O.J. Simpson's latest arrest has once again piqued the public's interest in him and sparked a second printing of his hypothetical murder confession, said the publisher of the rapidly selling tome.

Beauford Books has commissioned a second printing of 50,000 copies of If I Did It, the controversial, ghostwritten title that purports to detail how the former football star would have murdered his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman.

A second printing has been ordered for If I Did It, O.J. Simpson's hypothetical account of how he would have killed his ex-wife and her friend, Ronald Goldman.
(Richard Drew/Associated Press)

The book, which was released last week, had a first printing of about 200,000 copies.

Simpson was arrested on Sunday and charged with armed robbery at a Las Vegas hotel. He has said that he was reclaiming items of sports memorabilia that had been stolen from him.

"The arrest brought the whole question of O.J. and the law back into everybody's consciousness," said Eric Kampmann, owner of the small, New York-based Beauford.

Simpson was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and Goldman in 1995 but found guilty in a subsequent wrongful death lawsuit brought by the Goldman and Brown families.

He was ordered to pay damages of more than $30 million US but, over the years, has paid little of the amount.

In 2006, Simpson made a deal for a book and TV project with HarperCollins and its parent company News Corp. for a hypothetical account of the murders.

Widespread public outrage nixed the project shortly before its release last November, but a U.S. federal bankruptcy judge awarded the book's rights to the Goldman family, which decided to publish the tome — with additional commentary added.

Simpson has said that besides allowing the use of his name and image, he had nothing to do with the book. However, Pablo Fenjves, the ghostwriter involved with the project said If I Did It was completed with extensive participation from Simpson.

With files from the Associated Press