1940 Morrow 2,023,489
The Case of the Stuttering Bishop, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1936 Morrow 2,019,162
The Case of the Counterfeit Eye, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1935 Morrow 1,980,195
The Case of the Caretaker’s Cat, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1935 Morrow 1,879,792
This Is Murder, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1935 Morrow 1,868,039
The Case of the Velvet Claws, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1933 Morrow 1,863,346
The Case of the Sleepwalker’s Niece, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1936 Morrow 1,814,946
House of Flesh, by Bruno Fischer. 1950 Gold Medal Books 1,800,212
The Case of the Black-Eyed Blonde, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1944 Morrow 1,754,784
The Clue of the Forgotten Murder, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1935 Morrow 1,737,780
The Case of the Haunted Husband, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1941 Morrow 1,695,359
The Adventures of Ellery Queen. 1934 Pocket Books 1,676,000
The New Adventures of Ellery Queen. 1940 Stokes 1,603,000
The Spanish Cape Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1935
Pocket Books 1,603,000
The Case of the Howling Dog, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1934 Morrow 1,593,199
The Chinese Orange Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1934
Pocket Books 1,565,000
The Case of the Borrowed Brunette, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1946 Morrow 1,537,214
The Case of the Buried Clock, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1943 Morrow 1,530,206
The Case of the Drowsy Mosquito, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1943 Morrow 1,510,245
The Case of the Shoplifter’s Shoe, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1938 Morrow 1,506,660
The Dutch Shoe Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1931 Pocket
Books 1,506,000
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie. 1926
Dodd, Mead (est.) 1,500,000
The Case of the Gold-Digger’s Purse, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1945 Morrow 1,492,948
The Case of the Cautious Coquette, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1949 Morrow 1,465,537
The Case of the Half-Wakened Wife, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1945 Morrow 1,424,228
Calamity Town, by Ellery Queen. 1942 Pocket Books 1,412,000
The Case of the Turning Tide, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1941 Morrow 1,408,319
The D.A. Calls It Murder, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1937
Morrow 1,407,310
The Case of the Silent Partner, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1940 Morrow 1,402,931
The Case of the Empty Tin, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1941 Morrow 1,377,388
The Case of the Rolling Bones, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1939 Morrow 1,368,767
Murder Up My Sleeve, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1938
Morrow 1,359,975
The Bigger They Come, by A. A. Fair. 1939 Morrow 1,295,319
The Case of the Crooked Candle, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1944 Morrow 1,273,775
The Thin Man, by Dashiell Hammett. 1934 Knopf 1,243,445
The Four of Hearts, by Ellery Queen. 1938 Stokes 1,235,000
Farewell My Lovely, by Raymond Chandler. 1940 Knopf 1,228,880
The Case of the Perjured Parrot, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1939 Morrow 1,212,047
The Egyptian Cross Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1932
Pocket Books 1,194,000
The Case of the Lonely Heiress, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1948 Morrow 1,193,009
The D.A. Draws a Circle, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1939
Morrow 1,192,862
The Case of the Drowning Duck, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1942 Morrow 1,188,293
The Case of the Smoking Chimney, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1943 Morrow 1,181,877
The Case of the Backward Mule, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1946 Morrow 1,164,181
The Siamese Twin Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1933
Pocket Books 1,161,000
The Case of the Careless Kitten, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1942 Morrow 1,153,876
The Tragedy of X, by Barnaby Ross (Ellery Queen). 1932
Viking Press 1,142,000
Halfway House, by Ellery Queen. 1936 Pocket Books 1,138,000
And Then There Were None, by Agatha Christie. 1940
Dodd, Mead (est.) 1,128,776
Darling, It’s Death, by Richard Prather. 1952 Gold
Medal Books 1,125,112
I Have Gloria Kirby, by Richard Himmel. 1951 Gold
Medal Books 1,000,617
The Case of the Fan-Dancer’s Horse, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1947 Morrow 1,096,372
The Great Impersonation, by E. Phillips Oppenheim.
