Something About Paperback Publishing in the 1980s

Judging a book by its cover.

We shared some comments about paperback prices on our forum a few years ago and thought we'd discuss it up here on the blog, too. Specifically, have you ever noticed the multiple ISBNs associated with the Bantam paperback editions released during the 1980s?  Russ Bernard, a one-time independent book store owner and a Bellairs fan to boot, told us for other titles by other authors he had seen an ISBN change for what is mainly a price change, or conversely, the ISBN stayed the same when the publisher made significant changes.

The Bellairs Corpus titles of Bantam paperbacks with the most number of different ISBNs include:

• The Dark Secret of Weatherend (2 different ISBNs)
• The Treasure of Alpheus Winterborn (2 different ISBNs and two distinct covers)
• The Curse of the Blue Figurine (3 different ISBNs and two different covers)
• The Spell of the Sorcerer's Skull (4 different ISBNs)

The Lamp from the Warlock's Tomb has two different ISBNs as well, but the prices for used copies of each are a bit crazy. For example:

• ISBN #1
• ISBN-10: 0553156977 / ISBN-13: 9780553156973
• Used price: anywhere from $2 to $162.
• ISBN #2
• ISBN-10: 031864066X / ISBN-13: 9780318640662
• Used price: upwards of $40 or $50

One could argue it's the same book – either ISBN will get you a Bantam paperback with Edward Gorey art – but for some reason, one version is rarer than the other. The image above shows it's from ISBN #1.  Does anyone have a copy of version #2 and want to share some scans of the cover and copyright page? Because I'm not buying it.