Numbers in a book.

[AniaSM]

Iv'e just bought a book. On one page at the front of the book theres the publishers details and some other stuff and a number 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 .
What does this number mean?
Im really confused.

[Clanad]

Every ISBN consists of ten digits and whenever it is printed it is preceded by the letters ISBN. The ten-digit number is divided into four parts of variable length, each part separated by a hyphen
The four parts of an ISBN are as follows:
Group or country identifier which identifies a national or geographic grouping of publishers;
Publisher identifier which identifies a particular publisher within a group;
Title identifier which identifies a particular title or edition of a title;
Check digit is the single digit at the end of the ISBN which validates the ISBN. (Source U.S. ISBN Agency ...

[nickmo]

This is not an ISBN. The numbers on the copyright page - the one with all the info about the publisher, author etc, - show the edition of the book. The lowest number of the sequence is the edition.

The ISBN identifies the title for ordering / library purposes and is prefaced ISBN then 10 numbers that are unique to the book. (There are ISBNs with 13 digits though, and to find the title, you remove the first 3 digits from the number to search).

[divegirl]

just tried....it won't work...... :o[

[saxy_jag]

Nickmo's correct - it's not an ISBN. However he/she seems a little confused about how the 10 and 13 digit ISBNs work.

The old standard is 10 digits. However, there were too many books being published for this to continue to be viable, hence the change to 13 digits. The book trade has been using both for the past few years in an overlap period, but the 13 digit became standard on Jan 1st 2007. Many systems can still use either, but I've noticed using 13 on Amazon doesn't return anything, even though they have the 10 digit listed.

You can't just stick 978 on the front of a 10 digit ISBN to make it a 13 digit one. It doesn't work like that. Many do work like that, but not all.

Eventually, the old 10 digits wil be phased out, but I reckon it'll be a while yet.

[coco pops]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Printers_key
It is a printers key

[AniaSM]

Thanks. That helps a lot.

[shineybomb]

Not sure it is the ISBN - depending on where it is, it might be the number to tell you what edition the book is.

This is usually under the publishers details and the last number on the list is the edition you have - so yours would be a first edition

[AniaSM]

Threes a second number that says ISBN 0 7011 76887
A first edition shineybomb? Maybe its worth something.

[Denisdiamond]

More information about ISBNs can be found on the Bowker web site located at ;
http://www.bowker.com/standards/home/index.htm l

[shineybomb]

You might just be sitting on a valuable book there! Is it a good one? If its a well known first edition you could be talking hundreds.