Jr. 1903 1,100,000
F The Other Room, by Worth T. Hedden. 1947 1,100,000
F The Rosary, by Florence Barclay. 1910 1,099,000
F Never Love a Stranger, by Harold Robbins. 1948 1,098,060
F The Case of the Fan-Dancer’s Horse, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1947 1,096,372
F The Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey. 1912 1,094,000
F My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier. 1952 1,093,230
F The Great Impersonation, by E. Phillips Oppenheim.
1920 1,092,690
F Rawhide Range, by Ernest Haycox. 1952 1,090,000
The Sexual Side of Marriage, by Max J. Exner. 1932 1,087,716
F Bad Girl, by Viña Delmar. 1928 1,085,566
F What Makes Sammy Run? by Budd Schulberg. 1941 1,082,000
F Love Is Eternal, by Irving Stone. 1954 1,078,753
F Hungry Hill, by Daphne du Maurier. 1943 1,068,004
The Pocket Entertainer, ed. by Shirley Cunningham.
1942 1,068,000
F Louis Beretti, by Donald Henderson Clarke. 1929 1,066,600
F Mistress Glory, by Susan Morley. 1948 1,063,502
Crusade in Europe, by Dwight D. Eisenhower. 1948 1,059,713
J Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1913 1,059,000
F Spoonhandle, by Ruth Moore. 1946 1,057,993
F The Beach House, by Stephen Longstreet. 1952 1,055,000
Strength for Service to God and Country, by Norman
F. Nygaard. 1942 1,050,000
F Bugles in the Afternoon, by Ernest Haycox. 1944 1,044,747
F The Dragon’s Teeth, by Ellery Queen. 1939 1,039,000
F The D.A. Goes to Trial, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1940 1,037,482
F The Sun Also Rises, by Ernest Hemingway. 1928 (est.) 1,037,000
F Cassidy’s Girl, by David Goodis. 1951 1,036,497
F Butterfield 8, by John O’Hara. 1935 1,021,738
F Ramrod, by Luke Short. 1943 1,018,992
F I Can Get It for You Wholesale, by Jerome Weidman.
1937 1,018,942
F High Towers, by Thomas B. Costain. 1949 1,015,604
F Never Come Morning, by Nelson Algren. 1942 1,015,000
F The Case of the Lazy Lover, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1947 1,013,139
The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson. 1951 1,010,753
Martha Logan’s Meat Cook Book. 1942 1,010,000
F Scarlet Sister Mary, by Julia Peterkin. 1928 1,007,310
F The Sun Is My Undoing, by Marguerite Steen. 1941 1,010,000
F The French Powder Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1930 1,006,000
Great Controversy, by Ellen G. White. 1926 1,005,381
F Fast Company, by Marco Page. 1938 (est.) 1,005,000
Pocket Book of Crossword Puzzles, by Margaret
Petherbridge. 1943 1,001,000
F Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allen. 1933 1,000,000
Brave Men, by Ernie Pyle. 1944 1,000,000
Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. 1923. Rev. by Arlene
S. Hall. 1955 1,000,000
Etiquette, by Emily Post. 1922 (est.) 1,000,000
A Heap o’Livin’, by Edgar Guest. 1916 1,000,000
J Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman. 1899 (est.) 1,000,000
J Pollyanna Grows Up, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1915 1,000,000
The Simple Life, by Charles Wagner. 1901 1,000,000
F The Web of Days, by Edna L. Lee. 1947 1,000,000
Will Rogers, by Patrick J. O’Brien. 1935 1,000,000
Your Dream Home, by Hubbard Cobb. 1950 1,000,000
BEST SELLERS
1895-1955
_Hardbound_
This list, giving only sales figures for the hardbound editions of the
best sellers, is the most comparable in content to the overall
bestseller list in the 1945 edition of this book. In the main that
original list consisted mostly of hardbound best sellers. Some
paperbound editions were included, but when the list was first made,
there were only a scattering of these paperbound editions that could be
included.
