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Same ISBN, different editions
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John
(last edited Aug 25, 2016 12:06PM)
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Aug 21, 2007 02:55PM
I have one book that I'm forced to enter with the "wrong" data as the subsequent edition/printing kept the number. Anyone else had this?
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On that same note, I'm having a problem with the Wordsworth Classics edition(s) of Dicken's David Copperfield. The one that's already existing in the database is the abridged version and has a different cover than mine, which is unabridged, yet they share the same ISBN. I was just gonna manually add my edition and then combine the two seeing as they're both Wordsworth, but is there a way to do this and still get to keep the ISBN on both of them?
Mod
ISBNs are exclusive on GR. No two books can be listed under the same ISBN.
Otis? Any suggestions?
I've seen this with older book club editions as well.
I was thinking how insane that sounded too... Now, I may be mistaken here, the book is added directly from Amazon. But then the description shouldn't say it's the abridged version should it? If the ISBN is the right one for this version? I'm new at this so I could be wrong, and asking away sounded like the safest thing to do.
Mod
I just came across a similar issue that I'm not sure how to resolve.Sharon Sala also writes as Dinah McCall. I was adding a book to my bookshelf (Bloodlines - Dinah McCall) and noticed that existing GR entry had the book, but written as Sharon Sala (here). Which is different than the edition I read. So I went looking for the right edition using ISBN.
But according to two sites I checked, both the Sharon Sala and Dinah McCall releases of the book have the same ISBN. (Sharon Sala - Bloodlines and Dinah McCall - Bloodlines)
Any suggestions on how to resolve this to get both editions available on Goodreads? As far as I know, there can only be 1 entry per ISBN.
Thanks!
Short-term solution would be to do what Amazon did-- list both authors (which one is secondary, I'll let others debate. I'd go with name recognition first). Note in the book description that one is a pseudonym for the other. That way some integrity is maintained in the GR record.Noah @message 4: Book club editions (BCEs) don't normally have ISBNs (Jen @6: ISBN = International Standard Book Number). They will often reprint the copyright page of the original book, however, which can add to the confusion for catalogers and collectors.
A few things to remember: Publishers are doing what is most convenient for them. I believe they pay to register each ISBN, so they're going to change covers before they list a new ISBN. They make mistakes as well. If you run into what looks like a discrepancy, check the ISBN on the flap or back of the book against the ISBN listed in the copyright information. I've run into misprints more times than I can count. Also, Amazon makes plenty of mistakes in their listings and this is compounded by the input by some of their used-book sellers. These are people just trying to sell a book and not all of them make sure that the data they are listing is accurate.
Mod
I believe they pay to register each ISBN
I had no idea! But apparently so. I believe larger publishers pay for blocks, rather than individual numbers, but the same concept would still apply.
Rivka-- I don't want to redirect this thread, but I am unable to contact you directly. If you don't want to post it here, would you please send me any info/links you have regarding book clubs and their use of original ISBNs?Thank you.
Hi everyone,I guess we were hoping multiple covers on the same ISBN was a relatively rare occurrence, but I guess its not as rare as we hoped!
The correct thing for us to do would be to allow a book to have multiple covers. We'll add that to our todo list, but its low priority. In the meantime, I think that the cover reflected should probably be that of the more recent publication - as it sounds like earlier versions are more temporary. If this doesn't ring right, chime in.
Similarly, as books don't have to have an ISBN on Goodreads, I'd suggest listing the ISBN on the most recent version, and leaving earlier versions with no ISBN. Then they can all be combined.
Message 8: I agree to list both authors, and the note posted sounds good. Hopefully the author AKA feature will take care of this in the future.
Otis, if earlier editions are entered without an ISBN won't it be difficult for librarians to figure out that it really is the same book with just a different cover? Should there at least be a note in the description or something that points out that it is a variation of a specific ISBN as opposed to an edition which could have a different ISBN?And my impression is that it is quite common for publishers to change covers, particularly when reprinting mass-market paperbacks. I have dozens of books on my shelves whose covers do not match those of the "current" edition, even though they have the same ISBN, because I've owned these books for fifteen to twenty years.
Mod
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/31...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/68...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28...
http://www.biblio.com/books/46310135....
Target Publishing did a lot of this with their Doctor Who novelizations...
Message 13: this is what i'm doing for the time being if the variation that needs to be added is not the most recent, creating a new entry, leaving the ISBN blank, and referencing that ISBN in the description.
This sort of belongs here...I was looking at The Jane Austen Book Club by Karen Joy Fowler.
This one has an incorrect ISBN, but it has 91 ratings.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20...
I think I found the correct ISBN, but it's in use already. That edition only has 12 ratings.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/22...
I tried to change them and merge them, but I'm not really sure what I'm doing, so I'm referring it to the more experienced librarians out there.
JG, Got them. Because of the number of ratings it needed to be done by a super librarian. Thanks for noticing these.
Does anyone know if hardcovers and the subsequent paperback are generally released with a different ISBN? I've seen some that are different but I've just noticed that a paperback I own is already listed but as a hardcover.
They do usually have different ISBNs, Laura. It might be that the existing record is incorrectly listing a hardcover binding -- are there any other hardcovers for that book?
Mod
A slightly different twist on same ISBNs:This ISBN: 0-936756-33-0
in my hands is Michel Foucault, Remarks on Marx; goodreads considers this ISBN to belong to Speed & Politics by Paul Virilio.
Worse still, Remarks on Marx does not seem to exist in any way on goodreads, unless perhaps in Arabic-- if my search for "Foucault Marx" yielded the correct book-- but I cannot read Arabic. I gave up after 10 pages of search results for simply "Michel Foucault", and the title produces nothing anywhere.
What I have is the same as found on amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Remarks-Marx-Co...
Any chance this riddle can get straightened out?
WorldCat lists both books under the ISBN and the LOC lists neither (although to be fair, I'm not convinced the LOC search engine is all that good). However, both are from the same publisher, Semiotext(e); perhaps they mistakenly reused the ISBN?
I'm stumped here....So this book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36...
and this book: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12...
are the same but different ISBN's. I have no idea on how to combine them.
Help please
Kenan, Looks as though someone combined them. They're different editions of the same book, it looks like to me; they should be combined.Kenan, It looks as though you combined them, which was the proper thing to do.
Yeah, sorry i forgot to post that i did actually get to the bottom of it.My bad..
Did anyone solve this yet? I found an edition with the same ISBN as mine (mine is right in front of me). Most of the information is the same, but the covers are not. How do I make a second edition with same ISBN?
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