Booksellers with an online presence are reporting an unexpected increase in sales of religious books.

Nielsen BookScan said the Bible and liturgical texts had climbed the charts in recent weeks.

The increase in sales of religious material was “an unusual pattern in comparison to the same period in recent years”, according to Nielsen, although it said the Bible was still some way off the top of the bestselling charts.

“One imagines this is a result of churches closing, but perhaps people are turning to scripture for comfort in these abnormal and melancholy times,” said Nielsen.

Tomás Kenny of Kennys bookshop in Galway, one of the largest independent bookshops in the country, said its current sales were “totally different to normal”.

“We have seen a big increase in religious and spirituality titles, particularly the Bible,” he said. “Fiction, education, baking books and the big literary classics people were always trying to get around to are selling totally out of proportion to normal.”

Last week An Siopa Leabhar, an Irish language bookshop on Harcourt Street in Dublin, tweeted that it had noticed an increase in sales of its Irish version of the Bible. The shop, closed because of the coronavirus, sells copies of An Bíobla Naofa for €19.