It is the beginning of a new year. With that, we begin to see statistics of the last year: purchases, income, leisure, and readings.
Guinness World Records announced that the best-selling book in 2023 was the Christian Bible. Additionally, it is the most-sold book of all time. Also, the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 figured that the total number of Bibles printed is between 5 and 7 billion copies.
Short History Of Print
Before the invention of the printing press, the time and money required to reproduce such a large book by hand was enormous. After Gutenberg invented the printing press in 1454, estimates go as high as fifteen million books, primarily Bibles, were printed in the first fifty years. Bible printing increased as illiteracy dropped. By 1815, the number of Bibles printed totaled 1.3 billion.
Moving Through Time
In the early 1900s, Bible societies were created, which gave away free Bibles. In the 21st century, Bibles are printed at a rate of around 80 million per year.
Guinness World Records remarked,
The best-selling book of all time is the Christian Bible. It is impossible to know exactly how many copies have been printed in the roughly 1,500 years since its contents were standardized, but research conducted by the British and Foreign Bible Society in 2021 suggests that the total number probably lies between 5 and 7 billion copies.
That’s a lot of Bibles for families to read.
