illustrated by Alexander O. Smith. It’s a comic with over 150 total volumes.
Reading Wasn’t Always Silent
As this BR article notes, today, most people consider reading a private — even solitary — activity. But according to A History of Reading by Alberto Manguel, until around the 1500s, most books were read out loud and not punctuated. This makes sense because books were expensive, and most people couldn’t read. In his Confessions, from 4th century North Africa, Augustine noted Ambrose reading silently, which implies it was probably rare.
(Some of the) Oldest Manuscripts
In 2017, Atlas Obscura asked librarians about the oldest and rarest items in their collections. Their answers include the oldest existing European cookbook from 830 CE Germany and Sumerian cuneiform tablets from 2050 BCE, now in the Library of Congress.
Some of the oldest surviving physical books in the world include The Diamond Sūtra, a Chinese Buddhist text that’s around 1,145 years and the oldest surviving, printed book. The Etruscan Gold Book is approximately 2,673 years old.
Individuals Who Invented Entire Writing Systems
In the early 1800s, Sequoyah (Sikwayi in Cherokee), a Cherokee silversmith, painter, and warrior, created a writing system with 86 letters to record the Cherokee language. The ancient Sequoia trees in the Pacific Northwest were named after him, using an alternate spelling of his name. He was also sometimes called George Gist.
Louis Braille was born in France in 1809 and became blind at age 3. When he was a teenager, Braille started trying to invent a reading and writing system for blind people that was more efficient than raised letters. Embossed dots were a rejected note-taking code from the military, and Braille adapted them into the system named after him. This information comes from Louis Braille: A Touch of Genius by C. Michael Mellor, a biography sold in Braille format on the National Braille Press’ website.
The Books Adapted into Films Most Often
The books adapted into films most often include Les Misérables, A Christmas Carol, and Dracula. Since the linked article was published in 2020, Netflix released Scrooge: A Christmas Carol, meaning there are at least 50 adaptations of Dickens’ book. That’s not even counting movies like The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017), which imagines Dickens’ creative process writing A Christmas Carol.
