# Magic Numbers?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-numbers/38527>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 27, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-numbers/38527 "2000-10-27T01:40:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![mechmage](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4bbf92/32.png) [@mechmage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mechmage)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-numbers/38527/1 "2000-10-27T01:40:25Z")

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I have noticed that on the copyright pages of many books, there are sets  
of  
numbers, usually 1-10 in different orders, such as 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1.  
What  
do these numbers mean

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**Author:** ![Greg\_Charles](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@Greg\_Charles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greg_Charles)\
**Post date:** [October 27, 2000, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/magic-numbers/38527/2 "2000-10-27T01:42:27Z")

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They’re the printing number of that copy of the book. Usually they go in ascending order, so if you see 1 2 3 4 5 6 7, you have a first printing. If you see 2 3 4 5 6 7, that’s a second printing.