The 1895-1955 list has been limited to books selling 750,000 copies or
more in the original edition and in hardbound reprint and in book club
editions. There are 147 titles compared to the 144 books in 1945 which
had sold 500,000 or more. The names of the original publishers and the
dates of original publication in the United States are given. In cases
where the original publisher has gone out of business but the book is
still in print, the name of the present publisher is given, but if the
book itself is out of print, the name of the original publisher is given
whether or not the firm is still in existence.
Many of the older titles from the periods before the two world wars are
still here. Only those on the original list that have not yet sold
750,000 copies are omitted. Many new books of the ’40’s and ’50’s have
been added--58 published in 1945 or later, only 20 of which were
published in 1950 or later. There are 19 authors who have two or more
books on this list. The leaders in number of titles are Frances
Parkinson Keyes with six, Daphne du Maurier, Gene Stratton Porter and
Frank Yerby with five each, and Thomas B. Costain and Harold Bell Wright
with three each.
Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. 1930
Meredith 5,806,586
F Gone with the Wind, by Margaret Mitchell. 1937
Macmillan 5,000,000
Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book. 1950 McGraw-Hill 3,500,000
The American Woman’s Cook Book, ed. by Ruth
Berolzheimer. 1938 Garden City Books 3,400,000
The Boston Cooking School Cook Book, by Fannie
Farmer. 1896. Ninth ed. by Wilma Lord Perkins.
1951 Little, Brown 3,058,778
The Story of the Bible, by Jesse Lyman Hurlbut. 1904
Winston 3,000,000
J The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.
1900 Bobbs-Merrill 2,830,049
F A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, by Betty Smith. 1943
Harper 2,539,000
F The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas. 1942 Houghton
Mifflin 2,530,129
Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cookbook. 1954
Simon and Schuster 2,400,000
F The Silver Chalice, by Thomas B. Costain. 1952
Doubleday 2,236,004
F The Black Rose, by Thomas B. Costain. 1945
Doubleday 2,129,442
J Freckles, by Gene Stratton Porter. 1904 Doubleday 2,089,523
The Song of Our Syrian Guest, by William Allen
Knight. 1903 Pilgrim Press 2,070,500
The Outline of History, by H. G. Wells. 1921 Macmillan 2,070,170
J The Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton Porter.
1909 Doubleday 2,053,892
F Leave Her to Heaven, by Ben Ames Williams. 1944
Houghton Mifflin 2,031,210
F In His Steps, by Charles Monroe Sheldon. 1897
Grosset & Dunlap and others (est.) 2,000,000
The Power of Positive Thinking, by Norman Vincent
Peale. 1952 Prentice-Hall 2,000,000
F The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham. 1944
Doubleday 1,911,843
The Joy of Cooking, by Irma S. Rombauer. 1931 (The
New Joy of Cooking, with Marion Rombauer Becker.
1951) Bobbs-Merrill 1,855,434
F The Call of the Wild, by Jack London. 1903 Macmillan 1,752,500
Better Homes and Gardens Baby Book. 1943 Meredith 1,766,284
F Dinner at Antoine’s, by Frances Parkinson Keyes.
1948 Messner 1,748,000
F Not as a Stranger, by Morton Thompson. 1954
Scribner 1,700,000
F The Foxes of Harrow, by Frank Yerby. 1946 Dial
Press 1,671,697
F The Caine Mutiny, by Herman Wouk. 1954 Doubleday 1,664,763
F Forever Amber, by Kathleen Winsor. 1944 Macmillan 1,648,400
F The Golden Hawk, by Frank Yerby. 1948 Dial Press 1,648,064
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale
Carnegie. 1937 Simon and Schuster 1,627,511
F The Virginian, by Owen Wister. 1902 Macmillan 1,623,000
F The Harvester, by Gene Stratton Porter. 1911
Doubleday 1,611,007
J Laddie, by Gene Stratton Porter. 1913 Doubleday 1,586,529
F Mother, by Kathleen Norris. 1911 Doubleday 1,553,792
F The Vixens, by Frank Yerby. 1947 Dial Press 1,524,123
The Greatest Story Ever Told, by Fulton Oursler.