1920 Little, Brown 1,092,690
The Dragon’s Teeth, by Ellery Queen. 1939 Stokes 1,039,000
The D.A. Goes to Trial, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1940
Morrow 1,037,482
The Case of the Lazy Lover, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1947 Morrow 1,013,139
The French Powder Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1930
Stokes 1,006,000
Fast Company, by Marco Page. 1938 Dodd, Mead (est.) 1,005,000
The D.A. Holds a Candle, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1938
Morrow 994,655
The Case of the Negligent Nymph, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1950 Morrow 940,552
The Door Between, by Ellery Queen. 1937 Pocket Books 931,000
The Case of the Dubious Bridegroom, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1949 Morrow 911,676
The Case of the Vagabond Virgin, by Erle Stanley Gardner.
1948 Morrow 911,504
Cure It with Honey, by Thurston Scott. 1951 Harper 904,643
The Roman Hat Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1929 Stokes 896,000
The DA. Galls a Turn, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1944
Morrow 866,118
The D.A. Breaks the Seal, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1946
Morrow 861,568
The Greek Coffin Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1932 Pocket
Books 845,000
The D.A. Cooks a Goose, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1942
Morrow 844,280
Night Cry, by William L. Stuart. 1948 Dial Press 818,585
The Circular Staircase, by Mary Roberts Rinehart. 1908
Rinehart 800,000
The Case of the One-Eyed Witness, by Erle Stanley
Gardner. 1951 Morrow 782,208
The Murderer Is a Fox, by Ellery Queen. 1945 Little,
Brown 776,000
The Origin of Evil, by Ellery Queen. 1951 Little, Brown 763,000
The Devil to Pay, by Ellery Queen. 1938 Pocket Books 759,000
Murder for Christmas, by Agatha Christie. 1939 Dodd,
Mead (est.) 750,000
Murder in the Calais Coach, by Agatha Christie. 1934
Dodd, Mead (est.) 750,000
The American Gun Mystery, by Ellery Queen. 1933 Avon 744,000
The Punch and Judy Murders, by Carter Dickson. 1937
Morrow 742,452
Two Clues, by Erle Stanley Gardner. 1947 Morrow 726,126
The Tragedy of Y, by Ellery Queen. 1932 Lippincott 720,000
Crows Can’t Count, by A. A. Fair. 1946 Morrow 711,894
The A B C Murders, by Agatha Christie. 1936 Dodd,
Mead (est.) 700,000
Bats Fly at Dusk, by A. A. Fair. 1942 Morrow 683,157
Give ’Em the Ax, by A. A. Fair. 1944 Morrow 680,198
The Judas Window, by Carter Dickson. 1938 Morrow 660,164
The Peacock Feather Murders, by Carter Dickson. 1937
Morrow 640,090
The Saint Goes West, by Leslie Charteris. 1942
Doubleday 637,819
Top of the Heap, by A. A. Fair. 1952 Morrow 635,752
Some Women Won’t Wait, by A. A. Fair. 1953 Morrow 634,311
The Tragedy of Z, by Ellery Queen. 1933 Avon 592,000
Phantom Lady, by William Irish. 1942 Lippincott 583,000
Ten Days’ Wonder, by Ellery Queen. 1948 Little, Brown 576,000
Drury Lane’s Last Case, by Ellery Queen. 1933 Pocket Books 554,000
The King Is Dead, by Ellery Queen. 1952 Little, Brown 548,000
Double, Double, by Ellery Queen. 1950 Pocket Books 525,000
The Scarlet Letters, by Ellery Queen. 1953 Little, Brown 515,000
Cat of Many Tails, by Ellery Queen. 1949 Pocket Books 507,000
The Glass Village, by Ellery Queen. 1954 Little, Brown 506,000
JUVENILES
Statistics on best sellers in the children’s book field are more
difficult to assemble accurately and consistently than in any other. The
following list of 75 books is an attempt to record the individual
titles, published in the United States since 1895, that have sold a
quarter of a million copies or more.
There are many of the oldest favorites and classics on the list of early
best sellers, those published before 1895. As these books have gone out
of copyright they have been issued by various publishers, perhaps newly
illustrated or in re-edited or condensed versions. It becomes impossible
to collect exact statistics for all these scattered versions, even for
some published later than 1895. Many of the original publishers have
gone out of existence and even some modern publishers do not have sales
records that go back very far. When there have been many publishers and
many versions of the same story, it is an all but impossible task to
assemble all the sales records, hence the absence of such favorites as
_The Tale of Peter Rabbit_, by Beatrix Potter. Modern versions of old
favorites are not included in the list unless one specific volume,
perhaps with a special illustrator, has accurate sales records, like
_The Real Mother Goose_ and _Walt Disney’s Uncle Remus_. Inexpensive
paperbound books in series are not included.
