How can I indicate an edition or printing?

I see a field for the "publication date".
How can I enter the edition?

We might have a work published 1960 under a given ISBN number,
then reprinted under a different number,
then reprinted again under the same number, but a different cover art.

Can Library Thing keep track of editions?
Can Library Thing keep track of different cover art, depending on the edition?

Book: Random
Published: 1960
Printing: Third

Book: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE
Author: J.K. Rowling.
Edition: First American Edition
Number Line: 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

I enter it in the "Publication" field which is free text, but does seem to be searchable.

Yep - the publication field is the best place for it. I have my own template for the field for the books I care for that kind of information.

>1 brycenesbitt: Technically, all those books suggested -- are the same work. Unless they had major interior text changes (like scholastic or scientific books tend to between editions) they all lump into the same Work. Each book in your library will remain unique, but they'll all combine into one.

Beyond that, there is an edition within the system, but it is based on Title, Author, and ISBN. So if you have two unique ISBNs then you'll have two unique "editions" within the Work.

That being said, if you are looking at the Publisher's definition of Edition, the best way to note that is as >2 housefulofpaper: and >3 AnnieMod: have said -- a note within the Publication field.

So as a quick review of LT terms:
Book - Each Individual's data as entered into their catalogue.
Work - The combination of all the like books into a single collective to allow the recommendation and suggestion algorithms to run.
Edition - The unique combination of Title, Author, and ISBN within a work.

If you care about the cover art do NOT use Amazon covers. If Amazon changes the cover for the ISBN, your cover will change.

Here's an example
https://www.librarything.com/work/88642/book/197943056
ISBN 1258004488

"Buddhist Meditation" by Edward Conze.
The system has this work under ISBN 1258004488

A member has uploaded the right cover.
My actual copy reads:

Third Impression 1968
George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1956
SBN 04 294008 7
Printed in Great Brittan

How do I represent all that? So clearly it's the same work, but a different edition.

I would remove the ISBN, as that does not refer to your edition. I would include the publisher in the publication field, along with whatever you consider important. Normally the publication date field is for the date of your copy, but you are free to use it however you wish.

Or for example:
Yampolsky "The Platform Sutra of the sixth patriarch"

Which comes up four times, but none in my edition:

Copyright (C) 1967 Columbia University Press
LCN 67-11847

How should I record this book? Or put another way should I enter it by scratch,
or start with one of the more modern editions, then edit from there?

Or another one. By title I get:
ISBN 8120811062 Columbia Univ Pr (1982), Edition: 1, 202 pages
My actual copy is:
ISBN 0231046049 1979 Columbia

=======================================
Or from Amazon:

Essence Of Dogen by Takahashi
Routledge (2013), Edition: 1, 100 pages
Paperback, ISBN 0415865239

But I have
Essence Of Dogen by Takahashi
ISBN 0 7103 0046 8 (USA)
Kegan Paul International
LCN 82-21324
First published in 1983
========================================

How should I catalog these?

Search by ISBN and try difference sources (Overcat will have a lot of the older books; different libraries may have others). Then update whichever fields you want to be different.

Alternatively if no source can find it, just add it manually.

>8 brycenesbitt: if you use overcat, your edition comes up second on the list.

>1 brycenesbitt: BTW ISBNs started in the 70s, so a book from 1960 will not have an ISBN.

Another example that's confusing me what to do.
https://www.librarything.com/work/443758/book/197945026
Which comes up under the ISBN 0-8348-0137-X as a first edition 1979, but my copy same publisher is 1979.

Can I "correct this" or just override it for my book?

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Ok, so bottom line:

0) Is there any use in entering the LCN (Library of Congress Catalog Number)?

1) Is there a way I can link two unique ISBN's, to indicate they refer to the same work?
Does that apply to SBN's and older formats of book numbers?

2) If I have a different ISBN from the one Library Thing finds, should I
2a) Enter a book manually
2b) Select the closest match and update the non-matching fields?

You probably need to go to the copyright page of your physical book if you want the actual printing of your particular edition, and then enter that data manually.

I believe Librarything would like that actual year for publication of your edition in the "publication date" field. The original date of printing of your edition and the impression/printing of your copy can be recorded in the "publication" field. Original publication date of the work - e.g. "1851" for Bleak House can go in "Common Knowledge", if it's not already there.

>13 brycenesbitt:

Just my opinion, but

0) if it's useful to you
1) The site should do that, whether you can access it in a way useful to you, sorry I don't know.
2)a) 2)b) - personal choice. A bit off topic, but I always try to enter DVD/VBlu-ray data from an external source because putting in cast and crew data is a pain. If the books physical data is important to you, then obviously dimensions, weight, page numbers from another edition will be incorrect for your book.

>13 brycenesbitt:

1) If a work has been published more than once with different ISBNs, then they will usually first show in LT as separate works (perhaps as suggested combinations). They will need to be combined. If you look at a classic, such as Tom Sawyer, this will have happened many times. The work page says "ISBNs 1602 associated ISBNs". This isn't done by way of the ISBNs, but all the various ISBNs associated with the work are there.

>13 brycenesbitt: Answers to questions:

0) If you feel like it. Not required.

1) If the work already has the same ISBN linked, it will do all the work for you. Don't overthink it. If the ISBN (or lack thereof) doesn't already exist in the work, it should be just a little work to combine them into the same work.

2) The sources are just your starting point when bringing data in. It may match your work perfectly. It may not. Once you add it, you can edit that record to match your book. OR you can chose to forego the sources and add it manually. Overcat has a lot of the previous searches done with Libraries so you might find things there closer to your desired details. Librarything itself is NOT a source, so finding it in someone else's catalogue might only give you an idea of what source they used to add it.

Just to add to the discussion: Publishing companys can be bought and sold and closed and live on as "imprints" under the new owner, change their names, have one name on the front of the book and a variation of the same name inside, be catalogued as Jespersen & Pio, Jespersen og Pio, Jespersen & Pios Forlag, etc. So consider what you want to use the information for :-)