Books through time: 9 sourced records

What this topic measures

The earliest recorded publication year is used. This category always asks for a numerical year. The unit is year. This topic uses exact-year scoring: only the exact year earns the +25 bonus, and accuracy falls with the absolute difference in years.

A record is a named row in the frozen catalog, not necessarily a unique entity. Some topics contain several records with the same value, and a name round accepts any record at the closest distance. The table below is the complete answer set for this topic; there is no hidden shortlist.

All 9 records

Every row links to the original source used for that record. Values are rounded for display only; the scoring engine uses the stored source value. The snapshot date and unit are part of the topic’s definition, so a current live figure may differ.

The table has 9 rows, one for each accepted record. It does not list every alias or spelling variant; the game’s name matcher handles those at answer time. If two records share a value, both remain separate rows.

The range and the gaps

The 9 records run from 1813 to 1960. The median is 1925, with a middle half from 1847 to 1949. The largest adjacent gap is 74 years between Moby-Dick (1851) and The Great Gatsby (1925). Every record has a distinct value in this snapshot.

The highest listed records are To Kill a Mockingbird (1960), The Catcher in the Rye (1951), Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949). The lowest are Pride and Prejudice (1813), Frankenstein (1818), Jane Eyre (1847). Use these as anchors before you make a ratio or year estimate; the table below gives every value.

What the table does not tell you

These are single snapshot values in year for Classic novels · original publication · exact-year scoring. The table is not a time series, a range of typical values or a measure of uncertainty. A source can round, revise or use a different definition in a later release; the game uses the stored snapshot for every score. Read the source and the record label before treating a value as a current live measurement.

How to estimate this topic

Publication years use exact-year scoring: only the exact year earns the +25 bonus, and accuracy falls with the absolute year difference. Use 1800, 1900 and 1950 as bands. Do not apply ratio thinking to a year; 1925 and 1950 are 25 years apart, not a multiplicative gap.

For a method that applies across topics, see the estimation guide. To practise this topic without changing a daily result, open the practice setup for Books through time. The setup opens first; it does not start a clock automatically.

Recent daily use

This topic has appeared in 1 completed daily round, including a Golden Round. The table lists the most recent 1 uses. Each date opens the full answer page for that flight.

Source, licence and snapshot

The listed source is Wikidata contributors · publication date (P577) ↗. Snapshot: 2026-10-24. Licence / attribution: CC0 1.0.

We select and transform source records for independently written game rules. The source material remains subject to its original licence. If a value looks wrong, send the topic, record, expected value and source through the contact form; do not send passwords or account credentials.

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