1949 Doubleday 1,516,570
In Tune with the Infinite, by Ralph Waldo Trine.
1897 Bobbs-Merrill 1,507,314
F Strange Woman, by Ben Ames Williams. 1941
Houghton Mifflin 1,443,524
F Green Dolphin Street, by Elizabeth Goudge. 1944
Coward-McCann 1,425,000
F All Quiet on the Western Front, by Erich Maria
Remarque. 1929 Little, Brown 1,424,231
F Lydia Bailey, by Kenneth Roberts. 1947 Doubleday 1,400,616
J Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, by Kate Douglas
Wiggin. 1904 Houghton Mifflin 1,357,714
F The King’s General, by Daphne du Maurier. 1946
Doubleday 1,354,982
F Joy Street, by Frances Parkinson Keyes. 1950
Messner 1,349,000
F Annie Jordan, by Mary Brinker Post. 1948 Doubleday 1,315,551
A Man Called Peter, by Catherine Marshall. 1951
McGraw-Hill 1,303,000
F The Trail of the Lonesome Pine, by John Fox, Jr.
1908 Scribner 1,285,000
F Came a Cavalier, by Frances Parkinson Keyes. 1947
Messner 1,279,000
F This Side of Innocence, by Taylor Caldwell. 1946
Scribner 1,276,000
F Before the Sun Goes Down, by Elizabeth M. Howard.
1946 Doubleday 1,260,725
F Désirée, by Annemarie Selinko. 1953 Morrow 1,235,843
F The Crisis, by Winston Churchill. 1901 Macmillan 1,232,380
F Gentleman’s Agreement, by Laura Z. Hobson. 1947
Simon and Schuster 1,221,986
The Greatest Book Ever Written, by Fulton Oursler.
1951 Doubleday 1,217,201
F David Harum, by Edward Noyes Westcott. 1900
Appleton-Century-Crofts 1,200,000
The Settlement Cook Book, by Mrs. Simon Kander.
1930 Simon and Schuster 1,200,000
F The Shepherd of the Hills, by Harold Bell Wright.
1907 Appleton-Century-Crofts 1,200,000
F Michael O’Halloran, by Gene Stratton Porter. 1915
Doubleday 1,194,440
F The Sheik, by E. M. Hull. 1921 Dodd, Mead 1,194,000
F The River Road, by Frances Parkinson Keyes. 1946
Messner 1,168,000
F Rebecca, by Daphne du Maurier. 1938 Doubleday 1,166,468
F The Royal Box, by Frances Parkinson Keyes. 1954
Messner 1,156,000
J The Little Engine That Could, ed. by Watty Piper.
1929 Platt & Munk 1,149,633
F The Turquoise, by Anya Seton. 1946 Houghton
Mifflin 1,149,487
The Egg and I, by Betty MacDonald. 1945 Lippincott (est.) 1,125,000
F The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come, by John Fox,
Jr. 1903 Scribner 1,100,000
F The Rosary, by Florence Barclay. 1910 Putnam 1,099,000
F The Riders of the Purple Sage, by Zane Grey. 1912
Harper 1,094,000
F My Cousin Rachel, by Daphne du Maurier. 1952
Doubleday 1,093,230
F So Well Remembered, by James Hilton. 1945 Little,
Brown 1,083,226
F Love Is Eternal, by Irving Stone. 1954 Doubleday 1,078,753
F Pride’s Castle, by Frank Yerby. 1949 Dial Press 1,073,679
F Hungry Hill, by Daphne du Maurier. 1943 Doubleday 1,068,004
Crusade in Europe, by Dwight D. Eisenhower. 1948
Doubleday 1,059,713
J Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1913 Page 1,059,000
Strength for Service to God and Country, by Norman
F. Nygaard. 1942 Abingdon Press 1,050,000
Five Acres and Independence, by M. G. Kains. 1935
Greenberg 1,044,000
F Topper, by Thorne Smith. 1926 Doubleday 1,018,806
F High Towers, by Thomas B. Costain. 1949 Doubleday 1,015,604
F B.F.’s Daughter, by John P. Marquand. 1946 Little,
Brown 1,012,912
F Scarlet Sister Mary, by Julia Peterkin. 1928 Bobbs-Merrill 1,007,310
F The Sun Is My Undoing, by Marguerite Steen. 1941
Viking Press (est.) 1,010,000
Great Controversy, by Ellen G. White. 1926 Review
& Herald 1,005,381
F Anthony Adverse, by Hervey Allen. 1933 Rinehart 1,000,000
Brave Men, by Ernie Pyle. 1944 Holt 1,000,000
Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. 1923 Rev. by Arlene S.
