ISBN codes

Paddy Samurai

Hi ,
I was wondering ,does anyone know where I could find the differences in editions using ISBN numbers?.

I was looking to order a book on Amazon today that has two ISBN numbers for the one entry.

• ISBN-10: 0552160962
• ISBN-13: 978-0552160964

I asked amazon ,but they don't know what the differences are ,or why there is two different ISBN number against the entry.They are going to look into it and get back to me.


https://www.amazon.co.uk/I-Am-Pilgrim-Terry-Hayes-x/dp/0552160962/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1499357946&sr=8-1&keywords=i+am+pilgrim

Something to do with Bookland: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bookland

The wikipedia article has an image showing how the 10 and 13 digit ISBNs are desgined: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Standard_Book_Number#Overview The first 3 digits refer to a country then the rest are the same as in the 10-digit version except the final digit which acts as a checksum.

HenryCrun

In 2007 ISBNs changed from 10-digit numbers to 13 digits, to bring them into accordance with EAN-barcodes as used in supermarkets, etc. All 10-digit ISBNs were then prefixed with 978 (or 979). Books released after 2007 usually have both ISBNs. The two ISBNs you mention are therefore for the same edition of this book. The last digit usually differs between ISBN-10 and ISBN-13, because they are check digits (see Wikipedia for an explanation). Why Amazon inserts a dash after the first 3 digits of an ISBN-13 only is not clear to me, other bookshops, publishers and library catalogues use ISBNs without dashes or insert multiple dashes or spaces to separate country code, publisher number, etc.