Juvenile fiction has a disconcerting habit of changing its audience.
Some of these best sellers like _Freckles_ and _Penrod_ started their
careers as adult fiction. Others were launched as juveniles and have
since added an adult audience, like the A. A. Milne books. The majority
of the books on this list were, however, planned for the youngest group
of juvenile readers.
A unique venture in selling to the older age group of children has been
the Teen Age Book Club, started over ten years ago. Its books are
paperbound, are sold at 25 and 35 cents, and are usually reprints, many
of them of adult titles suitable for teen age reading. In the school
year 1954-55 the Club sold 2,800,000 paperback books to student members
and over 10,000,000 in the past six years. The club’s top sellers in the
1954-1955 period were _Magnificent Obsession_ by Lloyd C. Douglas and
_The Real Story of Lucille Ball_ by Eleanor Harris.
The top sellers on the following list of best sellers might be said to
sell to captive audiences. They are not regular trade books, but are
“musts” for Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. Their very large sales totals,
covering yearly distribution, merit places for them here. Additionally
the Boy Scouts of America has given me some typical figures for some of
their other books. These are for the year 1955; _Wolf Cub Scout Books_,
970,000; _Bear Cub Scout Books_, 750,000; _Lion Webelos Cub Scout
Books_, 595,000.
There are huge quantities of children’s books sold which can only be
indicated here. The 10-cent to one dollar stores, department stores, and
newsstands are the chief outlets for these books which include coloring
books, cut-out books, and paper-doll books, for example, as well as
versions of the classics and juvenile fiction. One of the big sections
of this type of production and sale of children’s books is comprised of
“series.” Children latch on to a favorite character and follow him or
her through every imaginable adventure in volume after volume. Total
estimates of sales for some of these series are available. Not all of
these listed just below fall, however, into the class of those just
described. The _Landmark Books_ and _First Book Series_, for example,
have their greatest sales through regular bookstore outlets.
_Little Golden Books_, originated in 1942, have sold 285,000,000 in the
United States and Canada.
The _Frank Merriwell_ series, by Burt L. Standish, which flourished in
the ’20’s had an estimated sale of 126,000,000.
The 20 _Uncle Arthur Bedtime Stories_, by Arthur S. Maxwell, begun in
1927, have sold 19,601,979 copies.
The _Golden Play Books_, 15 cents each, have sold 10,000,000.
_Miss Frances’ Ding Dong School Books_ have sold over 10,000,000 since
1953. Their publicity is tied in with Miss Frances’ TV program for
children, and they sell at 25 cents each.
The _Burgess Animal Books_, by Thornton Burgess, have sold well over
8,000,000 copies.
With over 4,000,000 sales are the _Bedtime Story Book_ series by
Thornton Burgess and the _Childhood of Famous Americans_ series.
In the 3,000,000 group are the _Landmark Books_ with over 75 titles, the
_Golden Nature Guides_, the _Pollyanna Glad Books_, 15 titles, the _Twin
Books_ of Lucy Fitch Perkins, 24 of them, and the _Raggedy Ann Books_,
originated by Johnny Gruelle in 1918. The _Raggedy Ann Books_ have also
had many by-products in the way of cut-out books, mechanical books, and
the Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls.
Sixty titles of the _First Book Series_, edited by Helen Hoke Watts,
have sold 2,265,903 copies.
The famous _Elsie Dinsmore_ books by Martha Finley have sold well over
2,000,000. There are 28 titles, the first published in 1868.
Around the 2,000,000 mark is the _Little Colonel_ series by Annie
Fellows Johnston.
Twenty titles in the _Petersham Story Book_ series have sold 1,728,000;
Walter Farley’s _Black Stallion_ books, ten of them, have sold
1,250,000; the _Andrew Lang Fairy Tale Series_ has sold 1,268,367, and
11 volumes of the _Five Little Peppers_ series by Margaret Sidney have
sold 1,415,978 through one publisher since 1937. The first book in this
series was published in 1880, and the total sale is, of course, much
greater.
