Highest annual earnings
for an author (current)
According to Forbes, thriller writer James
Patterson (USA) amassed earnings of $95 m
(£65 m) between Jun 2015 and Jun 2016.Best-selling work of fiction
Owing to a lack of audited figures, it is impossible
to state which work of fiction has sold most.
A Tale of Two Cities (1859) by Charles Dickens
(UK) is reported to have sold more than
200 million copies. Claims have also been made
for Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
(ESP), published in two parts (1605 and 1615),
but sales of this work can also not be verified.First detective novel
According to the British Library, the earliest
example of the detective genre is The Notting
Hill Mystery by Charles Felix (UK), serialized in
the magazine Once a Week in 1862–63.
The first female author to specialize in
crime fiction is held to be Mary Fortune (AUS),
who penned more than 500 detective stories.
Her first story, “The Dead Witness”, appeared in
the Australian Journal on 20 Jan 1866.
The 78 crime novels by Dame Agatha Christie
(UK) have sold an estimated 2 billion copies in
44 languages, making her the best-selling
author of fiction.First audiobook
In Nov 2016, a copy of the first full-length
audiobook, dating from 1935, was found in
Canada. The album’s four shellac LPs featured
the text of Joseph Conrad’s 1902 novel Typhoon.
It was recorded by the Royal National Institute
of Blind People, and rediscovered by Matthew
Rubery of Queen Mary University of London, UK.Most expensive typewriter
In 1952, Ian Fleming (UK) commissioned a gold-
plated typewriter at the completion of Casino
Royale, his first novel and debut of secret agent
James Bond. It sold for £55,750 ($89,473) at
Christie’s in London, UK, on 5 May 1995.Most valuable rare book collection gifted
In Feb 2015, Princeton University, New Jersey,
USA, revealed that it had been gifted a book
collection valued at $300 m (£194 m). Assembled
by US philanthropist William H Scheide, it contains
Shakespeare folios, the original printing of the
American Declaration of Independence,
and signed music manuscripts by
Bach, Beethoven and Mozart.Books
ARTS & MEDIA
HIGHEST
ANNUAL EARNINGS
FOR A CHILDREN’S
AUTHOR (CURRENT)
Having first appeared
on educational
browser site FunBrain
in 2004, Diary of
a Wimpy Kid has
grown into a global
franchise with
11 instalments and
three feature films.
The series helped
author and illustrator
Jeff Kinney (USA) to
estimated earnings
of $19.5 m (£13.3 m)
between Jun 2015
and Jun 2016,
according to Forbes
magazine. The
talented Mr Kinney
is also a game
designer, actor, movie
director, producer
and cartoonist.Most expensive book illustration
sold at auction
The Rabbits’ Christmas Party, a Beatrix Potter
watercolour painted in the 1890s and owned
by her brother Bertram, was bought by an
anonymous British collector on 17 Jul 2008
for £289,250 ($579,232).Largest book signing
Vickrant Mahajan (IND) signed 6,904 copies
of his book Yes Thank You Universe in a single
session in Jammu, India, on 30 Jan 2016.Largest fan fiction archive
Launched in Oct 1998, FanFiction.net hosts
stories based on pre-existing books, TV shows,
movies and comics. The site has over 2 million
users and 8 million published pages, with stories
in more than 30 languages. Popular sections
include Harry Potter (more than 650,000 stories)
and manga series Naruto (more than 300,000).Most published writers per capita
Iceland has a long tradition of storytelling,
from the sagas of the Middle Ages to modern
smartphone audiobooks, which can be accessed
from barcodes attached to public benches. Over
the course of their lifetime, one in 10 Icelanders
will have a book published. Based on figures from
2012, five books are published for every 1,000
citizens – the most books published per capita.Most overdue library book
In 1956, Prof Sir John Plumb (UK) returned a
book about the Archbishop of Bremen that had
been borrowed from Sidney Sussex College,
Cambridge, UK, in 1667–68 (i.e., 288 years earlier).
Thankfully for Prof Plumb, there was no fine.
When Emily Canellos-Simms (USA) returned
the poetry book Days and Deeds to Kewanee
Public Library in Illinois, USA, 47 years after her
mother had borrowed it in Apr 1955, she paid a
fine of $345.14 (£203.29) – the largest library-
book fine paid. It worked out at a cost of two
cents for every day the book had been overdue.Former US president George Bush Sr earned less from his
memoirs than his dog Millie did from her “autobiography”.Largest book:
5 x 8.06 m
(width by height
when closed)Longest time to spin
a GWR book on a finger:44 min 20 sec
by Himanshu Gupta (IND)
on 17 Apr 2016Most books toppled
like dominoes:
10,200
by Sinners Domino
Entertainment (DEU), 14 Oct 201562
Tallest stack of books
balanced on head:(weight: 98.4 kg; 217 lb) by
John Evans (UK) on 9 Dec 1998Largest book pyramid:
70,247
by Perak State Public Library
Corporation & Imagika Sdn Bhd
(both MYS) on 26 Dec 2015x1 = 5 booksLARGEST LIBRARY
The US Library of Congress in Washington, DC,
USA, is home to more than 162 million items
spread across approximately 838 mi (1,348 km)
of bookshelves. The collections include more
than 38 million books and other print materials,
3.6 million recordings, 14 million photographs,
5.5 million maps, 7.1 million pieces of sheet
music and 70 million manuscripts.
Washington, DC, is also home to the largest
library of law books. More than 2.9 million
volumes are housed within the Law Library of the
US Congress, along with foreign legal gazettes.Founded
in 1800, the US
Library of Congress
has twice been ravaged
by fire. In 1814, it was
set alight by British
forces, while a blaze on
24 Dec^ 1851 destroyed
two-thirds of its
55,000^ volumes.Q: During World War II,
Roald Dahl worked at MI6
with someone who would
also become a famous
author. Who was it?
A: Ian Fleming