Editing Edition (book) (section)

===Bibliographical definition===
The classic explanation of edition was given by [[Fredson Bowers]] in ''Principles of Bibliographical Description'' (1949). Bowers wrote that an edition is "the whole number of copies printed at any time or times from substantially the same setting of type-pages," including "all issues and variant states existing within its basic type-setting, as well as all impressions."

Publishers often use the same typesetting for the [[hardcover]] and [[Paperback#Trade paperback|trade paperback]] versions of a book. These books have different covers, the [[title page]] and copyright page may differ, and the page margin sizes may differ (same ''type area'', smaller ''trim''), but to a bibliographer they are the same edition.

From time to time, readers may observe an error in the text (or, in the days of metal type, a piece of broken type), and report these to the publisher. The publisher typically keeps these "reprint corrections" in a file pending demand for a new print run of the edition, and before the new run is printed, they will be entered.

The method of entry depends on the method of typesetting. For [[Letterpress printing|letterpress metal]], it typically meant resetting a few characters or a line or two. For [[Linotype machine|linotype]], it meant casting a new line for any line with a change in it. With film, it involved cutting out a bit of the film and inserting a new bit. In an electronic file, it means entering the changes digitally.

Such minor changes do not constitute a new edition, but introduce typographical variations within an edition, which are of interest to collectors.