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Help:ISBN

Many Wikipedia articles have an International Standard Book Number (ISBN) alongside the bibliographical entry for each book. Clicking on the linked 10- or 13-digit number links to WP:Book sources. This shows whether the particular book is listed in a library catalogue, at WorldCat, at Google Books, at major booksellers, or at other websites.

An example of a bibliographical entry as a reference or a suggestion for further reading would look like this:

  • Carr, Edward Hallett (1972). What is History?: The George Macauley Trevelyan Lectures Delivered in the University of Cambridge, January–March 1961. Harmondsworth; Ringwood: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-020652-3.

The ISBN might lack hyphens between the digits, or it might contain spaces between the digits. Either way it should provide the link to WP:Book sources. Note that different editions of the same book may have different ISBNs. Also, books published prior to the 1970s do not have ISBNs, unless subsequently reprinted.