The craze for colouring books for adults to use has begun to enter the mainstream after its recent beginnings as an “underground hobby”.
Laurence King Publishing said in weeks it had sold the whole 225,980 print run of Johanna Basford's Enchanted Forest, published last month.
The publisher has now printed a further 250,000 to meet worldwide demand.
Basford, a Scottish illustrator, created her first colouring book, Secret Garden, in August 2013. Since then 1.5 million copies have sold.
Enchanted Forest is more than just a colouring book. It invites people to find the hidden symbols to unlock the castle door at the end of the quest.
At one point in the past few weeks, both books were numbers one and two in Amazon's bestselling titles.
Both have been translated into 24 languages so far. “And following a frenzy of activity at the Bologna and London Book Fairs, we’re on course to sell a further 11 language editions,” said Barney Duly, head of rights at Laurence King Publishing.
“Colouring books for adults have been popular for some time, but it was a fairly underground hobby. Many thought it was a childish pursuit. Now it’s become far more mainstream and most of the top sellers now are some form of adult colouring books,” said Ms Basford.
The illustrator said it takes about a year to create each book, drawing all her designs by hand. “It’s not a fast process – if I make a tiny mistake or I don’t like the design, I start the page all over again,” she said.
Other titles currently trending include Millie Marotta’s Animal Kingdom, Richard Merritt’s Art Therapy Colouring Book and Emma Farrarons’ The Mindfulness Colouring Book.
