What is the policy on combining similar/almost the same books (e.g. usually public domain collections)?

[A.J.]

This question came to me when looking at the list of books for John Keats. The rules page for combining editions doesn't mention this scenario. I see various editions listed as some version of the 'complete poems of John Keats'. I would think all these should be combined but I'm not sure.

For instance, on the first page, I would think 'The Complete Poems', 'The Complete Poems of John Keats' and 'Complete Works of John Keats' ('works' here translating to his poems in the description) should all be combined, whereas 'Complete Poems and Selected Letters' should probably stay separate since it is his poems as well as selected letters.

Is there a decided policy on these situations? What is it?

[Philip]

It can be a mess on authors like this. You really have to research and see if all the "Complete" really have the same thing. There are many times where they say complete but books do not contain the complete works. Basically many companies when releasing books like this fudge their titles.

Now if all the books do actually contain the same information then yes they would get combined.

[A.J.]

Thanks. It sounds like one of those messy iffy things.