This is a list of books that topped The New York Times best-seller list in 1940. When the list began in 1931 through 1941 it only reflected sales in the New York City area.
Fiction The following list ranks the number-one best-selling fiction books.
The two most popular books that year were How Green Was My Valley, by Richard Llewellyn, which held on top of the list for 13 weeks, and Stars on the Sea by F. Van Wyck Mason, which was on top of the list for 10 weeks.Adult New York Times Best Seller Lists for 1940 Retrieved March 14, 2018
DateBookAuthor January 1 The Nazarene Sholem Asch January 8 January 15 January 22 January 29 February 5 Kitty Foyle Christopher Morley February 12 The Nazarene Sholem Asch February 19 Kitty Foyle Christopher Morley February 26 March 4 How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn March 11 March 18 Native Son Richard Wright March 25 How Green Was My Valley Richard Llewellyn April 1 April 8 April 15 April 22 April 29 May 6 May 13 May 20 May 27 June 3 June 10 Stars on the Sea F. Van Wyck Mason June 17 June 24 July 1 July 8 July 15 July 22 July 29 August 5 August 12 August 19 Mrs. Miniver Jan Struther August 26 September 2 September 9 The Beloved Returns Thomas Mann September 16 September 23 Mrs. Miniver Jan Struther September 30 You Can't Go Home Again Thomas Wolfe October 7 October 14 Mrs. Miniver Jan Struther October 21 October 28 For Whom the Bell Tolls Ernest Hemingway November 4 November 11 November 18 November 25 December 2 Oliver Wiswell Kenneth Roberts December 9 December 16 December 23 December 30
Nonfiction The following list ranks the number-one best-selling nonfiction books.Adult New York Times Best Seller Lists for 1940 DateBookAuthor January 1 A Treasury of Art Masterpieces Thomas Craven, editor January 8 January 15 January 22 Country Lawyer Bellamy Partridge January 29 A Smattering of Ignorance Oscar Levant February 5 February 12 February 19 February 26 March 4 March 11 March 18 March 25 April 1 How to Read a Book Mortimer J. Adler April 8 April 15 April 22 A Smattering of Ignorance Oscar Levant April 29 How to Read a Book Mortimer J. Adler May 6 Failure of a Mission Nevile Henderson May 13 American White Paper Joseph Alsop and Robert E. Kintner May 20 May 27 June 3 June 10 I Married Adventure Osa Johnson June 17 June 24 July 1 July 8 July 15 As I Remember Him Hans Zinsser July 22 July 29 Country Squire in the White House John T. Flynn August 5 August 12 August 19 August 26 September 2 September 9 September 16 September 23 September 30 October 7 October 14 October 21 October 28 November 4 November 11 The Wave of the Future Anne Morrow Lindbergh November 18 November 25 A Treasury of the World's Great Letters M. Lincoln Schuster, editor December 2 December 9 December 16 December 23 The White Cliffs Alice Duer Miller December 30 A Treasury of the World's Great Letters M. Lincoln Schuster, editor
See also Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States in the 1940s
References