Hall. 1955 Warner Press 1,000,000
Etiquette, by Emily Post. 1922 Funk & Wagnalls (est.) 1,000,000
A Heap o’Livin’, by Edgar Guest. 1916 Reilly & Lee 1,000,000
J Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman. 1899
Lippincott (est.) 1,000,000
A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard. 1898 Roycroft (est.) 1,000,000
J Pollyanna Grows Up, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1915
Page 1,000,000
The Simple Life, by Charles Wagner. 1901 Doubleday 1,000,000
F The Song of Bernadette, by Franz Werfel. 1942
Viking Press (est.) 1,000,000
F The Web of Days, by Edna L. Lee. 1947 Appleton-Century-Crofts 1,000,000
Will Rogers, by Patrick J. O’Brien. 1935 Winston 1,000,000
F Yankee Pasha, by Edison Marshall. 1947 Farrar,
Straus and Cudahy 1,000,000
Your Dream Home, by Hubbard Cobb. 1950 Wise 1,000,000
F The Good Earth, by Pearl S. Buck. 1931 John Day 976,500
F The Golden Fury, by Marian Castle. 1949 Morrow 969,499
F Floodtide, by Frank Yerby. 1950 Dial Press 969,491
Here Is Your War, by Ernie Pyle. 1943 Holt 967,000
F Shannon’s Way, by A. J. Cronin. 1948 Little, Brown 960,245
History of the World War, by Richard J. Beamish and
F. A. March. 1919 Winston 960,000
F Prince of Foxes, by Samuel Shellabarger. 1947 Little,
Brown 948,180
The Story of the Other Wise Man, by Henry van
Dyke. 1896 Harper 936,191
F The Calling of Dan Matthews, by Harold Bell Wright.
1916 Appleton-Century-Crofts 925,000
Land Birds East of the Rockies, by Chester A. Reed.
1905 Doubleday 920,436
F The Winning of Barbara Worth, by Harold Bell
Wright. 1911 Appleton-Century-Crofts 900,000
F Mutiny on the Bounty, by Charles Nordhoff and James
Norman Hall. 1932 Little, Brown 895,750
F The Cleft Rock, by Alice Tisdale Hobart. 1948
Bobbs-Merrill 887,200
F Pilgrim’s Inn, by Elizabeth Goudge. 1944 Coward-McCann 885,000
The Story of Philosophy, by Will Durant. 1926 Simon
and Schuster 874,975
F Pavilion of Women, by Pearl S. Buck. 1946 John Day 868,000
F Scaramouche, by Rafael Sabatini. 1921 Houghton
Mifflin 862,901
F The Moneyman, by Thomas B. Costain. 1947
Doubleday 849,428
F Bride of Fortune, by Harnett Kane. 1948 Doubleday 847,434
F The Parasites, by Daphne du Maurier. 1950
Doubleday 841,715
Better Homes and Gardens Handyman’s Book. 1951
Meredith 840,888
F The Private Life of Helen of Troy, by John Erskine.
