in 1953. Josef Stalin died in Moscow early in the year. Eugene O’Neill
died in Boston on November 27. Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norkey
conquered the world’s highest peak, Mount Everest. The unusual aspect
of 1953’s fiction best seller list was that the leading novel and two
others were popularly-priced editions of older novels, which had been
best sellers several years previously in their original editions. Two
were re-priced and re-publicized to coincide with new movies based upon
them. The biggest fiction sales of 1953 were chalked up by the $1.98
movie edition of _The Robe_, which had been originally published in
1942. It was the top seller of 1943, second in 1944 and in 1945. It is
remarkable that, eleven years after its first publication, it topped all
fiction with its sale of 180,000. In addition, 8,000 copies of the $3.75
edition were sold. The movie of the same title was the first film to be
shown in the then new CinemaScope process. In second place on the
fiction list was 1952’s best seller, _The Silver Chalice_. After a sale
of 221,000 copies in 1952, it sold 135,000 in 1953 including about
89,000 in the $1.98 edition, which was on sale only in the last three
months of the year. _Désirée_, leader of sales among novels that were
published in 1953, was third with 115,773 copies. It was one of five
historical novels, half the list, in comparison with two each in 1952
and in 1951. The author was one of three new to the annual best seller
lists. The other two were Leon M. Uris, author of _Battle Cry_, and
Ernest K. Gann, author of _The High and the Mighty_, which sold 63,857
copies in the bookstores. _Battle Cry_ was the only war novel on the
list unless one can so consider the army novel, _From Here to Eternity_,
which was fifth with 68,500 copies sold in its $2.69 movie edition. It
had been 1951’s top-selling novel in its original edition. If outlets
other than bookstores had been considered for these annual lists, _From
Here to Eternity_ would have outdistanced by far any other novel, for
2,000,000 copies of its paperbound 75-cent edition, brought out to
coincide with the appearance of the movie, were sold. The theme of
religion dominated nonfiction best sellers in 1953 as it had in many
preceding years, and nonfiction continued; title for title, to outsell
fiction in the bookstores. For the second year the _Revised Standard
Version_ of the Bible outsold all other current titles. It had been
averaging 49,700 copies a month in buckram and 41,790 in leather
throughout the year. With its big December sale, it went over 1,100,000
for the year. Of the other six books of religious appeal Norman Vincent
Peale’s _The Power of Positive Thinking_ was second with a sale of
340,000 (it had been sixth on the 1952 list); _Angel Unaware_ fourth
with sales of 257,176; _Life Is Worth Living_, with sales of 142,000,
fifth; in sixth place, _A Man Called Peter_, sales in 1953, 130,000;
_This I Believe_ seventh, as it had been in 1952, its 1953 sales
115,000; and eighth, _The Greatest Faith Ever Known_, selling 96,000.
The three remaining non-religious, non-fiction best sellers of the year
were _Sexual Behavior in the Human Female_, third, with sales of 275,000
copies; _How to Play Your Best Golf_, sales 90,000; and _A House Is Not
a Home_, in tenth place with 86,000 sold.
1954
Fiction
1. NOT AS A STRANGER, by Morton Thompson. Scribner
2. MARY ANNE, by Daphne du Maurier. Doubleday
3. LOVE IS ETERNAL, by Irving Stone. Doubleday
4. THE ROYAL BOX, by Frances Parkinson Keyes. Messner
5. THE EGYPTIAN, by Mika Waltari. Putnam
6. NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS, by Mac Hyman. Random House
7. SWEET THURSDAY, by John Steinbeck. Viking Press
8. THE VIEW FROM POMPEY’S HEAD, by Hamilton Basso. Doubleday
9. NEVER VICTORIOUS, NEVER DEFEATED, by Taylor Caldwell. McGraw-Hill
10. BENTON’S ROW, by Frank Yerby. Dial Press
Non-Fiction
1. THE HOLY BIBLE: REVISED STANDARD VERSION. Nelson
2. THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING, by Norman Vincent Peale. Prentice-Hall
3. BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS NEW COOK BOOK. Meredith
4. BETTY CROCKER’S GOOD AND EASY COOK BOOK. Simon & Schuster
5. THE TUMULT AND THE SHOUTING, by Grantland Rice. A. S. Barnes
6. I’LL CRY TOMORROW, by Lillian Roth, Jerold Frank and Mike Connolly. Frederick Fell
7. THE PRAYERS OF PETER MARSHALL, ed. by Catherine Marshall. McGraw-Hill
8. THIS I BELIEVE, 2, ed. by Raymond Swing. Simon & Schuster
9. BUT WE WERE BORN FREE, by Elmer Davis. Bobbs-Merrill
10. THE SATURDAY EVENING POST TREASURY, ed. by Roger Butterfield. Simon & Schuster
* * * * *
As Americans watched the McCarthy hearings on TV, were hopeful about the
Salk polio tests, lived through hurricanes Carol to Hazel, and learned
to pronounce Dien Bien Phu, they also bought more copies of the Bible
in the _Revised Standard Version_ than of any other book. In 1954
R.S.V.B. held its top position among best sellers for the third
consecutive year. Its sales were smaller than they had been in preceding
years, but large enough to outsell any other title, fiction or
non-fiction, by almost 200,000. It sold 710,359 copies in 1954, making a
three-year total of 3,141,670. The majority of novels among the ten best
sellers of the year were by authors whose names have appeared on these
lists many times before, authors of well-established popularity. The
exceptions were: the top title of the year, _Not As a Stranger_, by
Morton Thompson, which pointed up the perennial interest in “medical”
stories; _No Time for Sergeants_, the only first novel on the list, its
author, Mac Hyman, bringing out delightfully some of the more humorous
aspects of life in the U.S. armed forces; and _The View from Pompey’s
Head_. The author of the last-named title, Hamilton Basso, was a
well-known writer, who won a place among the top ten for the first time.
_No Time for Sergeants_ sold 66,216 copies plus a 100,000 book club
sale; _The View from Pompey’s Head_ sold 58,000 plus book club copies.
Fifth on the fiction list was _The Egyptian_. It had been the
top-selling fiction title of 1949 brought back in a $1.98 edition to
coincide with the release of the movie based upon it. More than half the
fiction list was made up of period novels. Along with _The Egyptian_
there were _Mary Anne_ with a sale of 127,000; _Love Is Eternal_ with an
88,000-copy sale; _The Royal Box_, which sold 83,234; _Never Victorious,
Never Defeated_, sales 57,442; and _Benton’s Row_, which, in one month,
sold 54,724. The one remaining novel, neither historical nor by an
author making his first appearance on an annual list, was _Sweet
Thursday_, which sold 65,000 copies. Sales of the non-fiction titles in
the top ten places of the year were greater by over 1,600,000 than the
sales of the top ten novels, and nonfiction also outsold fiction title
by title down the list. Besides the number one book, the Bible, there
were three other best sellers of religious interest in comparison with
1953’s six. _The Power of Positive Thinking_, which was second also in
1953 and sixth in 1952, sold 531,336 copies in 1954, making a total of
971,336 for the three years. In seventh place _The Prayers of Peter
Marshall_ sold 91,000, followed by the second series of _This I Believe_
selling 89,867--19,887 in the clothbound edition, 69,980 in the
paperbound. Two cook books took third and fourth places among
non-fiction, The _Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book_ with a sale of
359,468 copies and _Betty Crocker’s Good and Easy Cook Book_, which sold
290,000 copies. Two autobiographies--that of Grantland Rice, late sports
columnist, and of Lillian Roth of the entertainment world, were in fifth
and sixth places, both somewhat surprise sellers. _The Tumult and the
Shouting_ sold 133,498 copies; _I’ll Cry Tomorrow_, 115,000. _But We
Were Born Free_, by Elmer Davis, was the only book on current affairs on
the list. _The Saturday Evening Post Treasury_, handsome, illustrated
gift book, did especially well at Christmas time, selling 73,159 copies
in two months.
