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 physical ...

. It may be printed or handwritten. The term is commonly used to identify a single book that is part of a larger collection. Volumes are typically identified sequentially with

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

Arabic numerals Arabic numerals are the ten numerical digits: , , , , , , , , and . They are the most commonly used symbols to write decimal numbers. They are also used for writing numbers in other systems such as octal, and for writing identifiers such a ...

, 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 novel A graphic novel is a long-form, fictional work of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comic scholars and industry ...

s. A volume may also be composed of entries, as in an

encyclopedia An encyclopedia (American English) or encyclopædia (British English) is a reference work or compendium providing summaries of knowledge either general or special to a particular field or discipline. Encyclopedias are divided into articles ...

, 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, ''monogra ...

. 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 *

Das Kapital, Volume III ''Capital. A Critique of Political Economy. Volume III: The Process of Capitalist Production as a Whole'' (german: Das Kapital. Kritik der politischen Ökonomie Dritter Band. Buch III: Der Gesammtprocess Der Kapitalistischen Produktion), is the ...

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".

References

{{library-stub Book terminology Books by type Bibliography

Examples

Part

See also

References