What are the Top 10 Most Common Books in Libraries?
- by Michael Stillman
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The 15th most popular, and first cartoon book, is not, as you might expect, Peanuts (number 69), but Garfield. Is this for real? The Grapes of Wrath is 101, Oedipus Rex is 187, Goethe's Faust 33, War and Peace 93, The Cat in the Hat is 444, and Garfield is 15? Is this what's wrong with libraries today? How much higher would Garfield be if he were actually funny? For those who like cartoons, along with Peanuts, Calvin and Hobbes is 77, Doonesbury 88, the Far Side 115, and Dilbert 399.
A total of 849 books averaged at least one copy per ten libraries. The last of these was Tennessee Williams' A Streetcar Named Desire. At number 1,000 is a recent book, from 1999: Southern Cross, by mystery writer Patricia Daniels Cornwell. She is apparently a descendant of, or somehow related to, Harriet Beecher Stowe, whose Uncle Tom's Cabin is number 59.
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Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary pair of books from George Washington’s field library, marking the conjunction of Robert Rogers, George Washington, and Henry Knox. $1,200,000 to $1,800,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: An extraordinary letter marking the conjunction of George Washington, the Marquis de Lafayette, and Benjamin Franklin. $1,000,000 to $1,500,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: Virginia House of Delegates. The genesis of the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. $350,000 to $500,000.
Sotheby’s Fine Manuscript and Printed Americana 27 January 2026
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: (Gettysburg). “Genl. Doubleday has taken charge of the battle”: Autograph witness to the first day of the Battle of Gettysburg, illustrated by fourteen maps and plans. $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: President Lincoln thanks a schoolboy on behalf of "all the children of the nation for his efforts to ensure "that this war shall be successful, and the Union be maintained and perpetuated." $200,000 to $300,000.
Sotheby’s, Jan. 27: [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.
![<b>Sotheby’s, Jan. 27:</b> [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.](https://ae-files.s3.amazonaws.com/AdvertisementPhotos/9d2762bc-9f26-47ef-96de-1c28070e19f6.png "<b>Sotheby’s, Jan. 27:</b> [World War II]. An archive of maps and files documenting the allied campaign in Europe, from the early stages of planning for D-Day and Operation Overlord, to Germany’s surrender. $200,000 to $300,000.")