Copyright question.
 

I didn't think this fit in literature, or knowledge either...

I have a book. On the copyright page, about two thirds of the way down, is this line:

"1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2"


Does anyone know why that's there?

I haven't noticed this on all my books, but now I'll have to look.

If anyone happens to work in publishing, I'd love to know. Thanks in advance.

I believe that is the code they use to determine which printing you are currently in.

In this case, it's the first printing because the one is still present.

When it goes to the second, the one will be gone.


I say "I believe" because usually the code is just

"1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10"

I've never seen that pattern before, but I'm fairly certain that's what you're lookin at.

I have no idea what it is for but I recognize the pattern as being:
odds 1-9 then even 10-2, as in an upwards-downwards counting sequence.

Somebody else probably has a better understanding of 'why' though.

How would they code the eleventh printing?

Yeah, the 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2 is rarer, but means the same thing.

http://collectbooks.about.com/librar.../aa061001a.htm has a little more info.

I think the odd sequence, primes, then non-primes, is in homage to the significance prime numbers hold to the book's (The Dark Tower V, Wolves of the Calla) story.

Or, maybe not.


Thanks for the link. That's interesting stuff. One more minor mystery solved.

I'm pretty confident about this, It is the which print the book is on, If the text on the page is margined to the left side of the page then it's 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1. If it's centered in the page it's 1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2. This way instead of having to remake the page they can just white out a number and everything is still centered, If the order was 10-1 and centered, the number would be off center.. get it?

i always though that was the numbers of the times that publisher had printed the book.

Maybe they were making sure their numbers work?

Translate each number to it's letter equivelent, ie 1=A, 2=B, once you have done so you have discovered the name of God.

All these years I've been praying to acegijhfdb have finally paid off! Repent for the end is near!

11 printings of books is a relatively rare occurance ;)

I remember reading about this in one of those nerdy trivia books. In the old days it was easier on the first printing to print 10 - 1 rather than just a 1, because then on the 2nd printing, rather than having to redo the whole master page with a 2 instead of a 1, they just knock the 1 off the old master.

Unless you're talking about college textbooks which have annual reprinting of editions to generate royalties for the author (our professors). Yay!