1955
Fiction
1. MARJORIE MORNINGSTAR, by Herman Wouk. Doubleday
2. AUNTIE MAME, by Patrick Dennis. Vanguard Press
3. ANDERSONVILLE, by MacKinlay Kantor. World Publishing Co.
4. BONJOUR TRISTESSE, by Françoise Sagan. Dutton
5. THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT, by Sloan Wilson. Simon & Schuster
6. SOMETHING OF VALUE, by Robert Ruark. Doubleday
7. NOT AS A STRANGER, by Morton Thompson. Scribner
8. NO TIME FOR SERGEANTS, by Mac Hyman. Random House
9. THE TONTINE, by Thomas B. Costain. Doubleday
10. TEN NORTH FREDERICK, by John O’Hara. Random House
Non-Fiction
1. GIFT FROM THE SEA, by Anne Morrow Lindbergh Pantheon Books
2. THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING, by Norman Vincent Peale. Prentice-Hall
3. THE FAMILY OF MAN, by Edward Steichen. Simon & Schuster and Maco Magazine Corp.
4. A MAN CALLED PETER, by Catherine Marshall. McGraw-Hill
5. HOW TO LIVE 365 DAYS A YEAR, by John A. Schindler. Prentice-Hall
6. BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS DIET BOOK. Meredith
7. THE SECRET OF HAPPINESS, by Billy Graham. Doubleday
8. WHY JOHNNY CAN’T READ, by Rudolf Flesch. Harper
9. INSIDE AFRICA, by John Gunther. Harper
10. YEAR OF DECISIONS, by Harry S. Truman. Doubleday
* * * * *
The public’s choice of novels during 1955 ranged from some concerned
with young love to others about the complex problems of modern life,
from one laid in the South during the Civil War, to scenes of strife in
South Africa. No trends were particularly discernible, except that there
were fewer historical novels than usual on the list, only two. Four of
the year’s best-selling novels were by new or little-known
writers--Patrick Dennis, Françoise Sagan, Sloan Wilson and Mac Hyman.
Top novel in sales was _Marjorie Morningstar_, by Herman Wouk, whose
_The Caine Mutiny_ was second in 1952. _Marjorie Morningstar_ sold
191,349 copies during the year. _Auntie Mame_ was second with 150,000
copies sold. _Andersonville_ was published late in the year but had a
total of 121,000 exclusive of book club sales. _Bonjour Tristesse_ was
by a young French writer, Françoise Sagan, the only author on both
fiction and non-fiction lists not an American, and the only woman author
on the fiction list. It sold 120,000 copies. _The Man in the Gray
Flannel Suit_ sold just under 100,000. Total for _Something of Value_
was 93,757. _Not As a Stranger_ was the top fiction seller of 1954.
Sales of the original edition and of the $2.69 edition, timed with the
movie based upon it, brought it in its second year to seventh place. _No
Time for Sergeants_, also in its second year, and the basis of a
Broadway hit, sold 92,000 copies in 1955. Its two-year total plus a book
club sale was over a quarter of a million. _The Tontine_ was by a writer
long familiar to readers of best sellers. It sold 75,298 copies. _Ten
North Frederick_, published on Thanksgiving Day, sold 65,900 in just
over a month. In reporting the nonfiction best sellers of each year, it
had become _Publishers’ Weekly’s_ policy not to include standard works
such as dictionaries and cook books, and, in the case of the 1955 list,
the Bible, after such volumes had appeared on the lists for one, two, or
more years. The _Bible, Revised Standard Version_, had headed the annual
list for three years. Its sales of 800,000 copies, more than in 1954,
would have made it top for 1955 as well. It seemed to be an established
fact up through the mid-twentieth century, that the Bible, in whatever
version, was always the best seller. Therefore, in order to mirror more
transient contemporary reading taste, it was omitted from this list and
_Gift from the Sea_ took first place with its sale of 430,000. There
were three books of religious interest on the 1955 best-seller list:
_The Power of Positive Thinking_, appearing for the fourth consecutive
year, sold 378,000; _A Man Called Peter_, with 275,000 sold in its $1.98
movie edition; and _The Secret of Happiness_, which sold 115,697. Third
for 1955 was the beautiful book of photographs plus text, by Edward
Steichen, _The Family of Man_, which had its big sale, of 364,000
copies, in the paperbound edition. In addition there was a hardbound
edition sale of about 15,000. The self-help book, _How to Live 365 Days
a Year_, was fifth with a sale of 235,000. The _Better Homes and Gardens
Diet Book_ sold 130,021 copies in 1955. Winding up the list, in eighth,
ninth, and tenth places, were three books of topical importance: _Why
Johnny Can’t Read_, _Inside Africa_, and _Year of Decisions_ by former
President Harry S. Truman. This first volume in President Truman’s
autobiography sold 74,820 copies. Following the recent trend, the ten
top non-fiction titles outsold the ten top fiction by almost two to one.