1925 Bobbs-Merrill 840,369
F The Keys of the Kingdom, by A. J. Cronin. 1941
Little, Brown 819,629
F The Big Fisherman, by Lloyd C. Douglas. 1948
Houghton Mifflin 814,637
F Lusty Wind for Carolina, by Inglis Fletcher. 1944
Bobbs-Merrill 812,130
They Were Expendable, by W. L. White. 1942
Harcourt, Brace 810,663
For Doctors Only, by Francis Leo Golden. 1948 Fell 810,000
F Impatient Virgin, by Donald Henderson Clarke.
1931 Vanguard Press 802,500
Peace of Mind, by Joshua L. Liebman. 1946 Simon
and Schuster 802,064
Diet and Health, by Lulu Hunt Peters. 1922 Reilly
& Lee 800,000
F For Whom the Bell Tolls, by Ernest Hemingway.
1940 Scribner 800,000
F The Mysterious Rider, by Zane Grey. 1921 Harper 796,950
The Royal Road to Romance, by Richard Halliburton.
1925 Bobbs-Merrill 794,287
Expectant Motherhood, by Nicholson J. Eastman.
1940 Little, Brown 794,052
F The Peacock Sheds His Tail, by Alice Tisdale Hobart.
1945 Bobbs-Merrill 790,931
F Parris Mitchell of Kings Row, by Katherine Bellamann.
1948 Simon and Schuster 788,634
J Penrod, by Booth Tarkington. 1914 Doubleday 784,125
F Richard Carvel, by Winston Churchill. 1899 Macmillan 780,400
Better Homes and Gardens Garden Book. 1951
Meredith 779,975
F The Man of the Forest, by Zane Grey. 1920 Harper 774,500
F The Case of the Cautious Coquette, by Erie Stanley
Gardner. 1949 Morrow 770,552
F The View from Pompey’s Head, by Hamilton Basso.
1954 Doubleday 770,359
F The Miracle of the Bells, by Russell Janney. 1946
Prentice-Hall 770,000
The Book of Etiquette, by Lillian Eichler. 1922
Nelson Doubleday 756,432
J Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne. 1926 Dutton 780,000
Ann Pillsbury’s Baking Book. 1950 Barnes 750,000
F Eben Holden, by Irving Bacheller. 1900 Lothrop, Lee
& Shepard 750,000
Our Hearts Were Young and Gay, by Cornelia Otis
Skinner and Emily Kimbrough. 1942 Dodd, Mead (est.) 750,000
F The Re-creation of Brian Kent, by Harold Bell
Wright. 1919 Appleton-Century-Crofts 750,000
F Tarzan of the Apes, by Edgar Rice Burroughs. 1914
McClurg 750,000
BEST SELLERS
1895-1955
_Paperbound_
This third list of best sellers, 1895-1955, includes only books which
have sold one million or more copies in paper-covered editions. No
hardcover sales are included in the totals. There are 173 titles on the
list, most of which have sold at prices ranging from 25 cents to 50
cents. The publishers named are the publishers of the paperbound
editions. In some cases these books are “originals” that is, they were
first issued in paper covers, and not as reprints of hardcover editions.
Books in this category are indicated by “(orig)” after the publisher’s
name. In a very few cases a book was issued by its original publisher in
both paper and hardcover editions. In that case only the sales of the
paperbound edition are given.
The most recent development in the paperbound field has been the
establishment of reprint series by the regular trade publishers, most of
them offering their backlist titles at reduced prices in the new format.
The substance of most of these series is more serious from the literary
standpoint than the usual offerings of the regular paperbound
publishers. One of the good outlets for these paperbound series is the
college bookstores whose readers find special books they may have long
wished to own but have not been able to afford at their original prices,
and also books that may have been out of print in their clothbound
editions. This sort of enterprise has been so successful that more and
more publishers have embarked upon it.
