The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) was introduced in 1970 to provide a unique identifier for books. At the time, ISBNs consisted of 10 digits. The basic structure of the ISBN has remained the same over the years, although some changes have been made to accommodate the growing number of books being published.
We are used to searching by ISBN as the easiest way to find book data. However, ISBN is a relatively new book identification method, widely adopted in the 1970s.
When Johannes Gutenberg produced the first printed book in the fifteenth century, he probably wasn’t too concerned about book identification – his printed books never carried even his name or publishing date. That wasn’t a big deal because the book industry was in its infancy, and few books were published back in the day.
Voracious readers know that every book has one thing in common. No matter what genre, length, publisher, or art that adorns its cover, every book has an ISBN. That is, provided it was printed after 1970.
You’ve likely noticed a barcode with a serial number on the back of the book you’re reading. It’s easy to think that this is just for the cashier at your local bookstore to swipe, but it’s so much more than that—it’s an ISBN!
Penguin Random House and Simon & Schuster were about to shrink the “Big Five” of publishing to the “Big Four”. However, the US Department of Justice had an objection to those plans. As is sometimes the way with government agencies, the objection turned into the merger being blocked.