Chosen by Oprah Winfrey as the 60th Oprah’s Book Club selection in November 2007
#1 on the The New York Times trade paperback list and #8 on its mass market paperback list (9 December 2008).
The German translation, Die Säulen der Erde has been voted the third-most popular book in Germany by more than 250 000 readers who voted for the ZDF TV channel's 'best books' poll in 2006
One of the top 100 books chosen by British readers in the BBC's 2003 'The Big Read' as announced on 17 May 2003 on BBC2.
One of the '101 Books to Read Before You Die' chosen by patrons of Exclusive Books – it is 27th on the list.
It was called “The Cathedral” in a 1976 synopsis.
It was called “Vaulting” in handwritten notes and outlines in January 1986-March 1987.
It was called “Danger of Glory” for the 1st draft in June of 1988.
It was called “Allegiance” in for the final draft in March 1989.
It was called “Pillars of the Earth” by April 2nd 1989 in the edited manuscript.
It was never called “The Last Long Gambit” or “The Long Gambit.” This was an idea for a spy novel pitched by Follett in his correspondence, but ultimately discarded.
Published in 1989 by William Morrow, New York
Publihed in French as Les Piliers de la Terre by Robert Laffont
Published in German as Die Saulen der Erde by Lübbe
Published in Italian as I Pilastri della Terra by Mondadori
Published in Spanish as Los pilares de la Tierra Random House Mondadori
| PILLARS OF THE EARTH Box 51 - 52 - 53 - 54 - 55 - 56 - 57 - 58 - 59 - 60 - 61 - 62 - 63 - 64 |
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| Box 51 (Oversized) |
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| (1) | Research: Medieval Industry | 1981 | 155pp. |
| Box 52 | |||
| (2) |
Correspondence with Al Zuckerman: Cathedral - 14 November 1976 Correspondence with Al Zuckerman: Cathedral - 23 November 1976 |
14 November 1976 | 1p. |
| 23 November 1976 | 2pp. | ||
| (3) | Cathedral-synopsis only of 180,000 word novel (2 copies) | 1976 | 10pp. |
| (4) | Research: Handwritten notes and drawings | n.d. | 39pp. |
| (5) | Research: Handwritten notes, Xeroxes from various books, bibliography | ||
| (6) | Vaulting: Spiral notebook (yellow) | n.d. | 37pp. |
| (7) | Vaulting. Spiral notebook containing handwritten notes | n.d. | 76pp. |
| (8) | Vaulting. Spiral notebook containing handwritten notes | n.d. | 70pp. |
| (9) | Vaulting. Spiral notebook containing handwritten notes | n.d. | 76pp |
| (10) | Vaulting. Spiral notebook containing handwritten notes | n.d. | 110pp. |
| (11) | 2nd draft. Vaulting/Outline of the first half only | 29 January 1986 | 7pp. |
| (12) | 3rd draft. Vaulting/Outline | 7 May 1986 | 21pp. |
| (13) | 4th draft. Vaulting/Outline. Handwritten notes | 8 July 1986 | 60pp. |
| Box 53 | |||
| (14) | 4th draft. Vaulting/Outline | 8 July 1986 | 38pp. |
| (15) | 5th draft. Vaulting/Outline | 4 February 1987 | 44pp. |
| (16-17) | 6th draft. Vaulting/Outline (2 copies) - Copy 2 | 12 March 1987 | 60pp. |
| (18) | 2nd draft. Allegiance: Notes and out-takes | 16 February 1989 | 98pp. |
| (19) | Prologue: Tom Stoner | n.d. | 28pp. |
| (20) | Book Three (2 copies) copy 2 has handwritten notes | n.d. | 26pp. |
| (21) | Summary, chapter by chapter | n.d. | 5pp. |
| (22) | Rewrite | n.d. | 20pp. |
| (23) | Miscellaneous pages | n.d. | 11pp. |
| (24) | 16 May 1986 | 9pp. | |
| 22 July 1986 (2 copies) | 6pp. | ||
| (25) | Correspondence with Elaine Koster: Vaulting | 23 July 1986 | 1p. |
| (26) | Correspondence with Pat Golbitz: Thoughts on outline | 29 July 1986 | 6pp. |
| (27) | Correspondence with Al Zuckerman: Vaulting | 10 February 1987 | 4pp. |
| (28) | Correspondence with Margaret Wade Labarge: Questions on research | 19 September 1988 | 1p. |
| (29) | Correspondence with Pat Golbitz: Corrections to pages | 27 February 1989 | 2pp. |
| Correction pages | 48pp. | ||
| (30) | Correspondence with Hilary Ross: Corrections to pages | 2 March 1989 | 2pp. |
| Correction pages | 18pp. | ||
| (31) | Miscellaneous corrected pages | n.d. | 6pp. |
| (32) | Correspondence with Sally Close: And manuscript | 2 May 1990 | 1pp. |
| (33) | Brochure: AIDS What Everybody Needs To Know | November 1986 | 11pp. |
| Box 54 | |||
| (34-a) | 1st draft of Danger of Glory, (Allegiance) : Prologue and Part I, pages 1-401 | 2 June 1988 | 1427pp. |
| Box 55 | |||
| (34-b) | 1st draft of Danger of Glory, (Allegiance) : Parts II-III, pages 402-894 | 2 June 1988 | 1427pp. |
| Box 56 | |||
| (34-c) | 1st draft of Danger of Glory, (Allegiance) : Parts IV-VI pages 895-1427 | 2 June 1988 | 1427pp. |
| Box 57 | |||
| (35-a) | Final draft, original typescript for Allegiance, with markings (copy 1) pages 1-429 | 3 March 1989 | 942pp |
| Box 58 | |||
| (35-b) | Final draft, original typescript for Allegiance, with markings (copy 1) pages 431-942 | 3 March 1989 | 942pp |
| Box 59 | |||
| (36-a) | Final draft, original typescript for Allegiance (copy 2) : Prologue - Part I, Page 1 - 433 | 3 March 1989 | 1529pp |
| Box 60 | |||
| (36-b) | Final draft, original typescript for Allegiance (copy 2) : Part II - III, Page 435 - 941 | 3 March 1989 | 1529pp |
| Box 61 | |||
| (36-c) | Final draft, original typescript for Allegiance (copy 2) : Part IV - VI, Page 942 - 1529 | 3 March 1989 | 1529pp |
| Box 62 | |||
| (37-a) | Edited manuscript, with markings: Prologue - Part I, Page 1 - 433 | 2 April 1989 | 1528pp. |
| Box 63 | |||
| (37-b) | Edited manuscript, with markings: Part II - III, Page 435 - 941 | 2 April 1989 | 1528pp. |
| Box 64 | |||
| (37-c) | Edited manuscript, with markings: Part IV - VII, Page 942 - 1528 | 2 April 1989 | 1528pp. |
| (38) | Booklet in German discusses Follett’s works and has an interview. | ||