In the over one million group are the _Colby Books_; the _Real Book
Series_; the _Oz_ books of L. Frank Baum; the _Magic Talking Books_,
with records on their covers; the _Seahorse Fun Books_ at $1 each; the
_Teen-Age Library_; 21 volumes of the _Young Readers Bookshelf_; the
_Buddy Books_; and such older stories as the _Ruth Fielding_, _Betty
Gordon_, and _Motor Boys_ books.
Illustrating the pull of comic books (not magazines) are the _Classics
Illustrated Series_ and the _Classics Illustrated Junior Series_. These
two lines were designed to present worth-while educational subjects in
the comic book format which children like so much. Well over a million
copies of the books in each series have been sold. The publisher of some
of the older comic books, predecessors of today’s big sellers, report a
total sale of over 30,000,000 of such titles as _Bringing Up Father_,
_Mutt and Jeff_, _Little Orphan Annie_ and _Dick Tracy_.
Books distributed only through the low-price stores are those issued by
such firms as the Whitman Publishing Company and the Saalfield
Publishing Company. The Saalfield _Play Books_, mostly coloring and
paper-doll books, which sell for 25 cents and under, have a lifetime
each of from six months to two years. They are always issued in first
printings of at least a quarter of a million. No records of individual
books are kept. During the 1955 Davy Crockett craze, Grosset & Dunlap
sold about two million copies of three Davy Crockett books, including
one million of _The Picture Story of Davy Crockett_ and 600,000 of _The
Davy Crockett Coloring Book_.
* * * * *
Boy Scouts Handbook. 1910 Boy Scouts of America 14,975,000
Girl Scouts Handbook. 1916 Girl Scouts of America 4,500,000
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.
1900 Bobbs-Merrill 2,830,049
Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter. 1904 Doubleday 2,089,523
The Girl of the Limberlost, by Gene Stratton Porter.
1909 Doubleday 2,053,892
Facts of Life and Love for Teen-Agers, by Evelyn Willis
Duvall, 1950 Association Press 1,670,000
Laddie, by Gene Stratton Porter. 1913 Doubleday 1,586,529
The Golden Dictionary, by Ellen Wales Walpole. 1944
Simon and Schuster 1,450,000
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, by Kate Douglas Wiggin.
1903 Houghton Mifflin 1,357,714
The Little Engine That Could, ed. by Watty Piper. 1929
Platt & Munk 1,149,633
Pollyanna, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1913 Page 1,059,000
Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. 1923. Rev. by Arlene S.
Hall. 1955 Warner Press 1,000,000
Little Black Sambo, by Helen Bannerman. 1899
Lippincott (est.) 1,000,000
Pollyanna Grows Up, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1920 Page 1,000,000
Lassie Come-Home, by Eric Knight. 1940 Winston 819,000
Anne of Green Gables, by L. M. Montgomery. 1908 Page 812,000
Penrod, by Booth Tarkington. 1914 Doubleday 784,125
Winnie-the-Pooh, by A. A. Milne. 1926 Dutton 780,000
When We Were Very Young, by A. A. Milne. 1925 Dutton 735,000
Just So Stories, by Rudyard Kipling. 1902 Doubleday 700,775
The Real Mother Goose. 1916 Rand, McNally 700,000
The White Bunny and His Magic Nose, by Lily Duplaix.
1945 Simon and Schuster 689,000
Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch, by Alice Hegan Rice.
1903 Appleton-Century-Crofts 650,000
The Golden Christmas Book, by Gertrude Crampton.
1947 Simon and Schuster 628,000
Seventeen, by Booth Tarkington. 1916 Harper 619,716
Better Homes and Gardens Story Book. 1950 Meredith 609,274
Just David, by Eleanor H. Porter. 1916 Houghton Mifflin 604,957
Shoe Book of Nursery Rhymes. 1945 Capitol 592,572
Walt Disney’s Bambi. 1941 Simon and Schuster 583,000
Animal Stories, by Georges Duplaix. 1944 Simon and Schuster 553,000
The Golden Encyclopedia, by Dorothy Bennett. 1946
Simon and Schuster 548,000
The Golden Egg Book, by Margaret Wise Brown. 1947
Simon and Schuster 534,000
Now We Are Six, by A. A. Milne. 1927 Dutton 500,000
The Rainbow Dictionary, by Wendell Wright. 1947 World 500,000
The House at Pooh Corner, by A. A. Milne. 1928 Dutton 488,000
Walt Disney’s Uncle Remus. 1947 Simon and Schuster 443,000
The Dutch Twins, by Lucy Fitch Perkins. 1911 Houghton Mifflin 438,416
Storytime Tales, il. by Corinne Malvern. 1950 Simon and
Schuster 426,000
The Golden Song Book, by Katherine Tyler Wessells.
