Books with 500 or more editions in the Goodreads database. Typically, this will be original works no longer protected by copyright: So which of the great classics of yesteryear are the most popular, not only with readers but also with publishers (including POD and vanity presses)?

(NOTE: To find out how many editions a given book has on GR, open the respective book page and look at the link "Other Editions" in the upper right-hand corner. The number put in parenthesis there indicates the number of (linked) editions currently in the GR database. -- Alternatively, if you think more than one book by a given author might qualify, open the respective author page and click on the link "books by [author name]." This will take you to a listing of their books, where the number of editions currently in the GR database is part of the biographical data given in small gray print below the books' respective titles.)
1

by
4.16 avg rating — 2,284,194 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
2

by
4.29 avg rating — 4,701,411 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
3

by
4.17 avg rating — 2,418,457 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
4

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,002,645 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
5

by
4.03 avg rating — 1,031,084 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
6

by
3.88 avg rating — 1,002,802 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
7

by
4.17 avg rating — 1,276,320 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
8

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,004,502 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
9

by
3.68 avg rating — 327,746 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
10

by
3.93 avg rating — 501,005 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
11

by
3.94 avg rating — 572,389 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
12

by
4.05 avg rating — 962,449 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
13

by
3.91 avg rating — 300,576 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
14

by
4.09 avg rating — 1,278,713 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
15

by
3.59 avg rating — 295,924 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
16

by
4.04 avg rating — 255,535 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
17

by
4.28 avg rating — 1,046,461 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
18

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,988,164 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
19

by
4.09 avg rating — 903,308 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
20

by
3.44 avg rating — 907,997 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
21

by
3.85 avg rating — 533,535 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
22

by
4.10 avg rating — 347,145 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
23

by
3.43 avg rating — 550,887 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
24

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,170,109 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
25

by
4.08 avg rating — 169,261 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
26

by
4.13 avg rating — 1,819,291 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
27

by
3.71 avg rating — 368,486 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
28

by
4.33 avg rating — 2,413,713 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.30 avg rating — 322,772 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
29

by
4.03 avg rating — 396,274 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
31

by
3.80 avg rating — 863,896 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32

by
4.32 avg rating — 1,093,002 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
33

by
4.03 avg rating — 371,089 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
34

by
3.83 avg rating — 650,597 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
35

by
3.89 avg rating — 1,800,835 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
36

by
3.56 avg rating — 608,217 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
37

by
3.83 avg rating — 1,326,359 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
38

by
4.02 avg rating — 1,435,475 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
39

by
3.88 avg rating — 422,886 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
40

by
3.89 avg rating — 273,188 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
41

by
3.85 avg rating — 444,965 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
42

by
3.74 avg rating — 2,788,879 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
43

by
3.95 avg rating — 278,172 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
44

by
4.14 avg rating — 380,997 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 503,688 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
45

by
4.10 avg rating — 916,498 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
47

by
3.92 avg rating — 1,005,722 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
48

by
3.91 avg rating — 465,607 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
49

by
4.15 avg rating — 762,163 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
50

by
3.95 avg rating — 558,705 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
51

by
4.29 avg rating — 179,483 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
52

by
4.21 avg rating — 836,010 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
4.39 avg rating — 376,712 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
53

by
3.71 avg rating — 216,883 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
55

by
3.84 avg rating — 299,818 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
56

by
4.40 avg rating — 126,768 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
57

by
4.23 avg rating — 220,031 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
58

by
3.69 avg rating — 151,526 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
59

by
3.93 avg rating — 5,800,706 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
3.89 avg rating — 557,707 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
60

by
4.17 avg rating — 360,396 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
62

by
3.70 avg rating — 101,589 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
63

by
3.73 avg rating — 133,080 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
64

by
3.90 avg rating — 1,372,587 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
65

by
4.01 avg rating — 120,947 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
66

by
4.06 avg rating — 602,386 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
67

by
3.86 avg rating — 375,270 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
68

by
3.79 avg rating — 67,509 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
69

by
3.76 avg rating — 98,452 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
70

by
3.30 avg rating — 109,278 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
71

by
3.85 avg rating — 221,211 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
72

by
3.97 avg rating — 192,552 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
73

by
3.87 avg rating — 141,289 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
74

by
4.16 avg rating — 67,162 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
75

by
4.08 avg rating — 858,790 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
76

by
3.94 avg rating — 383,903 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
77

by
4.03 avg rating — 128,199 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
78

by
3.90 avg rating — 131,575 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
79

by
3.90 avg rating — 49,256 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
80

by
3.68 avg rating — 192,687 ratings
Rate this book
Clear rating
32 likes · 
Lists are re-scored approximately every 5 minutes.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) 546 books
365 friends
Susanna - Censored by GoodReads 3385 books
853 friends
Bettie 15671 books
19 friends
Jim 3623 books
364 friends
Danna 12034 books
40 friends
Ben 1082 books
70 friends
Mark 71 books
27 friends
Amy 180 books
0 friends

More voters…


Comments Showing 1-12 of 12 (12 new)

dateUp arrow    newest »

message 1: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Jul 14, 2011 10:57AM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Also eligible:

Picture of Dorian Gray
The Iliad


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Thanks -- you're a star for (looking up and) adding so many more!


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I found looking up by author was useful in cases where I thought more than one of their books might qualify; like Dickens.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Good idea ...


Susanna - Censored by GoodReads Also eligible:

Journey to the Center of the Earth


message 6: by Bettie (last edited Jul 15, 2011 10:09AM) (new)

Bettie

I think this is the first time ever I have been able to check/tick all the offerings.

:O)


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) That's because you're well-read and erudite! :) You've even added the one book I couldn't add myself, never having gotten around to reading it ...

[image error]


message 8: by Susanna - Censored by GoodReads (last edited Jul 15, 2011 01:28PM) (new)

Susanna - Censored by GoodReads I think the only one whose copyright is not expired is The Little Prince - very impressive that one actually pulled that off.


Themis-Athena (Lioness at Large) Yes, I thought so too when I saw that!


message 10: by Danna (new)

Danna Best list! I LOVE Jane Eyre, I glad it is FINALLY on top of some positive list (:


message 11: by Danna (new)

Danna Plus, I know so so many of these books


message 12: by BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) (last edited Apr 03, 2015 02:37PM) (new)

BookLovingLady (deceased Jan. 25, 2023...) I've removed The Complete Works as it did not have 500 or more editions ('only' 378).

Absolutely great list, by the way ;-) Amazing how many, for me well-known, older titles I couldn't add because they didn't have enough editions (just think of Silas Marner or Middlemarch, or The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, or Vanity Fair). But then again, there were so many classics I was able to add, because they did have 500 or more edtions fortunately :-)


back to top



Related News

Hollywood has been mining the world of books for a long time—since 1899, according to some reckonings. The practice has been ramping up in recent...

Anyone can add books to this list.