Does anyone know when ISBN's came into being or when they started listing them on or in the books? I've gotten caught up in the Shelfari craze with some of my fellow AWers, which isn't that bad of a thing. I've been meaning to make some type of electronic list or database of all my books for ages. Mostly, I've been using the ISBN to enter the books I own into Shelfari's system, but I've noticed a few books I own don't have that information anywhere. Invariably, they are older books published and printed in the 1960's or earlier.
In more modern books, the ISBN is listed near the barcode. In books that pre-date barcodes, I'm finding the ISBN either somewhere on the cover or on the inside page with all the copyright and publisher information on it, but there have been at least two so far that I have not been able to find an ISBN on the book at all.
In more modern books, the ISBN is listed near the barcode. In books that pre-date barcodes, I'm finding the ISBN either somewhere on the cover or on the inside page with all the copyright and publisher information on it, but there have been at least two so far that I have not been able to find an ISBN on the book at all.