Discover the Literary World: Top 7 Unbelievable Fun Facts About Books You Never Knew!

1. World's Smallest Printed Book

Honey, I Shrunk the Literary Tome: In a minuscule marvel, the Toppan Printing Co. Ltd Printing Museum in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan, crafted the world's smallest printed book, "Flowers of the four seasons," measuring an itty-bitty 0.74 x 0.75 mm (0.0291 x 0.0295 in) and printed 250 copies between April and December 2012.
Source => guinnessworldrecords.com

2. Darwin's Mysterious Release Date

In a classic case of "the early bird catches the worm," or rather, the first edition of an explosive book, Charles Darwin's masterpiece debut played a game of date-night-hard-to-get: On the Origin of Species had its release date shrouded in mystery, with even the author's diary contradicting the publisher's records – talk about adding some spice to the evolution debate! The serious reveal: Over 250 editions have been published since its inaugural release in November 1859, translated into at least 29 languages, with the Smithsonian Libraries boasting an impressive collection of over 30 unique editions, including the enigmatic first two London editions that continue to make waves in scientific circles today.
Source => blog.library.si.edu

Did you know baboons can recognize word-like patterns on a computer screen with almost 75% accuracy? Discover how our primal instincts might be responsible for our reading abilities!

=> Fun Facts about Reading

3. Library of Alexandria's Vast Collection

Not all superheroes wear capes, but some wear togas and read scrolls: The Library of Alexandria, part of the ancient Musaeum dedicated to the Muses, housed between 40,000 to 100,000 books on subjects like geography, history, literature, medicine, and science during the reigns of Ptolemy I Soter or his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus, with the modern-day Bibliotheca Alexandria now standing as a fitting tribute to the original legendary library.
Source => greekboston.com

4. The Mousetrap's Endless Run

Whoever said all good things must come to an end clearly didn't know about Agatha Christie's murderously long-lasting masterpiece: The Mousetrap has held the world record for the longest initial run since opening in London's West End in 1952, boasting over 27,500 performances as of September 2018, and despite a brief COVID-19 intermission in 2020, the curtain continued to rise again in May 2021.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

5. Star Wars' Novel Prequel

Long ago, in a publishing house far, far away, an unsuspecting novel was brought to life as a prelude to a galactic adventure we know and love: "Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker," penned by Alan Dean Foster and published in November 1976, was actually commissioned by George Lucas and based on his screenplay for the film, sneakily hitting bookshelves just months before the iconic movie's premiere in May 1977.
Source => en.wikipedia.org

6. Medieval Anti-Theft Book Curses

Protecting the hottest medieval bestsellers from theft, librarians morphed into defensive sorcerers: Books were chained to bookcases, sealed in weighty chests, and even cursed with warnings of eternal damnation to deter sticky-fingered bibliophiles.
Source => medievalbooks.nl

7. Bill Gates' Da Vinci Treasure

Who needs a Kindle when you've got a priceless Da Vinci manuscript? Bill Gates laughs in the face of e-books: He's the proud owner of the Codex Leicester, a 72-page notebook penned by Leonardo da Vinci, featuring ingenious reflections on water, tides, and celestial connections. This mind-bending manuscript is written in Da Vinci's signature mirror-image style, and Gates graciously loans it out to museums for worldly folks to admire and perplex over each year.
Source => businessinsider.com