Some reprint publishers have always issued paperbound books of serious
nature, notably New American Library with its Mentor Books, Penguin
Books which imports English editions to large extent, and Pocket Books,
which, from its start, has issued dictionaries, classics, and manuals,
such as the one that heads the following list. Titles in the well-known
Modern Library have only recently appeared in paper as well as in cloth,
as have the books in the Viking Portable Library. One of the first trade
publishers to enter this paperbound field was Doubleday & Company with
Anchor Books, a line of paperbound reprints and originals for which
Doubleday won the Carey-Thomas Award for creative publishing in 1955.
Knopf’s Vintage Books have gone over the million mark in sales.
Doubleday’s Image Books, a paper-back series of Catholic works, when
only its first few titles were available, sold over half a million
copies in six months.
An example of another type of paperbound publishing is that of Oceana
Publications and its Legal Almanac Series. These are original works of
several hundred pages, most of them issued in both cloth and paper
bindings. This series specializes in one subject, in this case, law in
simplified form for the layman. Forty volumes of the Legal Almanac
Series have exceeded a million in total sales. The first volume in the
series, _Marriage and Divorce_, has sold over 100,000 copies. There are
also numerous other publishers specializing in issuing paperbound books
on certain subjects. Many of these books are of the “how-to” and
“fix-it-yourself” type, such as those issued by Fawcett Publications,
the Lane Publishing Company, Arco Publishing Company and Maco Magazine
Corporation.
Pocket Book of Baby and Child Care, by Benjamin
Spock. Pocket Books 7,500,000
F God’s Little Acre, by Erskine Caldwell. New American 6,340,524
Library
F In His Steps, by Charles Monroe Sheldon. Advance 6,000,000
(orig)
F I, the Jury, by Mickey Spillane. New American 4,372,837
Library
F The Big Kill, by Mickey Spillane. New American 4,150,840
Library
F My Gun Is Quick, by Mickey Spillane. New American 3,907,419
Library
The Pocket Cook Book, by Elizabeth Woody. Pocket
Books (orig) 3,800,000
F The Long Wait, by Mickey Spillane. New American
Library 3,763,374
F One Lonely Night, by Mickey Spillane. New American
Library 3,732,882
F Kiss Me, Deadly, by Mickey Spillane. New American
Library 3,692,045
F Vengeance Is Mine! by Mickey Spillane. New American
Library 3,645,000
How to Win Friends and Influence People, by Dale
Carnegie. Pocket Books 3,478,000
F Journeyman, by Erskine Caldwell, New American
Library 3,476,140
F Tragic Ground, by Erskine Caldwell, New American
Library 3,357,675
F Duel in the Sun, by Niven Busch. Popular Library 3,200,000
F Tobacco Road, by Erskine Caldwell. New American
Library 3,131,220
A Message to Garcia, by Elbert Hubbard. Roycroft
(orig) 3,000,000
F The Chinese Room, by Vivian Connell. Bantam Books 2,915,000
The Service Cook Book, by Ida Bailey Allen. Service,
Inc. (orig) 2,750,000
F A House in the Uplands, by Erskine Caldwell. New
American Library 2,730,000
F From Here to Eternity, by James Jones. New American
Library 2,516,635
F Trouble in July, by Erskine Caldwell. New American
Library 2,508,983
F Georgia Boy, by Erskine Caldwell. New American
Library; Avon 2,478,488
F Pocket Book of Short Stories, ed. by M. E. Speare.
Pocket Books (orig) 2,438,000
F See Here, Private Hargrove, by Marion Hargrove.
