Worlds First Bestseller book

[Scottaleger]

What was the first Bestseller book of the world?

[Rumsfeld]

Define bestseller.

[Sheila]

If I had to venture a guess I would go Pilgrim's Progress or maybe Robin Crusoe. Possibly Voltaire's Candie, also there was Goethe's The Sorrow's of Young Werther which had it's own perfume and porcelain puppets, probably the first mass marketing for a book.

[Bighuey]

How about Homer's Illiad?

[Sheila]

I could be completely wrong here but I thought Homer's Iliad was oral tradition and not published to hundreds of years later.

[Scottaleger]

Thanks for reply, But you know According to Wikipedia "A Tale of Two Cities" is the best seller, Source : en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_books

can anyone want to say something

[Santanico]

According to the link you posted, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the FIRST bestseller (Published 1759-1791, "Tale of Two Cities" published 1859) So now I'm confused, what was the question you were asking?

[Scottaleger]

According to the link you posted, "Dream of the Red Chamber" is the FIRST bestseller (Published 1759-1791, "Tale of Two Cities" published 1859) So now I'm confused, what was the question you were asking?

@Santanico,

Hello Santanico,

You are absolutely right.

Actually, I forget to see published date in this list, I saw just Approximate sales 200 million

but I am very thankful to you.

Thanks again for your reply.

[Santanico]

You're very welcome Scottaleger

[Bighuey]

I could be completely wrong here but I thought Homer's Iliad was oral tradition and not published to hundreds of years later.

The Illiad was written on papyrus around 400 or 500 BC, then put in book form in about the 1400's. I dont suppose it was exactly a best seller in those days, not many people back then read books. But it became a best seller years later.

[Sheila]

I could be completely wrong here but I thought Homer's Iliad was oral tradition and not published to hundreds of years later.

The Illiad was written on papyrus around 400 or 500 BC, then put in book form in about the 1400's. I dont suppose it was exactly a best seller in those days, not many people back then read books. But it became a best seller years later.

Thanks for letting me know!

[StephenKingman]

The Bible, perhaps?

[Maud Fitch]

Wasn't the term 'bestseller' coined fairly recently in history? It was first recorded in print in 1889 in the Kansas City newspaper The Kansas Times & Star. So how can you equate this word to older volumes when the world's population was less, communication was slow and only the wealthy read books? Although public libraries helped boost literacy and levelled the playing field.

The following extract is a valid opinion on the meaning of 'bestseller':

"In everyday use, the term 'bestseller' is not usually associated with a specified level of sales and may be used very loosely indeed in publisher's publicity. Bestsellers tend not to be books considered of superior academic value or literary quality, though there are exceptions. Lists simply give the highest-selling titles in the category over the stated period. Some books have sold many more copies than contemporary 'bestsellers', but over a longer period of time." Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2012.

[DATo]

I'd have to agree with Maud that the term "best seller" can be a bit ambiguous because different books may sell better at one point in time but not at another.

May I opine the possibility that you meant "most popular in history", or, "most printed" or "sold" ? If this is the case then I think StevenKingman may be right in mentioning The Bible, but I believe I read somewhere that Don Quixote was the most popular book ever written and has been translated into more languages than The Bible.

[Sheila]

I believe if you go with most printed than it is in fact the Bible. I took the question as what was the first book that gained significant popularity at the time it was originally printed.