Enter an ISBN number to find a book. This tool can also help you validate an ISBN number, fix an incorrect or partial ISBN, or convert between ISBN-10 and ISBN-13.
The ISBN is a unique serial number for a book. It's usually printed next to the barcode at the back of the book, and on the copyright page.
Each edition of a book has its own ISBN number. For example, hardcover and paperback versions of a book will have different ISBN numbers.
The ISBN can have 10 digits (ISBN-10) or 13 digits (ISBN-13). In an ISBN-10, the last digit can be the letter X. ISBN-10 is an older format, which can be converted to an ISBN-13.
Most modern books do, but since ISBN numbers have been introduced in the 70s, books older than this period will not have an ISBN number. If they are re-printed nowadays, though, the new edition will be assigned an ISBN number.
Note that some e-books do not have an ISBN number. In theory, each edition of an e-book for each reading platform should have its own ISBN number, but some publishers decide not to attribute ISBN numbers to their e-books.
Each ISBN-13 number starts with a prefix that indicates which group it belongs to. There are groups for specific countries and languages. For prefixes starting with 978, the part after the dash is a valid prefix for ISBN-10 as well.
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