1945 Simon and Schuster 420,000
The Gateway to Storyland, ed. by Watty Piper. 1925 (Also
issued as Nursery Tales Children Love) Platt & Munk 414,585
Tenggren’s Farm Stories. 1946 Simon and Schuster 398,000
Tenggren’s Story Book. 1944 Simon and Schuster 388,000
The Golden Mother Goose. 1948 Simon and Schuster 382,000
Tenggren’s Cowboys and Indians. 1948 Simon and Schuster 356,000
Stories That Never Grow Old, ed. by Watty Piper. 1938
(Also issued as Tales from Storyland) Platt & Munk 354,722
Walt Disney’s Cinderella. 1950 Simon and Schuster 353,000
The Golden Bible: Old Testament. 1946 Simon and Schuster 350,000
Judy and Jim, by Hilda Miloche and Wilma Kane. 1947
Simon and Schuster 349,000
The Golden Book of Poetry, ed. by Jane Werner. 1947
Simon and Schuster 347,000
Pat the Bunny, by Dorothy Kunhardt. 1940 Simon and Schuster 339,000
Fairy Tales That Never Grow Old (Also issued as Stories
Children Love) 1923 Platt & Munk 325,292
Book of Cowboys, by Holling C. Holling. 1936 Platt & Munk 323,109
Set the Clock, by Dorothy N. King. 1916 Watts 319,700
The Golden Book of Nursery Tales. 1952 Simon and Schuster 303,000
The Story of Doctor Dolittle, by Hugh Lofting. 1920 Lippincott 302,562
Book of Indians, by Holling C. Holling. 1935 Platt & Munk 302,250
The Story of Ferdinand, by Munro Leaf. 1936 Viking Press 300,000
The Great Big Animal Book, il. by Feodor Rojankovsky.
1950 Simon and Schuster 298,000
Scat Scat, by Sally R. Francis. 1940 Platt & Munk 297,860
The Big Clock Book. 1949 Capitol 286,560
The Brimful Book, by Watty Piper. 1927 Platt & Munk 283,438
Baby Animals, by Garth Williams. 1952 Simon and Schuster 275,000
The Animals’ Merry Christmas, by Kathryn Jackson.
1950 Simon and Schuster 264,000
The Road in Storyland, ed. by Watty Piper. (Also issued
as Folk Tales) 1932 Platt & Munk 264,140
The Story of Davy Crockett, by Enid La Monte
Meadowcroft. 1952 Grosset & Dunlap 260,000
The Adventures of Reddy Fox, by Thornton W. Burgess.
1913 Little, Brown 256,150
Walt Disney’s Davy Crockett. 1955 Simon and Schuster 252,000
Anne of Avonlea, by L. M. Montgomery. 1920 Page 250,000
Anne of the Island, by L. M. Montgomery. 1915 Page 250,000
The Black Stallion, by Walter Farley. 1941 Random House 250,000
Chronicles of Avonlea, by L. M. Montgomery. 1912 Page 250,000
One God: The Ways We Worship Him, by Florence
Mary Fitch. 1944 Lothrop, Lee & Shepard 250,000
The Story of Babar, by Jean de Brunhoff. 1933 Random House 250,000
Telltime the Rabbit, by William Hall. 1945 Crowell 250,000
Why the Chimes Rang, by Raymond M. Alden. 1908 Bobbs-Merrill 250,000
NOVELTIES AND GAMES
Periodically, a new fad hits the American public. It may be a dance or a
song, a slang phrase or a game. Sometimes such a fad is opportunely made
the basis of a book that sells until fickle taste turns elsewhere.
Sometimes a new brand of book creates the fad as happened with the
_Cross Word Puzzle Books_, which perhaps should head the list of best
sellers in this field, but have been excluded because they constitute a
series.
