A French edition of Hitler’s Mein Kampf has turned into a summer bestseller despite its high price and the publishers’ efforts to limit its promotion, reports The Times.
Fayard, the publishing house, has ordered a second print run after being surprised by sales that almost exhausted the first 10,000 copies in two months. The heavily annotated translation sells for €100.
Interest in the book has spread largely online since the publishers advised bookshops not to display it and refused to supply it to outlets in shopping centres and hypermarkets. The Amazon and Fnac websites were asked to alter their algorithms so that the work did not register on bestseller lists.
Sophie Hogg, Fayard’s editorial director, said that the strong sales were satisfying “because it is recognition of the work of historians”.
She added: “Journalists, sales representatives and bookshops have understood our initiative”. The distinguished publishing house was disappointed, however, that few university libraries had taken up an offer of free copies.