Looking at amazon.com, most of the copies of William Shirer's Berlin Diary is like over 600 pages and costs $25 paperback, but I bought a copy that is hardback with closer to 480 pages, yet was only $10, did I happen to buy an abridged version, and also I thought hardbacks cost a lot more than paperback?

McGruff

I couldn't find anything with close to 480 pages, neither did I find anything saying "abridged" so I'm afraid this isn't very helpful. Berlin Diary : The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934-1941 by William L. Shirer - 640 pages (1941) Budget Book Service, New York; ISBN: 0883659220 http://www.lunisea.com/blather/?page_id=671 BERLIN DIARY by Shirer, William L Format: Hardcover Book condition: Very Good Jacket condition: No Jacket Alfred A. Knopf, 1941. STATED FIRST EDITION This is a 605 page hardback book. http://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=33448383&src=frg BERLIN DIARY by Shirer, William L Format: Hardcover Book condition: As New New York: Book of the Month Club, Inc., 1987. Black slipcase with a photograph on the front of William Shirer broadcasting from Berlin in 1940. Gray shades on the dust jacket with a muted illustration of the German War. Orange hardback book binding with illustrations of photographs of the author in various places in the world on the endpapers. 627 pages which appear to never have been read. Book and Slipcase in Excellent Condition. Illustrations chosen by Joan paterson Kerr; Introduction by David Halberstam. . Book Club (BCE/BOMC). Hard Cover. As New. http://www.biblio.com/details.php?dcx=62214748&src=frg Berlin Diary Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934 1941 New ed Shirer, William L. Only £19.99 2-4 Weeks Paperback 626 pages | ISBN: 0883659220 19 WHSmith Clubcard Points http://www.whsmith.co.uk/WHS/Go.asp?isbn=0883659220&DB=220&Menu=Books Feb 17 06, 4:07 PM

Baloo55th

Number of pages is often related to print size. You can get a lot more words on a page in 10 point than you can in 12 point. And the leading also affects this (that's the spacing between lines - well, sort of). You may also have bought an earlier edition before a price change. There are also different classes of hardback. Book Club editions are often identical inside to more expensive general sale ones, but have cheaper covers, and are printed for a fairly guaranteed readership, without the risk of having many copies left over. Or you may have got a copy of an edition that had been remaindered. That's left over stock sold off cheaper for some reason. They often have a crayon mark on the edge, or some other way of identifying them. This is a book I've never heard of, but it doesn't sound like one that would be published in an abridged edition. Those are mostly of otherwise unreadable things that are regarded as classics, or that need shortening to make them acceptable for a junior readership. Apart from all which, you don't say whether you bought a new copy or a second-hand one. (I don't think WH Smith Clubcards are valid in the USA, by the way!) Feb 17 06, 4:21 PM

McGruff

(I don't think WH Smith Clubcards are valid in the USA, by the way!) I was looking solely for descriptions that listed the number of pages. I found 640, 605, 627 and 626. Feb 17 06, 6:10 PM

pjotr

The copy I have says "This Common Reader Classic Bestseller edition is published by Tess Press, an Imprint of Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, Inc., in association with A Common Reader." Feb 19 06, 9:39 AM

Baloo55th

In that case it sounds like a republished cheaper edition. Yes, it is - http://www.campusi.com/ta_Berlin_Diary_by_Shirer.htm - and it should have 512 pages and its cover price is $9.99. The Johns Hopkins University edition is paperback and $25. There are many editions - this may be one of those scanned text ones that they do from old editions. Feb 19 06, 11:36 AM

pjotr

Yes, I find it amazing how prices differ so drastically for basically the same thing. In this case, paying half as much for something that should cost twice as much. Feb 19 06, 10:48 PM