25 Most Written About Famous People of All-Time

A list of the 25 most written about famous people of all-time.

THE 25 MOST WRITTEN-ABOUT PEOPLE OF ALL TIME

In trying to determine the people most written about, the source to go to is Theodore Besterman's A World Bibliography of Bibliographies; a bibliography being a list of books, articles, letters, etc., that relate to a particular person or subject. Besterman's five-volume 4th edition, published by the Societas Bibliographica in 1965, is probably the most comprehensive collection of its kind in the world.

Person No. of Bibliographies

1. William Shakespeare (1564-1616), English dramatist, poet 161

2. Dante (1265-1321), Italian Poet 67

3. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet 61

4. Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), Spanish novelist 56

5. Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865), American president 43

6. Charles Dickens (1812-1870), English novelist 38

7. Martin Luther (1483-1546), German religious reformer 36

8. Nikolai Lenin (1870-1924), Russian Communist leader 35

9. Aleksandr Pushkin (1799-1837), Russian poet 33

10. Robert Burns (1759-1796), Scottish poet 31

11. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), German composer 30

11. Mohammed (570-632), Arabian religious prophet 30

13. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Austrian composer 27

13. Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821), French emperor 27

15. The Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus 24

15. Johann von Schiller (1759-1805), German poet, playwright 24

17. Leo Tolstoi (1828-1910), Russian novelist 23

18. Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855), Polish poet 22

18. Walt Whitman (1819-1892), American poet 22

20. Luiz Vaz de Camoes (1524-1580), Portuguese poet 21

21. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.), Greek philosopher 19

21. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784), English lexicographer, critic 19

21. George Washington (1732-1799), American president 19

24. Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790), American statesman, scientist, philosopher 18

24. Petrarch (1304-1374), Italian poet 18

(In case you're curious, Jesus ranked 51st, with 12 bibliographies.)