same book but 2 different titles

[lilias]

What should I do when I come across a book that was released with two different titles in two different countries?

The Anonymous Venetian, by Donna Leon, for example, was released as Dressed for Death in the US. Should I combine such entries?

[John]

I have combined those instances when I have known for a fact that they are the same thing.

[rivka, Former Librarian Moderator]

Agreed. :)

[John]

Point noted Abigail, and I agree on short stories - I'm rather conservative about combining those, with the exception of "The Complete ...", taking it on face value that all of those have all the author's stories. I would be leery of combining "Joe Smith: Christmas Tales" and "Joe Smith: The Magic Tree and Other Holiday Stories" (as a hypothetical example).
Admittedly, I tend to "over-combine" in general, giving borderline cases the benefit of the doubt.

[lilias]

See now, this is the debate that was going on in my head and caused me to post.

Well, since I do not have a copy of one of the books, I cannot be 100% sure.
I always double check my combinations, and in the case of these two books, I found reviewers on uk amazon complaining about how they felt they had been fooled into buying the same book they had already read.
I'm going to keep them separate for now, and if anyone decides otherwise please do let me know for the future.

[Lisa]

Hmm. I had this issue with a book: Almost Too Late and Four Against the Wilderness. I know they're the same book with Four Against the Wilderness being a second title. But I ended up not combining them, partly because I thought the second titled book might have new information/forward/introduction/etc. And because I haven't seen a copy with the second title so I'm only 99.99% sure they're the same book. But, I actually don't think it would be wrong to combine them either. Sometimes it is a dilemma.

(I actually think the 4 editions, 2 of each, should be combined.)

[rivka, Former Librarian Moderator]

Given that official policy is to combine translations and revised editions, combining different countries' editions strikes me as the same thing. But I'm like John -- I tend to err in the direction of over-combining.

[JG (Introverted Reader)]

Is there a fairly reliable place to find alternate titles like this? Elizabeth Ferrars has two books, Skeleton in the Cupboard and Skeleton in the Closet, that sound like British and American versions of the same story to me. I've tried Wikipedia, Amazon, Amazon.uk, and took a half-hearted look at the Library of Congress. Does anyone know any other tricks?

[Cait]

JG: I find that Google is often the best help of all -- there's almost always someone out there talking on a forum or a fansite or a mailing list archive about the book. For example:

Elizabeth Ferrars: 52) Skeleton in Search of a Cupboard (US Title: Skeleton in Search of a Closet)

[JG (Introverted Reader)]

Thanks! I think I did that, but got frustrated when I didn't see anything in the first couple of results. I'll have to be more patient!