John Wesley referred to himself as a “homo unius libri,” a man of one book. Wesley scholars often refer to that statement to demonstrate his commitment to biblical preaching. Of course, Wesley’s use of the term was intended to indicate that if you can only have one book, the Bible is the book to have.
Yet as Vivian Green points out in The Young Mr. Wesley, between 1725 and 1734 this man of one book read a list of books extending to 14 pages, and he wrote countless books himself, as well as a journal in four volumes, three volumes of sermons, two volumes of letters, a diary in code, five grammars, 50 volumes of the Christian Library, a Compendium of Logic, a History of England, a Dictionary, a Compendium of Natural Philosophy, countless religious treatises and occasional papers on slavery, pronunciation, popular medicine, dew on coaches and hundreds of other topics.
However, it should be noted that his focus on the “one book” theme got Wesley into a bit of a debate with some of his preachers. Wesley used the 1766 Methodist conference to deliver a farewell message. At the age of 63 he said he could not count on making it to the next conference (of course, he lived to be 88). Quite expectedly the preachers used Wesley’s claim to be a “man of one book” as an argument for not reading other useful books.
Wesley countered: “You say I characterized this refusal to read any book but the Bible as rank enthusiasm. If you need no book but the Bible, you have risen above St. Paul. He wanted others too.”  But as Wesley tried to convince his preachers to read other books also, he met an argument that eventually cost him money. To those who said they did not have the money for books, Wesley replied, “I will give each of you, as fast as you will read them, books to the value of five pounds.” 
    Now, there’s an idea for you. Wonder if we can find someone who will give each of us money to buy more books for our libraries?  I doubt it, but Wesley does give us some interesting ideas!