Dava Sobel's Longitude is probably the most successful and exciting publishing sensation of the 1990s. It told the true story of one John Harrison, who invented longitude, as we know it, as a response to a prize offer of a king's ransom to anyone who could solve this navigational problem, thereby preventing the appalling rate at which English ships were being lost at sea.
Having been shown to a number of publishers in London during 1995, it was finally published by Fourth Estate in autumn 1996. Expected to sell 10,000 copies in hardback altogether, it sold 2,000 in one day after a weekend Daily Telegraph extract, and the publishers immediately took the gamble of printing 20,000 copies. They were right. The hardcover edition went on to sell over 350,000. To date, the paperback has sold nearly as many, and a larger-format illustrated edition has also been published. It is currently being adapted as a two-part television series directed by Charles Sturridge and starring Jeremy Irons and Michael Gambon.
Since the publication of Longitude books have been published about a 19th-century giraffe (Zarafa by Michael Allin), the discovery of nutmeg (Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton), the Oxford Dictionary (The Surgeon of Crowthorne by Simon Winchester), the embalming of Lenin (Lenin's Embalmers by I.B. Zbarskii and Samuel Hutchinson), the history of cod (Cod by Mark Kurlansky), the tulip (The Tulip by Anna Pavord), the battle to try and gradate linear time (The Calendar by David Ewing Duncan) and the solving of a particularly difficult mathematical theorem (Fermat's Last Theorem by Simon Singh). Importantly, as well as sharing a similar theme - focusing on a key (if often quotidian) aspect of life - all of these books share a format. They are in the main small, stylishly produced books with a marked emphasis on visuals and typography.
Publishers have been swamped with proposals by prospective authors wanting to write about (among other subjects) the history of ice, anaesthetics and glass. It remains to be seen if their books will find publishers. Jon Riley of Faber and Faber talks of the rise in "thin, opportunistic responses" that have been presented. Dan Franklin of Jonathan Cape agrees, although he does reckon that this trend is as much publisher as author-led, in the sense that any non-fiction book is now considered for packaging in the small, elegant Longitude format.
A more cynical analysis of the whole phenomenon would suggest that many publishers are trying to repeat the obviously huge commercial success of Dava Sobel's book. But while this must be part of the answer in these best-seller-oriented times, a more subtle explanation is that the book-buying public has made it clear about the type of history book that it wants to read and buy. All of the above books have been commercially successful (if not quite reaching the dizzy figures of Longitude), which seems to suggest that this form of "'micro-history" has replaced larger, more traditional historical tomes. As well as being short and beautifully produced, Longitude is a history book written in the manner of a novel. Its narrow focus on a key aspect of life manages to tell the 20th century reader a lot about the period of history being examined. It is also, as Peter Straus of Picador points out, an "heroic story of a Englishman" with a very happy ending, which goes a long way with the book-buying public in England, where a majority of the books have been sold.
Next month sees publication of Galileo's Daughter, Sobel's new book. It examines the inspiring relationship that this towering figure of modern science had with his illegitimate daughter, using letters and contemporary accounts as source material. Already being touted as potentially the most successful non-fiction book of the year, Sobel is again using a little-known fact in the history of science through which to filter the history of an age. Undoubtedly, it will be thoughtfully written, historically accurate and a joy to handle. We'll know soon enough if success is going to strike twice for the author of Longitude .
Cormac Kinsella is the editor of The Waterstones Guide to Irish Books