Goodreads Librarians Group discussion

I have a copy of this book gifted to me in 1983. It could be a first printing from 1981, but it doesn't say.

It has two ISBNs: "Trade ISBN" 0-06-025673-7 and "Harpercrest ISBN" 0-06-025674-5. Both numbers are in the Goodreads database, but there are problems with each of them. The first "Trade ISBN" has a 2005 copyright date in the database, which my copy obviously is not. The second "Harpercrest ISBN" is listed as Library Binding, which doesn't seem correct (my copy is hardcover).

The cover image for the "Harpercrest ISBN" matches my copy; the one for the "Trade ISBN" does not.

Can anyone help resolve this? I'm not sure which ISBN to shelve.

Matthew, if I understand correctly, your copy matches the ISBN and cover image of this edition: A Light in the Attic. The only thing not matching is the binding, with the Goodreads listing showing Library Binding and your copy being a hardcover binding. Is that correct?

The term "Library Binding" means the book has been given extra attention in the production stage, with reinforcements like a stronger spine and pages being sewn together rather than glued. The intent is to help the book stand up to heavy usage. With a book of that age, a library binding would almost certainly be a hardcover.

My ISBN search found this book listed on AbeBooks as a hardcover with a dust jacket. I changed the listing to show the format as hardcover, with the "Library Binding" notation moved to the edition field.

So, ISBN 10: 0060256745 / ISBN 13: 9780060256746 is a hardcover edition with the cover image as shown in this Goodreads listing: A Light in the Attic. If your book has this ISBN identifier, this is the edition you would shelve.

Does that help?

Yes, I think so. Though I don't understand why my book from the early 80s has an ISBN in it that corresponds here on Goodreads to a 25th anniversary edition from 2005.

I don't see that it does. If you click on this link — A Light in the Attic — you will see the listing for the edition with the ISBNs that match your copy. That listing is not for a 25th anniversary edition.

There are currently 31 editions of this classic book, each different in some way: https://www.goodreads.com/work/editio... (To display the details for each edition, I selected the expand details option at the upper right on the Editions page. This toggles with collapse details so you can display either a compact list or a detailed list.)

When the copy you're looking for has an ISBN (as yours does), searching by ISBN rather than by title takes you directly to the edition you want.

Better?

The book contains two different ISBNs, as I explained in my initial post. One is labeled "Trade ISBN", the other "Harpercrest ISBN". Both ISBNs are indexed here on Goodreads, but the "Trade ISBN" which appears in my 198x copy appears here as an edition from 2005: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

Sorry, Matthew; it took me long enough to understand what you were saying. [major eye roll here]

It is not unusual for a publisher to list multiple editions (and ISBNs) on the Edition Notice (Copyright) page. WorldCat shows that ISBN 9780060256746 and ISBN 9780060256739 were both first published in 1981. It appears that ISBN 9780060256739 was reprinted under the same ISBN in August 2005. (Publisher's site: https://www.harpercollins.com/books/9...)

According to the edition's Change Notes, the import bot added the edition, changing the original 1981 pub date to the 2005 pub date. (Goodreads policy on publication dates: https://www.goodreads.com/help/show/2...)

The difference in the cover images for the two editions seems to be that one image has the "copyrighted material" watermark that Amazon sometimes put on images. That watermark is not on the actual cover.

Dobby0390 wrote: "The difference in the cover images for the two editions seems to be that one image has the "copyrighted material" watermark that Amazon sometimes put on images. That watermark is not on the actual cover. "

The one with the watermark also has a border which is not present on the actual cover, though it's possible that's also an Amazon artifact.

Thanks for the clarification on the ISBN. Since there's an edition that matches and has the right publication date I'll go with that one. Shame they reused the other ISBN though.

Dobby0390 wrote: "According to the edition's Change Notes, the import bot added the edition, changing the original 1981 pub date to the 2005 pub date."

If a bot changed the date, shouldn't that change be reverted?

Melanie wrote: "If a bot changed the date, shouldn't that change be reverted?..."

I wondered about that, too, Melanie. I was unsure how Goodreads handles situations like this, where an ISBN is reused on a later edition.

This is from the Librarian Manual page that I linked to, above:

Date published can most usually be found on the copyright page of a book. That page will tell you when the work was copyrighted - and if the book is a first edition, the copyright date will be the same as the date published. If it is a later edition, the date will be different. Some books, not all, will list dates for subsequent publications somewhere on the copyright page. The last date listed is what should be used to fill in the date published. If you know the book is a reprinting/reissue published later than the copyright date, but no other dates are given you can A) if the book already has a date published supplied by Ingram, leave it as is; B) research the publication date for the edition you have using Worldcat, Library of Congress, the author's website or numerous other resources; or C) use the copyright date as the date published.

Since Ingram assigned the 2005 date, that seemed to fall under Option A, leave it. We do know from WorldCat, however, that the edition was first published in 1981. That brought me back to the question of what to do about the 2005 reissue. [sigh]

What do you think?

I would think that since the record originally had the 1981 date, that is what should be used.

But then I have no idea how to handle the 2005 reissue. A new record with the 25th anniversary cover as shown on the publisher's site maybe?

Sounds good. These are the changes I made:

✓ ISBN 9780060256746: Added "First Edition" notation, per WorldCat

✓ ISBN 9780060256739: Added "First Edition" notation; replaced watermarked cover with same cover without watermark, per WorldCat. Reverted bot's date change, restoring original pub date of Oct 1981. Hyperlinked to ACE.

✓ ISBN 9780060256739/ACE: Created alternate-cover edition for 25th Anniversary reissue published August 9, 2005; hyperlinked back to original. Cover, including 25th Anniversary sticker, from publisher website.

Thanks for your input, Melanie. I feel better about this now.

Matthew, how does this look to you?

It looks good, though still raises the question of what practical distinction the two editions (9780060256746 and 9780060256739) have. As I noted, they're both printed in my book. So what's the difference between them except the ISBN? And does it matter which one I shelve?

The only difference is the binding: one has library binding, while the other has a standard hardcover binding. The content, page count, and cover art is the same for both editions.

Does your copy have an ISBN printed on the back cover?

No, only on the first page. And it has both numbers. And it's not library binding. (I didn't know anything was sold with library binding.)