10 Famous People Who Have More Books Than You Have Figures In Your Bank Account

A bibliophile is a person who collects or has a great love of books. And while it's hard to come across someone who has never read or owned a single book in their life, it is also extremely rare to come across people who have so many books, that they need a whole room just to house them.

And there are at least 10 such famous people who have so many books, you would only dream of having even half the amount.

1. Karl Lagerfeld

Number: 300,000 books

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One of the most famous and recognisable faces in the international fashion league is that of Lagerfeld's who has been at the helm of brands like Chanel and Fendi. Once, at the 015 International Festival of Fashion and Photography, Lagerfeld said, “Today, I only collect books; there is no room left for something else. If you go to my house, I'll have you walk around the books. I ended up with a library of 300,000. It's a lot for an individual.” Lagerfeld stacks his books sideways to make more space in the room, in case you were looking for hacks. The man even has a catwalk to reach the higher levels.

2. George Lucas

Total Number of Books: 27,000

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The man who gave the world Star Wars might not be anywhere close to Karl Lagerfeld; but, nevertheless, even 27,000 is an admirable number. Back in 1978, it was Lucas who established the Lucasfilm Research Library. What started as the love of collecting books in his Los Angeles office ended up with Lucas moving the entire collection to a separate place, at the main house on Skywalker Ranch. Lucas' library is open to his employees, as well as special guests, like Cecil B. DeMille, Alfred Hitchcock, Cary Grant, Clint Eastwood, Steve Martin, Edith Head, and Charlton Heston.

3. Jay Walker

Total Number of Books: 20,000

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A famous entrepreneur who invented Priceline.com, Walker has a special wing in his Ridgefield, Connecticut home. He calls it the Library of the History of Human Imagination. And it consists of three levels, a glass bridge and floating platforms.

4. Michael Jackson

Total Number of Books: 10,000 +

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The King of Pop loved to read and collect books. It is said that he used to be a regular customer at a local bookstore, in Los Angeles. He also used to frequent shops, like the Book Soup and Skylight. Bob Sanger, Jackson's attorney told the L.A. Weekly that the singer has 10,000 books at his Neverland Ranch. ““[a]nd there were places that he liked to sit, and you could see the books with his bookmarks in it, with notes and everything in it where he liked to sit and read. And I can tell you from talking to him that he had a very—especially for someone who was self-taught, as it were, and had his own reading list—he was very well-read.” He loved the poetry section of a bookstore and Ralph Waldo Emerson was his favourite.

5. Ernest Hemingway

Total Number of Books: 9,000

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Debra A. Moddelmog and Suzanne del Gizzo, in Hemingway in Context, reveal that the writer is supposed to have carried a library with him wherever he went, and was continually acquiring new books, as many as 150-200 a year. He stored his books at the Finca Vigía library and by the time he died, the library had around 9,000 volumes, excluding those the author left behind at Kay West where he moved, along with at least 800 books and started adding to that.

6. William Randolph Hearst

Total Number of Books: 7,000 +

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Hearst is a name synonymous with every important media publication in the world. And so, it's only natural that the man behind the name would be a special kind of bibliophile. Hearst is said to have had two libraries in his castle, at Ken Dream House; one was the main library which had approximately 4,000 volumes; and then, there was the Gothic study with around 3,000 more.

7. Thomas Jefferson

Total Number of Books: 6,487

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One of the initial presidents of the United States of America, Jefferson was quoted saying, “I cannot live without books.” According to information at the Library of Congress, Jefferson is said to have built the biggest personal library in the United States before selling it off to Congress for $23,950. After that, he promptly began acquiring books again.

8. Nigella Lawson

Total Number of Books: 6,000

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While we might know her famously for her cooking skills, both on and off screen that set her apart as some kind of kitchen queen, Lawson did one other thing—collect books. In her house in Belgravia, London, had a library that went from floor to ceiling, where she would sit with her head buried in a book. One of her favourite books happens to be David Copperfield.

9. Harry Houdini

Total Number of Books: 5,000 +

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Houdini is said to have left his private collection of books to the Library of Congress. His collection spanned across subjects like magic, theatre and spiritualism. According to sources, Houdini is said to have had the largest collection of books dedicated to the subject of magic. Figures.

10. Hannah Arendt

Total Number of Books: 4,000

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The German-born American political theorist had some 4,000 books which are now housed at the Bard College, under the Hannah Arendt collection that include 900 works featuring her annotations. All of these came from her New York City apartment where she lived until her death in 1975.



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