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number of pages in books

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  • 04-01-2014 5:45pm
    #1
    Spiritiser
    Registered Users Posts: 103 ✭✭


    Does anyone know why some versions of books have different number of pages. Is it because the pages are bigger and the full story fits on less pages or are some versions shorter


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    #2
    mickmackey1
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 3,288 ✭✭✭mickmackey1


    Spiritiser wrote: »
    Is it because the pages are bigger

    Or maybe the writing is smaller :pac:


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    #3
    Insect Overlord
    Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 30,876 Mod ✭✭✭✭Insect Overlord


    Definitely one of the strangest questions I've ever read on Boards!


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    #4
    Gamayun
    Registered Users Posts: 448 ✭✭Gamayun


    Spiritiser wrote: »
    Does anyone know why some versions of books have different number of pages. Is it because the pages are bigger and the full story fits on less pages or are some versions shorter

    There are loads of reasons:

    1. Public Domain books can be published by any company. This means that there may be multiple versions of a title published by different publishers. Each version will have it's own formatting (font, font size, spacing, blank pages etc.) leading to the difference in the number of pages between versions.
    A good example is Emma by Jame Austen, Goodreads.com lists 290 editions! Link

    2. Often a book will be published in a variety of formats:

    Mass Market Paperback
    Trade Paperback
    Hardcover
    ebook

    Each of these will again have it's own formatting (including page size) meaning that there will be page count differences between the formats even from the same publishers.

    3. Sometimes there are abridged (shortened) editions of long books e.g War and Peace by Tolstoy.

    4. Sometimes books are censored and lose words/passages e.g Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

    5. Different translations will have different word counts e.g Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky.

    Phew, hope this helps! :)


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    #5
    Swiper the fox
    Registered Users Posts: 6,746 ✭✭✭Swiper the fox


    Why does the question remind me of the old gag about Jason McAteer where he was asked if he wanted his pizza cut into 4 slices or 8. 4 of course, I'd never eat 8.


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