What is the best-selling book of all time?
The Bible is widely considered the best-selling book of all time, with estimates of more than 5 billion copies printed. The Quran and Quotations from Chairman Mao are also among the most printed books.
Exact figures for the Bible are impossible to know, because it has been printed for more than 500 years by countless publishers and given away freely. Guinness World Records estimates that more than five billion copies have been printed. The full Bible has been translated into more than 700 languages, and parts of it into thousands more.
The Quran, Islam's holy book, has also been printed in enormous numbers, though no reliable total exists. Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong, known as the Little Red Book, was printed in huge quantities in China during the 1960s and 1970s, with estimates ranging up to about a billion copies.
Other giants
Among other books, the Harry Potter series has sold more than 600 million copies worldwide. Single novels such as Don Quixote, A Tale of Two Cities and The Little Prince are often listed among the best-selling works of fiction, though their sales are estimates.
Did You Know?
The Gutenberg Bible, printed in Mainz, Germany, around 1455, was one of the first major books printed in Europe with movable metal type.