Understanding the jargon of bibliographies.

Glossary

O

Omnibus  A volume containing several literary works previously published separately.
Omnibus edition  An edition that is a collection of books published together under the one cover and title.

p, page,   number of pages
Pagination (pp)  the number of pages that are numbered.
Paperback   Books in paper wraps published since the 1930s, although it can describe any book with a paper cover. Paperback editions of books are issued when a company decides to release a book in a low-cost format. Cheap paper, glued bindings and the lack of a hard cover contribute to the inherent low cost of paperbacks. Paperbacks can be the preferred medium when a book is not expected to be a major seller, or in other situations where the publisher wishes to release a book without putting forth a large investment.
POD  Print on demand
Paste down endpaper  Sheet of paper pasted to the front and back cover. See also Endpapers.
ports  The book includes portrait photographs.
pp Paginated pages
Printers fleuron  A fleuron or printers' flower is a typographic element, or glyph, used originally as an ornament for typographic compositions - often, for example, to compose borders on title pages of historic books. Fleurons are stylized forms of flowers or leaves; the term derives from the Old French word floron for flower.


R

Reprint  A subsequent press run of an edition of a book. The text usually remains unchanged for each re-print, but may be updated for a new edition.
Reprint edition  aka New Impression edition
Revised edition  The terms revised edition and nth edition, revised are sometimes used by publishers when the book has been editorially revised or updated but for some reason the author or publisher does not want to call it the n+1th edition (where n = previous edition number.

S

SBN  Standard Book Number, this was the British precursor to the ISBN, International Standard Book Number.
Shelf appeal  Using cover design to appeal to the consumer.
Softback, Softcover  see Paperback
Statuary Deposit (sd)  aka Legal Deposit
SUNY State University of New York

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