Andrew Gray wrote:
If anyone feels really public-spirited (for the world
in general, not
just WP), consider writing a patch to Special:Booksources to somehow
do on-the-fly integration with xISBN and similar other-editions tools;
this would be *incredibly* useful, and would make that page a vital
resource rather than a curiosity.
(ISBNs refer to a specific edition or, sometimes, a specific printing;
a given work usually has two, often four or six, sometimes literally
hundreds or thousands. You can see why the crossreferencing would make
this oh so much better)
Typically, sellers of new books will only show the ISBNs of
current
editions. Books that have a new edition each year will have a long
range of ISBNs and will distinguish hard and soft cover, or even whether
there are thumb tabs in the fore edge. I very much agree with the
usefulness of a reference work that would sort out the different editions.
Ec