TIL Agatha Christie's first book had a weird print run that almost no one knows about

I was digging into old book club selections for next month's debate and found out her debut 'The Mysterious Affair at Styles' only had 2,000 copies printed initially. That blew my mind because now she's one of the best selling authors ever. Did any of you come across a book fact that totally surprised you while researching for your group?

3 comments

3 Comments

drew_hart416d ago

The print run thing gets wilder the deeper you dig. I found out that one of those 2,000 copies was given to a random bookseller who later sold it for like 50 cents because nobody wanted it. Now that same copy would probably go for thousands at auction. It makes you wonder how many other authors had tiny first runs that we just never heard about because they didn't blow up later. Like J.D. Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' had a modest first printing too but nothing as small as Christie's. The whole stars aligning thing is basically what separates a lucky unknown from a literary legend.

calebc4016d ago

That 50 cent copy is probably sitting in someone's attic right now.

dylan_brown3016d ago

Bet the book club crowd missed how the war paper rationing made that tiny print run happen.