BY NUMBERS
In 1983 the Gospels of Henry the Lion were sold at a London auction for about 22.5 million dollars, one of the highest prices ever paid for a book.
With some 7500 exhibitors from over 110 countries, the Frankfurt book fair ( October 12 to 16, this year) is the largest book fair in the world.
The Bible is the most frequently translated book. Full editions are available in 469 languages, abridged versions in 2527.
The library of Congress in Washington, DC, houses over 33 million printed volumes. It’s the world’s largest library.
Over 60 percent of global book production is in Europe.
The Sherlock Holmes stories are the most popular detective novels ever written. They have been on the market for 124 years and even today 5 million volumes are printed annually in Europe and the United States alone.