The total sale of the non-fiction through the bookstores amounted to
2,168,701 volumes; that of the fiction, 1,102,761. As 1955 ended the
country was still in alarm over President Eisenhower’s illness,
wondering whether he could again be a candidate for the presidency. The
stock market was high, unemployment at its lowest figure. A new
generation had learned all about Davy Crockett. Most imminent cloud in
the political sky was the threat of a clash in the Near East. On the
interplanetary scene came the government’s announcement of its project
for the launching of manmade satellites.
EARLY BEST SELLERS
EARLY BEST SELLERS
These are the titles, published before 1895, when the systematic
recording of best sellers began, which have without question sold a
total of a million copies or more through the years. It is impossible to
arrive at definite sales figures for most of these because each has been
issued by a variety of publishers. Many of these firms are no longer in
existence and few accurate sales records are obtainable now, especially
for the earliest books.
Prayer books, hymn books, textbooks, and similar specialized volumes are
not included in this list, although many of the titles that are included
have appeared in school editions as well as in trade editions. The list
is in chronological order according to American publication.
THE HOLY BIBLE
THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS, by John Bunyan
MOTHER GOOSE
AESOP’S FABLES
THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD, by Oliver Goldsmith
ROBINSON CRUSOE, by Daniel Defoe
POEMS, by Robert Burns
GULLIVER’S TRAVELS, by Jonathan Swift
ARABIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENT
AUTOBIOGRAPHY, by Benjamin Franklin
PLAYS, by William Shakespeare
THE SKETCH BOOK OF GEOFFREY CRAYON, GENT., by Washington Irving
IVANHOE, by Sir Walter Scott
KENILWORTH, by Sir Walter Scott
THE SPY, by James Fenimore Cooper
THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS, by James Fenimore Cooper
THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON, by Johann R. Wyss
THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII, by Edward Bulwer-Lytton
OLIVER TWIST, by Charles Dickens
TALES, by Edgar Allan Poe
TWO YEARS BEFORE THE MAST, by Richard Henry Dana, Jr.
THE DEERSLAYER, by James Fenimore Cooper
THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP, by Charles Dickens
ESSAYS, by Ralph Waldo Emerson
POEMS, by Alfred Tennyson
A CHRISTMAS CAROL, by Charles Dickens
THE THREE MUSKETEERS, by Alexandre Dumas
THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO, by Alexandre Dumas
POEMS, by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
FAIRY TALES, by Hans Christian Andersen
JANE EYRE, by Charlotte Brontë
VANITY FAIR, by William Makepeace Thackeray
WUTHERING HEIGHTS, by Emily Brontë
THE OREGON TRAIL, by Francis Parkman
POEMS, by John Greenleaf Whittier
DAVID COPPERFIELD, by Charles Dickens
REVERIES OF A BACHELOR, by Ik Marvell
THE SCARLET LETTER, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
THE WIDE WIDE WORLD, by Susan Warner
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
MOBY-DICK, by Herman Melville
BLEAK HOUSE, by Charles Dickens
UNCLE TOM’S CABIN, by Harriet Beecher Stowe
HARD TIMES, by Charles Dickens
TEMPEST AND SUNSHINE, by Mary Jane Holmes
WALDEN, by Henry David Thoreau
THE AGE OF FABLE, by Thomas Bulfinch
LEAVES OF GRASS, by Walt Whitman
THE PRINCE OF THE HOUSE OF DAVID, by J. H. Ingraham
LENA RIVERS, by Mary Jane Holmes
JOHN HALIFAX, GENTLEMAN, by Dinah Maria Mulock
THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE, by Oliver Wendell Holmes
A TALE OF TWO CITIES, by Charles Dickens
EAST LYNNE, by Mrs. Henry Wood
FAIRY TALES, by Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm
SILAS MARNER, by George Eliot
LES MISÉRABLES, by Victor Hugo
LADY AUDLEY’S SECRET, by Mary Elizabeth Braddon
ISHMAEL, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
SELF-RAISED, OR, OUT OF THE DEPTHS, by Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth
HANS BRINKER AND HIS SILVER SKATES, by Mary Mapes Dodge
ST. ELMO, by Augusta J. Evans
THE MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY, by Edward Everett Hale
ALICE’S ADVENTURES IN WONDERLAND, by Lewis Carroll
LITTLE WOMEN, by Louisa May Alcott
THE RUBAIYAT OF OMAR KHAYYAM, Translated by Edward Fitzgerald
THE STORY OF A BAD BOY, by Thomas Bailey Aldrich
LITTLE MEN, by Louisa May Alcott
BARRIERS BURNED AWAY, by E. P. Roe
SCIENCE AND HEALTH WITH KEY TO THE SCRIPTURES, by Mary Baker Eddy
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER, by Mark Twain
THE FAITH OF OUR FATHERS, by Cardinal Gibbons
BEN-HUR, by Lew Wallace
NANA, by Emile Zola
MADAME BOVARY, by Gustave Flaubert
FIVE LITTLE PEPPERS AND HOW THEY GREW, by Margaret Sidney
POEMS, by James Whitcomb Riley
HEIDI, by Johanna Spyri
TREASURE ISLAND, by Robert Louis Stevenson
A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES, by Robert Louis Stevenson
THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN, by Mark Twain
WAR AND PEACE, by Leo Tolstoi
THE BIRDS’ CHRISTMAS CAROL, by Kate Douglas Wiggin
SHE, by H. Rider Haggard
THELMA, by Marie Corelli
ROBERT ELSMERE, by Mrs. Humphry Ward
STORIES, by Guy de Maupassant
BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS, by Rudyard Kipling
BLACK BEAUTY, by Anna Sewell
PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS, by Rudyard Kipling
THREE MEN IN A BOAT, by Jerome K. Jerome
THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES, by A. Conan Doyle
STEPS TO CHRIST, by Ellen G. White
BEAUTIFUL JOE, by Marshall Saunders
COIN’S FINANCIAL SCHOOL, by William H. Harvey
THE CHRISTIAN’S SECRET OF A HAPPY LIFE, by Hannah Whitall Smith
TRILBY, by George du Maurier
BOOKS AND ARTICLES
ABOUT BEST SELLERS
ABOUT BEST SELLERS
America’s Most Censored Author. _Publishers’ Weekly_, May 14, 1949
An interview with Erskine Caldwell.
Anthony Hits a Million! by Sanford Cobb. _Publishers’ Weekly_, Aug. 24,
1935
An account of the publication and sales of _Anthony Adverse_ in the
United States and in other countries.
April 1954--30th Birthday of Crossword Puzzle Books, by John J.
Winterich. _Publishers’ Weekly_, Apr. 17, 1954
Augusta Evans Wilson, 1833-1900, by William Perry Fidler. University of
Alabama Press, 1954.
A biography of the author of _St. Elmo_.
Author Robert Ruark. _Newsweek_, Aug. 19, 1955
The success of _Something of Value_ and of some other “big
money-making authors.”
Best Loved Books of the Twentieth Century, by Vincent Starrett. Bantam
Books, 1955
Many of the essays are on best sellers of the period.
Best Sellers: 1900-1935. The Trend of Popular Reading Taste Since the
Turn of the Century, by Frederick Lewis Allen. _Saturday Review_, Dec.
7, 1935
Analysis of American reading over an extended period. A similar
analysis of the reading of the 1930’s appears as a chapter in Mr.
Allen’s book, _Since Yesterday_, Harper, 1939.
Best Sellers in Fiction During the First Quarter of the Twentieth
Century, by Irving Harlow Hart. _Publishers’ Weekly_, Feb. 14, 1925
Best Sellers in Non-Fiction Since 1921, by Irving Harlow Hart.
_Publishers’ Weekly_, Feb. 4, 1933
Best Sellers of the Fifties, by Don C. Seitz. _Publishers’ Weekly_, Feb.
28, 1931
Discusses _A Prince of the House of David_, by Joseph Holt
Ingraham.
Best Sellers of Yesterday. _The Bookman_, 1910
Articles run throughout the year on such 19th-century best sellers
at _St. Elmo_, _Innocents Abroad_, and _Mr. Barnes of New York_.
The Best Sellers Since 1875: Thirty-Five Books Have Had Sales of More
Than 500,000 Copies Since 1875, by Edward A. Weeks. _Publishers’
Weekly_, Apr. 4, 1934
Big Books: The Story of Best Sellers, by J. A. Goodman and Albert Rice.
_Saturday Evening Post_, Nov. 17, 1934
The sales and marketing of big best sellers of the 1930’s.
The Book in America. A History of the Making and Selling of Books in the
United States, by Hellmut Lehmann-Haupt and others. 2nd ed. R. R. Bowker
Co., 1952
Especially the section “Publishing and Bookselling Since 1890.”
