A volume is a physical book
A book is a medium for recording information in the form of writing or images, typically composed of many pages (made of papyrus, parchment, vellum, or paper) bound together and protected by a cover. The technical term for this phys ...
. It may be printed or handwritten
Handwriting is the writing done with a writing instrument, such as a pen or pencil, in the hand. Handwriting includes both printing and cursive styles and is separate from formal calligraphy or typeface. Because each person's handwriting is u ...
. The term is commonly used to identify a single book that is part of a larger collection. Volumes are typically identified sequentially with Roman or Arabic numerals, e.g. "volume 3" or "volume III", commonly abbreviated to "Vol.".
Volumes may be published directly, or they may be created out of multiple bound issues. For instance, a library that subscribes to a periodical and wishes to preserve it typically takes a set of the issues and has them bound into a volume. A publisher
Publishing is the activity of making information, literature, music, software and other content available to the public for sale or for free. Traditionally, the term refers to the creation and distribution of printed works, such as books, newsp ...
may also separately publish a volume out of previously published issues; this is common with graphic novels. A volume may also be composed of entries, as in an encyclopedia, or chapters, as in a monograph
A monograph is a specialist work of writing (in contrast to reference works) or exhibition on a single subject or an aspect of a subject, often by a single author or artist, and usually on a scholarly subject.
In library cataloging, ''monograph ...
.
The term is also used as an identifier for a sequence of periodicals. This is generally based on a single calendar year, but not always. For instance, a school magazine might start each new volume at the beginning of the academic year or at the beginning of each term/semester. Likewise, a journal may start new volumes for each anniversary after its original inception. Thus, all issues published in the ''N''th term or year will be classified under the ''N''th volume. The original function of labelling issues with a volume at publication time was to provide a standard way for libraries to later bind the issues into a physical volume.
Examples
* Das Kapital, Volume I *Das Kapital, Volume II
''Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume II: The Process of Circulation of Capital'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie Zweiter Band. Buch II: Der Cirkulationsprocess des Kapitals) is the second of three volumes of ' ...
* Das Kapital, Volume III
Part
A part (commonly abbreviated to "Pt.") can be a special sub-division of a volume or it can be the highest level division of a journal. Parts are often designated with letters or names, e.g. "B", "Supplement".See also
*Magazine
A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinat ...
* Journalism
Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree. The word, a noun, applies to the occupation (pro ...
* Book series
* Collection
* Number
A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The original examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers ...
* Issue
References
{{library-stub Book terminology Books by type Bibliography