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Articles - January - 2008 Issue

Sex, Knitting and Helicopters: The BookFinder Top 10 for 2007

- by Michael Stillman

Once a Runner tops BookFinder's list as the most sought-after book of 2007.

Once a Runner tops BookFinder's list as the most sought-after book of 2007.


By Michael Stillman

BookFinder.com has released its list of the top 10 most sought-after old books of 2007. Making the BookFinder list requires a combination of being both highly desired and hard to find. This will not be a list like the New York Times bestsellers, but as Anirvan Chatterjee points out, 98%-99% of all books ever published are now out of print. So the Times covers about 1%, and BookFinder the rest.

BookFinder notes that "sports, knitting and sex" top this year's list. I understand… except, what is knitting doing in there? Actually, you can add romance, children's books, a mass murderer and helicopters to that. What is the connection between these? Who knows. Maybe those with mayhem on their minds combine mass murder with knitting needles. Perhaps members of the mile-high club buy books about sex and helicopters. Whatever the explanation, here is the list of the top 10 most searched books on the largest book searching site on the web.

10. Dear and Glorious Physician by Taylor Caldwell, a novel concerning the spiritual journey of Luke.

9. One Way Up by John F. Straubel, a history of helicopters that climbs from #10 last year.

8. Aran Knitting by Alice Starmore describes a knitting technique named for the Aran islands off the Irish coast.

7. Raven: The Untold Story of the Reverend Jim Jones and his People by Tim Reiterman recalls the mass murderer who forever changed Kool Aid from meaning poison figuratively to poison literally.

6. The Principles of Knitting by June Hemmons Hiatt, yet another book about this fascinating subject. Number 6 again this year.

5. The Lion's Paw by Robb White, a children's classic that moves up from #7 last year.

4. Promise Me Tomorrow, one of the countless romance novels of Nora Roberts, but one she refuses to reprint.

3. Sex by Madonna, last year's #1, rides that fine line between art and pornography. People buy it for one, but say they buy if for the other.

2. Football Scouting Methods by the son of the New England Patriots' fabulously successful coach Bill Belichick. Steve Belichick's playbook is again #2 this year. I wonder if it includes advice on videotaping your opponents' signals?

1. Once a Runner by John L. Parker, a book highly respected by those dedicated to this most demanding of sports. Last year's #9 crosses the finish line #1.

Slipping out of the top 10 this year was the autobiography of singer Johnny Cash, a poetry collection from Three's Company star Suzanne Sommers, recipes by horror film actor Vincent Price and his wife, and an old self-help book by James Mangan.

Rare Book Monthly

  • ALDE, Apr. 8: GUEVARA (ANTONIO DE). Histoire de Marc-Aurèle, Empereur Romain, vray miroir et horloge des Princes. Paris, Pierre et Galliot du Pré, frères, 1565. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: HEURES DE LA VIERGE. Horæ in laudem beatissimæ virginis Mariæ ad usum Romanum. Paris, Charles L'Angelier, 1556. €4,000 to €5,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: MONTAIGNE (MICHEL DE). Les Essais. Édition nouvelle, trouvée après le deceds de l'autheur… Paris, Abel L'Angelier, 1595. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [ROJAS (FERNANDO DE)]. Celestina, tragicomedia di Calisto et Melibea, tradotta de lingua castigliana in italiano idioma… Venise, 1531. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CAMÕES (LUÍS DE). Os Lusiadas. Lisbonne, Pedro Crasbeeck, 1613. €2,000 to €3,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Bruxelles, Roger Velpius & Huberto Antonio, 1611. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: LA FONTAINE (JEAN DE). Fables choisies, mises en vers. Paris, Denys Thierry et Claude Barbin, 1678-1694. €6,000 to €8,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: CERVANTES (MIGUEL DE). El Ingenioso hidalgo Don Quixote de la Mancha. Madrid, Joaquin Ibarra, 1780. €3,000 to €4,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: DIDEROT (DENIS) ET JEAN LE ROND D'ALEMBERT. Encyclopédie, ou dictionnaire raisonné des sciences, des arts et des métiers. Paris, 1751-1765. €15,000 to €20,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. LAMARTINE (Alphonse de). Les Laboureurs. Poème tiré de Jocelyn… Lyon, J. A. Henry, 1883. €8,000 to €10,000.
    ALDE, Apr. 8: [LIVRE TISSÉ]. Livre de prières tissé d'après les enluminures des manuscrits du XIVe au XVIe siècle. Lyon, [A. Roux], 1886. €5,000 to €6,000.
  • Sotheby’s
    Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections
    Open for Bidding 2-17 April
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: [Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun]. Le Roman de la Rose, [Geneva or Lyons, c.1481], first printed edition of the most important medieval French vernacular poem. £200,000 to £300,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Castiglione. Il libro del cortegiano. [Venice], April 1528, first edition, in a magnificent binding by Jean Picard for Jean Grolier. £100,000 to £150,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Jacobus de Cessolis. Schachzabelbuch, Strasbourg, 1483, von der Lasa copy. £50,000 to £70,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: World Championship, 1972. A collection of 84 press photographs of the famed match between Spassky and Fischer. £2,000 to £3,000.
    Sotheby’s, Apr. 2-17: Ben Franklin. Autograph letter signed, to Lord Shelburne, British Prime Minister, during peace negotiations, November 1782. £15,000 to £20,000.

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