Different versions of books: EDITION and PRINTING

[whizbang]

No: HPFGUIDX 103901

---  "Phil Boswell" wrote:
> It appears that some are unaware that each EDITION may have many
> PRINTINGs ...

>... Look at the page just before the titles, where all the copyright
stuff
> can be found. You'll probably find details of who printed your book,
> and the ISBN. There will also be a row of numbers.
> 
> The lowest number in that row is the PRINTING number within the given
> edition.
> 
> Sometimes minor corrections are made between PRINTINGs which are not
> sufficient to cause it to be a new EDITION.
> 
> Think of it like a bug-fix in software. You have Major and Minor
> versions: EDITIONs and PRINTINGs.
> 
> HTH HAND
> -- 
> Phil

Whizbang:

That's a good explanation.  If a book is revised or has something like
a new preface or such added, it's called a new edition.  As far as I
know, all Harry Potter Books are still in the first edition.  But
there have been numerous printing runs.  A book from the first
printing run, or pressing, is already valuable depending on it's
condistion.  Bloomsbury is more valuable than Scholastic.
If you follow the link, it explains how to tell which printing run a
given Harry Potter book came from.  

http://collectbooks.about.com/library/weekly/aabyb111201a.htm