№ 47 · TRIVIA
The 10,000-Book Library
Neverland Ranch reading room, c. 1990–2005
MICHAEL JACKSON
The King of Pop
★ RARE
← MICHAEL JACKSON
CARD N° 47 · TRIVIA · ★ RARE
The 10,000-Book Library
Neverland Ranch reading room, c. 1990–2005
№ 47 TRIVIA
The 10,000-Book Library
Michael's personal library at Neverland contained more than 10,000 books, ranging from rare illuminated manuscripts to first-edition Walt Disney biographies, with whole shelves devoted to philosophy, theology, classical art, choreography, and the autobiographies of every major Black performer of the 20th century. He read for at least an hour every day.
▶ THE MOMENT
Inside Michael Jackson's Neverland Library (Julien's Auctions Footage)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJQNYrNkS3M
MICHAEL JACKSON · B·SIDE · VOL.I
HOVER TO FLIP
THE FACT
Michael's personal library at Neverland contained more than 10,000 books, ranging from rare illuminated manuscripts to first-edition Walt Disney biographies, with whole shelves devoted to philosophy, theology, classical art, choreography, and the autobiographies of every major Black performer of the 20th century. He read for at least an hour every day.
WHAT MOST DON'T KNOW
When the library was photographed by archivists during the 2009 Julien's Auctions valuation following his death, it was catalogued as one of the largest privately held collections of books on dance and 20th-century performance art in the United States. He owned 28 first editions of The Adventures of Peter Pan, multiple signed Walt Whitman volumes, the complete works of Rumi and Khalil Gibran in original languages, and a personally annotated copy of Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking that he was said to read before every public appearance. Friends including Brooke Shields, Macaulay Culkin and Quincy Jones have spoken about Michael reading aloud at the dinner table, often without invitation; Shields said in a 2009 Vanity Fair tribute that 'his vocabulary was bigger than anyone I ever knew — even though he hardly went to school'. His sister Janet said in a 2010 interview that Michael's annual book-budget at Neverland was capped only at $1 million per year because his accountants worried he would 'literally read himself into bankruptcy'. The library, miraculously, remained largely intact when the property was sold in 2020; the new owners donated portions to the Mark Twain House and to the Smithsonian.
▶
THE MOMENT
Inside Michael Jackson's Neverland Library (Julien's Auctions Footage) — 10,000+ books — catalogued after his death.