Random House has forwarded us this press release about Eldest‘s opening week:
August 30, 2005 (New York, NY) In its first week on sale, ELDEST, Book Two in Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance Trilogy, sold more than 425,000 hardcover copies, making it the greatest single-week sale ever recorded for a Random House Children’s Books title, hardcover or paperback, it was announced today by Chip Gibson, Random House Children’s Books, President and Publisher. ELDEST is also the fastest-selling title in the publisher’s history. ELDEST was published by Random House’s Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers imprint in the U.S. and Canada on August 23rd with a first printing of 1.3 million copies.
Mr. Gibson also announced additional printings of ELDEST totaling 500,000 copies to meet continuing enormous consumer and bookseller demand, bringing the total number of copies in print to 1.8 million.
You can continue reading the press release here. Congratulations to Christopher and all of the Random House staff for this huge success!