Can anyone shed some light on the 'mystery of the books' for me?
Why is it that the number of pages quoted for a book are never, or at least rarely ever correct? It does not matter if I get the info. directly from the publisher's website, from a retailer or some other reseller, the number of pages listed most often does not match those in the book that arrives. Generally there are fewer.
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| Seven wonderful titles, all memoirs. They are great to read, aren't they? |
I recently took delivery of seven marvellous titles that had been discounted. All of them are memoirs; a form that I really like reading. It's fabulous how so many are now available to the 'average punter' and how many more are being made available and often translated into English too.
Anyway, of the seven, only one had the same number of pages as I had recorded (in this case from the publisher). I put the details of any books that I order into my Endnote library (aka database) and then check them once the books arrive. It amazes me how frequently, i.e. nearly always, I need to adjust the number of pages.
Why is this so?!!
That is something I have never noticed James. Perhaps the number of pages quoted is from a first edition and the formatting has subsequently changed, thus altering the number of pages?
ReplyDeleteI too thoroughly enjoy reading memoirs, although some can be a little dry depending on the author. I always smile when I remember Ridley Scott's 'were you there?' defence of his Napoleon movie and wish his interviewer had responded 'no, but millions were and many of them wrote memoirs'.
My first thought was the same as Lawrence, that the number of pages may be quoted from a particular edition and you got a different one.
ReplyDeleteIt might also be that the number includes contents page, foreword, index etc. which are sometimes not numbered or (especially forewords) are numbeted in Roman numerals.
Just guessing really!
Are there page differences between hardback vs. paperback? Anyway, a nice haul of books to read.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for your comments. It's obviously not something that any of you have noticed?
ReplyDeleteI don't think that it is anything to do with editions or formats (I buy the hardback whenever I can) and the 'extra' pages are not accounted for by some 'absolute' total including endpapers, preface and such. For example, one listed as 224 pages but actually having 181 only has 14 more. Perhaps it's related to estimates pre-publication versus the final article?
It's no kinda 'problem', more something that amuses (and to some degree astounds) me. Particularly when it is an error that is repeated all over the place. No one seems to bother to list the correct count. Check it out next time you get a book and you'll see what I mean!
Thanks Matt!
ReplyDeleteNever counted pages to be honest but I agree about the memoirs, a chum got me a book for my birthday, she checked with my wife who said ,as long as its the most boring book in the world that you would literally never read Iain will like it, she got me a really nice memoir of 1812!
ReplyDeleteBest Iain
That's brilliant. A wonderful morning laugh, thanks Iain.
DeleteSeems I'm the only anal-retentive page-counter in the 'village'...