# Book Copyright Pages

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 12, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379 "2010-11-12T01:42:56Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Stan\_Slonski](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Stan\_Slonski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Slonski)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379/1 "2010-11-12T01:42:56Z")

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What are the numbers on copyright pages of books, such as 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1, for?

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**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379/2 "2010-11-12T01:53:47Z")

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The represent different print runs of the same edition. For each run, a number is removed.

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**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379/3 "2010-11-12T02:49:05Z")

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Lots of useful info about print runs and editions [here](http://www.booklibris.com/BLFirstEditionID.htm), including the answer to your question. Derleth is correct.

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379/4 "2010-11-12T04:30:37Z")

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It’s pretty much a leftover from the days of hot type. The plates were expensive to redo for each edition, so instead of saying “First Edition,” the resetting the type for the second edition, you put the numbers.

Now, for the second edition, you’d scrape off the number 1 from the plates. No need to reset type and it could be done in a few minutes with a knife. It would now read “10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2”

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**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\
**Post date:** [November 12, 2010, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/book-copyright-pages/560379/5 "2010-11-12T04:47:55Z")

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RealityChuck, if you replaced the word “edition” with “print run” you’d be correct.

They remove a number when they do a new print run of the same edition. A new edition meant new plates, and they’d start back at 1 with the print run numbers.