Pocket Books 2,260,000
F Singing Guns, by Max Brand. Pocket Books 2,219,000
F The Amboy Dukes, by Irving Shulman. Avon 2,200,000
F The Sure Hand of God, by Erskine Caldwell. New
American Library 2,188,052
F Tales of the South Pacific, by James Michener. Pocket
Books 2,131,000
The Pocket Book of Verse, ed. by M. E. Speare. Pocket
Books (orig) 2,127,000
F The Case of the Curious Bride, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 2,120,000
F Pocket Book of Erskine Caldwell Stories, ed. by Henry
Seidel Canby. Pocket Books 2,107,000
F The Glorious Pool, by Thorne Smith. Pocket Books 2,085,000
The Pocket Dictionary, by W. J. Pelo. Pocket Books 2,075,000
F Battle Cry, by Leon Uris. Bantam Books 2,067,000
F Mr. Roberts, by Thomas Heggen. Pocket Books;
Armed Services Editions 2,055,120
F The Case of the Lame Canary, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 2,038,000
F Women’s Barracks, by Tereska Torres. Gold Medal
Books (orig) 2,036,048
F The Case of the Sulky Girl, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 2,000,000
A House Is Not a Home, by Polly Adler. Popular
Library 2,000,000
How to Prepare Your Income Tax, by David Joseph.
Garden City Books (orig) 2,000,000
F The Case of the Substitute Face, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 1,990,000
F The Passionate Witch, by Thorne Smith. Pocket Books 1,950,000
F The Case of the Lucky Legs, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 1,927,000
The Greatest Story Ever Told, by Fulton Oursler.
Permabooks 1,911,155
F The Case of the Baited Hook, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,886,092
F The Case of the Stuttering Bishop, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,875,000
F The Case of the Counterfeit Eye, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,870,000
F Cannery Row, by John Steinbeck. Bantam Books 1,843,000
F House of Flesh, by Bruno Fischer. Gold Medal Books
(orig) 1,800,212
F The Case of the Caretaker’s Cat, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,799,000
I’ll Cry Tomorrow, by Lillian Roth, Mike Connolly
and Jerold Frank. Popular Library 1,750,000
Jailbait, by William Bernard. Popular Library 1,750,000
You Are What You Eat, by Victor H. Lindlahr. Journal
of Lifetime Living 1,730,000
F Lost Horizon, by James Hilton. Pocket Books 1,726,000
F Magnificent Obsession, by Lloyd C. Douglas. Pocket
Books 1,689,000
F The Case of the Dangerous Dowager, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,667,715
F The Bishop’s Jaegers, by Thorne Smith. Pocket Books 1,646,000
F The Case of the Velvet Claws, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 1,638,762
F Kitty, by Rosamond Marshall. Pocket Books; New
American Library 1,630,175
F A Woman in the House, by Erskine Caldwell. New
American Library 1,623,630
F This Is Murder, by Erle Stanley Gardner. Pocket
Books 1,622,771
F The Naked and the Dead, by Norman Mailer. New
American Library 1,620,005
F The Case of the Haunted Husband, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,607,714
J Facts of Life and Love for Teen-Agers, by Evelyn
Millis Duvall. Popular Library 1,580,000
F The Clue of the Forgotten Murder, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,569,436
F This Very Earth, by Erskine Caldwell. New American
Library 1,566,255
F The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. Pocket Books 1,559,320
Love Without Fear, by Eustace Chesser. New American
Library 1,555,320
F Topper, by Thorne Smith. Pocket Books 1,542,000
F Duke, by Hal Ellson. Popular Library 1,540,000
About the Kinsey Report, ed. by Donald P. Geddes
and Eve Currie. New American Library 1,516,380
Pocket Book of Cartoons, ed. by Bennett Cerf. Pocket
Books (orig) 1,507,000
30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary, by Wilfred J.
Funk and Norman Lewis. Pocket Books 1,502,000
F Spring Fire, by Vin Packer. Gold Medal Books (orig) 1,463,917
Believe It or Not, ed. by Robert L. Ripley. Pocket
Books 1,457,000
F Strange Fruit, by Lillian Smith. New American
Library 1,448,070
F The Case of the Buried Clock, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 1,426,101
Pocket Book of War Humor, ed. by Bennett Cerf.
Pocket Books (orig) 1,422,000
F The Case of the Howling Dog, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
Pocket Books 1,411,739