how to separate the most popular edition from an incorrect merge

[Donna]

I just noticed that someone has combined The Loss of the Ship Essex, Sunk by a Whale with all the copies of The Wreck of the Whaleship Essex.

Loss is not the same book. Wreck was written by Owen Chase, and it was first published in 1821. Loss includes Chase's whole book, but it also has another full story of the shipwreck from a different survivor. That account was lost for over a hundred years and never published until the 1960s. So Loss is like a two-books-in-one edition, with double the page count of Wreck.

I tried to separate them, but after the combine Loss is now the most popular edition and I can't split it out, so I thought I'd report it in here and ask for advice.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

If you use the separate tool, you can separate off all the other editions. (Bit of a pain, but I'd have to do the same thing.)

[Donna]

Oh, that separate tool is cool and it worked great, I've never used it before.

I think I've gotten it sorted, and I also added a librarian note to the other book asking that it not be re-combined.

Thanks.

[rivka, Former Moderator]

The separate tool is great. It's especially nice for when several editions need to be pulled out, but I use it for almost all my separates these days.