ARTS & MEDIABEST-SELLING
P L AYS C R I P T
Published on 31 Jul 2016
to coincide with the official
opening of the stage play,
the script for Harry Potter
and the Cursed Child had
sold 3,866,156 copies
globally as of 6 Aug 2016,
according to Nielsen
BookScan. Based on an
idea by J K Rowling (UK),
the series author, it takes
place largely in 2020 and
centres on the now adult
wizard Harry Potter and his
son, Albus Severus Potter.MOST EXPENSIVE
PRINTED BOOK
In 1640, the residents of the
Massachusetts Bay Colony
printed 1,700 copies of the
Bay Psalm Book, making
it the first book printed in
British North America. On
26 Nov 2013, US businessman
David Rubenstein purchased
one of the 11 copies still
in existence for $14.16 m
(£8.74 m) at an auction
at Sotheby’s in New York
City, USA, with the express
intention of lending the
book to libraries.
FIRST BOOK PRINTED IN ENGLISH
The Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye is a translation by
William Caxton (UK) of a French work composed in 1474 –
a rarity at a time when most books were written in Latin
rather than English. Formerly the property of the Duke of
Northumberland (UK), on 15 Jul 2014 it sold at auction at
Sotheby’s of London, UK, for £1,082,500 ($1,851,460).FIRST BOOK WITH
ENGRAVED MAPS
The earliest book to
feature engraved maps,
as opposed to woodcut
prints, was produced in
1477 in Bologna, Italy. It
was a medieval translation
by Giacomo d’Angelo
da Scarperia (ITA) of
Cosmographia – an atlas
and treatise on cartography
that had been compiled by
the Greco-Egyptian writer
Ptolemy around the year
ce 150. Da Scarperia’s book
contains 26 copperplate
engravings and can also
lay claim to be the first
book with maps created
by a known artist – Taddeo
Crivelli (ITA). It had been
thought that the Scarperia
translation had been
published in 1482, only
for documents found in
Bologna to prove otherwise.FIRST FAN FICTION
Fan fiction provides a way
for buffs of certain books
and TV series to publish
their own stories using
their favourite characters.
The roots of the genre
can be found in the debut
edition of Star Trek fanzine
Spockanalia, produced in
the USA in 1967 by Devra
Langsam and Sherna
Comerford (both USA).
The creator of Star Trek,
Gene Roddenberry (USA),
wrote a letter to the
fanzine’s authors, dated
24 Apr 1968, in which he
declared Spockanalia
to be “required reading
[for] every new writer,
and anyone who makes
decisions on show policy”.MOST EXPENSIVE BOOK
The Codex Leicester is a collection of written observations, musings, theories
and illustrations by the Italian Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. He began
work on the hand-drawn notebook in around 1508, initially on separate sheets
that have subsequently been bound together. In 1994, it was purchased by
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (USA) for $30,802,500 (£19,246,489) – the
highest sum ever paid for any book in any format.