The 20 Most Popular Books Throughout History

Given by Global English Editing

20 Works 215,851 Books 3,264 Reviews ½ 3.9
Although the term “blockbuster book” has only been coined recently, certain books have captured the public’s imagination well before Fifty Shades of Grey. Going back as far as the 10th show more Century BC, when I Ching was nothing more than thoughts scribed onto bamboo, we’ve been captivated by brilliant writing and story telling.


Below Global English Editing presents the 20 most popular books throughout history. From religious texts such as The Holy Bible to revolutionary texts such On the Origin of Species to the pure literary genius found in War and Peace, the following timeline not only highlights the history of blockbuster books, but also some of the most significant dates in human history.

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Year Awarded:
2017
WorkOrder Label
The I Ching or Book of Changes (1924) by Richard Wilhelm
01: 10th–4th c. BCE
The Iliad / The Odyssey (8 BCE) by Homer
02: 8th c. BCE
The Analects (70 BCE) by Confucius
03: 5th–3rd c. BCE
The Republic (380 BCE) by Plato
04: 380 BCE
The Thirteen Books of the Elements (300 BCE) by Euclid
05: 300 BCE
The Dhammapada (300 BCE) by Anonymous
06: 3rd c. BCE
Holy Bible (1)
07: 2nd–4th c. CE
The Koran (632) by al-Qur'an
08: 609–632 CE
The Prince (1532) by Niccolò Machiavelli
09: 1532
Don Quixote (1605) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
10: 1605–1615
The First Folio of Shakespeare (1623) by William Shakespeare
11: 1623
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) by Mary Wollstonecraft
12: 1792
The Communist Manifesto (1848) by Karl Marx
13: 1848
On the Origin of Species (1859) by Charles Darwin
14: 1859
War and Peace (1869) by Leo Tolstoy
15: 1869
The Second Sex (1953) by Simone de Beauvoir
16: 1949
Aldo Leopold: A Sand County Almanac and Other Writings on Conservation and Ecology (1949) by Aldo Leopold
17: 1949
Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison
18: 1987
Harry Potter - The Complete Series (2007) by J. K. Rowling
19: 1990s/2000s
Fifty Shades of Grey (2011) by E L James
20: 2011

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