Books, Their Place in a Democracy, by R. L. Duffus. Houghton Mifflin,
1930
The Book Trade in War Time, by Archibald G. Ogden. _Publishers’ Weekly_,
July 8, 1939
Publishing and sales during World War I.
Books and Best Sellers, by Philip Van Doren Stern. _Virginia Quarterly
Review_, Jan., 1942
The making and importance of best sellers of the 1940’s, with some
historical background.
The Case of Erle Stanley Gardner, by Alva Johnston. Morrow, 1947
Chronicles of Barabbas, 1884-1934: Further Chronicles and Comment, 1952,
by George H. Doran. Rinehart, 1952
A famous American publisher includes background and anecdotal
material about many best-selling authors, W. Somerset Maugham, H.
G. Wells, Hugh Walpole, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Ralph Connor, among
them.
Classics and Best-Sellers, by Malcolm Cowley. _New Republic_, Dec. 22,
1947
The Comics, by Coulton Waugh. Macmillan, 1947
“From the Katzenjammer Kids to the Sad Sack.”
The Coming of Age of the Catholic Book Trade, by Joseph A. Duffy.
_Publishers’ Weekly_, Feb. 18, 1950
Includes information on Catholic best sellers, both fiction and
non-fiction.
The Content Characteristics of Best-Selling Novels, by John Harvey.
_Public Opinion Quarterly_, v. 17, no. 1
A statistical approach to “the puzzle of literary success.”
The Critical Period in American Literature, by Grant C. Knight.
University of North Carolina Press
Writers and changing popular taste, 1890-1900.
The Extinction of the Dime Novel, by Firmin Dredd. _The Bookman_, March,
1900
The Fiction Factory, by Quentin Reynolds. Random House, 1956
The history of the magazine publishing firm of Street & Smith gives
sidelights on such best-selling authors as Max Brand and Edgar
Wallace.
Fiction Fashions from 1895 to 1926, by Irving Harlow Hart. _Publishers’
Weekly_, Feb. 5, 1927
The First Hundred Million, by E. Haldeman-Julius. Simon & Schuster, 1928
The publisher of the “Little Blue Books” tells their history.
Forgotten Best Sellers That Influenced America. New York _Times Book
Review_, 1944
Ethan Allen, Author. (Ethan Allen’s _A Narrative of Colonel Ethan
Allen’s Captivity_.) May 7
A Southerner Who Maddened the South. (Hinton Rowland’s _The
Impending Crisis of the South_.) June 11
Horatio Alger, Jr. and Ragged Dick. (Horatio Alger’s _Ragged
Dick_.) July 2
An Outspoken Visitor. (Mrs. Trollope’s _Domestic Manners of the
Americans_.) July 9
A Congressman Rediscovers Atlantis. (Ignatius Donnelly’s
_Atlantis_.) July 30
Gen. Wallace and Ben Hur. (Lew Wallace’s _Ben Hur_.) Aug. 6
Professor Coin, Financial Wizard. (William Hope Harvey’s _Coin’s
Financial School_.) Oct. 15
Monk Hall, Shame of Philadelphia. (George Lippard’s _The Quaker
City, or the Monks of Monk Hall, a Romance of Philadelphia Life,
Mystery and Crime_.) Oct. 22
How to Drive the Sheriff from the Homestead Door. (Susan Warner’s
_The Wide, Wide World_.) Dec. 24
Genteel Queen of Crime, by Nigel Dennis. _Life_, May 14, 1956
Agatha Christie’s life and writing.
Golden Multitudes, by Frank Luther Mott. Macmillan, 1947
A critical and anecdotal history of best sellers in this country
from 1638 to 1947. The author has evolved his own method of
determining a best seller. The lists he has made are based upon the
formula of a book selling at least a number equal to “one per cent
of the total population of continental United States for the decade
in which the book was published.”
“Heidi”--or the Story of a Juvenile Best Seller. _Publishers’ Weekly_,
July 25, 1953
The History of ‘In His Steps’ by Its Author Charles M. Sheldon.
Privately Printed. 1938
The writing and the sales history of _In His Steps_.
Hoosiers Sell Best, by John H. Moriarty. _Indiana Quarterly for
Bookmen._ Jan., 1947
The most popular authors on the yearly lists, 1895-1944 in the
first edition of this book, with statistics of their geographical
origins, by States.
The House of Beadle and Adams and Its Dime and Nickel Novels; The Story
of a Vanished Literature, by Albert Johannsen. University of Oklahoma
Press, 1950