Cross word puzzles had been enjoyed by a select group of fans for some
years before 1934 when the then new and untried firm of Simon and
Schuster made a collection of the puzzles that had been appearing in the
New York _World_. The book was compiled by Prosper Buranelli, F. Gregory
Hartswick and Margaret Petherbridge, and it had the added innovation of
a pencil that went along with each book in a slot on the binding. The
rest is history. Not only did the books themselves create a host of
cross word puzzle fans but cross word puzzles have continued ever since
as popular newspaper features. They have developed into “Little
Foolers,” diagramless puzzles and _Double-Crostics_ for super experts.
Simon and Schuster alone had published 73 of the _Cross Word Puzzle
Books_ through 1955 and 35 _Double-Crostics_. Two million one hundred
thousand _Cross Word Puzzle Books_ were sold through 1955, 200,000 of
the _Double-Crostics_ books. The editorship of the _Cross Word Puzzle
Books_ has been continued by Margaret Petherbridge Farrar, that of the
_Double-Crostics_ initiated by Elizabeth S. Kingsley and continued by
Doris Nash Wortman.
There are not nearly so many _Believe It Or Not_ books as _Cross Word
Puzzle Books_. This was originally also a newspaper feature, conceived
and drawn by Robert L. Ripley, who capitalized on the _Believe It or
Not_ fad not only in books and newspaper syndication but in shows,
exhibits and many other ways. _Boners_ and _Ask Me Another_, great fads
in their day, were also published in successive volumes after the first.
Humor, usually in a ribald vein, is dominant on this list of novelty
best sellers. There are many cartoon and joke books on it, and pictorial
humor like the _Zoo_ books of Clare Barnes, Jr. _The Specialist_,
monologue by a onetime vaudeville headliner, continues to sell and has
been published in ten other countries. _Dennis_, which started as a
newspaper picture feature, has probably only started on its best-selling
career, with its first two volumes listed here. Another popular cartoon
feature reproduced in a number of paperbound books is Walt Kelly’s
_Pogo_. About 1,600,000 of the Pogo books have been sold, though no
individual title has sold enough to win a place among these 19 books
that have sold over 275,000 copies.
There are eight manuals of games making up the second list of more
serious game books, half of them bridge books. Bridge has always been a
best-selling subject from the time of Milton C. Work and auction bridge
even before the ’20’s. Robert F. Foster’s auction and contract bridge
books sold over 1,000,000 copies. The late ’20’s and ’30’s when contract
bridge replaced auction was the Culbertson heyday. In the ’40’s and
’50’s bridge instruction books increased in number and continued to sell
well. Outstanding in the ’50’s are those by Charles Goren, who estimates
the sales of his seven titles at over two million. Canasta book sales
hit their high in 1949. The publisher of _Invitation to Chess_, by
Irving Chernev and Kenneth Harkness, believes it to be the best-selling
book on chess with 74,058 copies sold.
* * * * *
Novelty Books
Believe It or Not Books, by Robert L. Ripley. 1929 Simon
and Schuster 2,030,628
Pocket Book of Cartoons, ed. by Bennett Cerf. 1943
Pocket Books 1,507,000
Dear Sir, by Juliet Lowell. 1944 Duell, Sloan & Pearce 1,488,097
Pocket Book of War Humor, ed. by Bennett Cerf. 1943
Pocket Books 1,422,000
Dennis the Menace, by Hank Ketcham. 1952 Holt 1,400,000
Pocket Book of Boners. 1943 Pocket Books 1,387,000
More Dennis the Menace, by Hank Ketcham. 1953 Holt 1,290,208
Cartoon Laffs. True Magazine. 1952 Gold Medal Books 1,162,375
The Pocket Entertainer, ed. by Shirley Cunningham.
1942 Pocket Books 1,068,000
The Specialist, by Chic Sale. 1929 Specialist 1,000,000
For Doctors Only, by Francis Leo Golden. 1948 Fell 810,000
Texas Brags, by John Randolph. 1944 Randolph 500,000
Cobean’s Naked Eye. 1950 Harper 695,000
All About Girls. 1950 Avon 520,000
Bet It’s a Boy, by Betty B. Blunt. 1940 Watts 500,000
White Collar Zoo, by Clare Barnes, Jr. 1949 Doubleday 499,787
Bachelor’s Jokebook, by Leo Guild. 1953 Avon 480,000
Home Sweet Zoo, by Clare Barnes, Jr. 1950 Doubleday 303,027
The Sad Sack, by George Baker. 1946 Simon and Schuster 278,392
Game Books