First edition of The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty, Harper & Row, 1971.
1971
William Peter Blatty’s The Exorcist becomes the first horror story to reach number one on the New York Times bestseller list and helps initiate the modern horror film movement. The novel goes on to sell 13 million copies in the United States alone, and the 1973 motion picture based on it breaks box-office records, earning $165 million on its release.
