By Ashley Atkinson, Marketing and Communications Specialist
Boost your brain with these book-based facts sure to excite any literary lover.
For many people, the most interesting thing about a book is the story that comes inside it. Book lovers, however, know that sometimes the most compelling thing about a book is the book itself. According to Britannica.com’s entry on the history of publishing, “books” have been around since approximately the 3rd millennium B.C. With such an extensive past, it’s not surprising that books can have fascinating histories and attributes that we don’t often think about. Read on for some interesting tidbits you can keep in your back pocket, always ready to pull out and impress a fellow reader!
FACT
The largest book in the world is 16.4 feet by 26.44 feet in size and weighs 3,306 pounds. Entitled This The Prophet Mohamed, the book is compilation of stories about the Islam prophet Mohamed and was constructed in the United Arab Emirates in 2012. Source: Guinness World Records
FACT
The most expensive book in the world is the Codex Leicester, a handwritten scientific journal by Leonardo da Vinci. It was bought by Bill Gates in 1994 for $30.8 million dollars, which is roughly $61.6 million today when adjusted for inflation. Source: The New York Times
FACT
The term ‘bookworm’ originates from many different types of insects that cause damage to books by feeding upon bindings and pages. It first became a term for voracious readers in Elizabethan times. Source: Merriam Webster
FACT
The best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible. It is believed that about 5 billion Bibles have been printed and sold worldwide. Source: Guinness World Records
FACT
The oldest continually operating library in the world is at Saint Catherine’s Monastery located at the foot of Mount Sinai in Egypt. The library was built between A.D. 548 and A.D. 565 and contains more than 3,300 manuscripts in its collection. Source: SinaiPalimpsests.org
FACT
The largest fine for an overdue library book was $345.15, paid by a woman who borrowed a book of poetry from Kewanee Public Library in Kewanee, Illinois in April of 1955. She returned it over 47 years later. Source: Guinness World Records
FACT
The largest library in the world - by catalog size - is the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington D.C. As of November 2021, the library housed 173,731,463 items. Source: Guinness World Records
FACT
Two libraries in Portugal utilize bats as a means of pest control. The Joanina Library at the University of Coimbra and the Library at the National Palace of Mafra are both home to indoor-outdoor bat colonies that eat insects that feed on book bindings and pages. Source: Smithsonian Magazine
FACT
The record for the most overdue library book was set in 1956 when a copy of a book written in German on the Archbishop of Bremen was returned to Sidney Sussex College in Cambridge, England 288 years after it had been borrowed. Found in the library of the Marquess of Cholmondeley, the book was returned but no fine was exacted. Source: Guinness World Records
FACT
A fully-emoji copy of Moby Dick by Herman Melville, known as Emoji Dick, is the first emoji book in the Library of Congress’ collection and remains the longest novel ever to be translated into emojis. Source: Guinness World Records
FACT
The Haskell Free Library and Opera House sits directly on the border between the United States and Canada. The only entrance to the library is in Derby Line, Vermont but Canadians are allowed to visit as long as they return to their home country afterward. Source: HaskellOpera.com