Lit Legends Banner, Amazon, ISBNs

I got an Amazon gift card and of course my first thought was adding to my Star Wars book collection. Now, the thing is, I'm trying to avoid books that have the "Legends" banner on them.

I don't know if I can trust the pictures on the website. Take, for example, the Amazon listing for I, Jedi. In the picture, the book has the Legends banner. But when you go down to the ISBN, it says, 0553578731, which corresponds to the June 1999 Bantam printing, i.e., no Legends banner.

So, from this I can only draw three conclusions:
1. The image is wrong
2. The ISBN is wrong
3. Both the image and ISBN are correct and they're using the same ISBN for a different printing.

I don't know what to think. Help!

 

Three seems possible. I think Amazon uses the image for a more recent printing which you would receive if you bought it new from them. The date though would likely still correspond with the original printing. When it comes to individual listings the image may be less important. To get it with out a Legends banner you'll have to buy it used, but the used copies won't have a picture. My guess is most used ones would be pre Legends, but I don't know. I think it could be hard to avoid.

 

You could always ask the seller if you're buying it used. I'm sure many would be happy to tell you.

 

I'm in the same boat as you with collecting Legends free covers.

ISBNs stay pretty much the same across multiple printings in the same format (hardcover/paperback). If you're trying to order a new copy, it's a good likelihood that it'll have the banner on it. Going used will give you a better shot at finding the banner-free ones, but definitely reach out to the seller first.

 

From my experience get in touch with the seller,i have been burned a couple of times by not asking.
The pic on the site was of the original cover,only to receive the updated legends book in the end.

 

I've been trying fill the gaps in my collection with non-Legends covers, but it's tough to find them in decent condition at this point! It's a little exhausting.

 

How annoying. This is why I usually buy my books from ebay from people that post like 10 pictures. The thing is, I'm sure if the Amazon warehouses had Bantam SW books before the Purge then they're still there, completely unused, just waiting to be purchased!


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If this was important to me I'd just stick to hunting brick-and-mortars--they can have old stock of stuff for years.

 

Crucible, Honor Among Thieves, Kenobi, Maul Lockdown etc. (could be wrong on some of them though) all have the Legends banner on the paperback. Hardback doesn't.
Not happy about that but not sweating it too much.

 

Yeah, the banner is unavoidable on the last few paperback releases.

 

I was wondering the same thing, glad there's a thread.

I was hoping to complete my collection without the Legends banner (in retrospect of the 2014 EU nuke, getting everything in Kindle format since 2010 was a bad idea), so I'm irked by this as well. Scoundrels without the old ISBN and no banner on the amazon picture arrived with the pesky banner. My flatmate had the same problem with Hand of Thrawn.
After some digging, I found that other retail sites like AbeBooks are more reliable: they had listings for Scoundrels with and without the banner, same price. I ordered it and got a sweet untarnished bannerless book. That's probably the remains of the first printing though. So grab it before its gone.

 

So just to codify most of what has been said here.

1) The SAME isbn is used for the Legends banner version of a title.

So, the original paperback of the Heir to the Empire that you could have purchased back in 1992 has the same ISBN as the Legends banner edition. The new Heir to the Empire paperback we released last fall, with a new cover...STILL the same ISBN. ​

​

ISBNs are sort of like the social security number of a book, and are used for all sorts of things related to inventory, sales data, customer reviews online, database tracking, etc. So, keeping the same ISBN is important, and a simple cover update would usually never trigger that (exceptions, of course, exist).​

​

2) The covers on retail sites do get updated (or should be) along with the Legends banner reprint, though sometimes for whatever reason that doesn't go through.

3) Different editions of the same book DO have different ISBNs. So, if you've ever purchased on of our editions that comes with an exclusive poster (like from B&N) or one of the "signed editions" you can buy from bookstores like BAM. Those books do have a different isbn from the "regular" edition.

***I should note that as of now, only a handful of books (don't have the exact number but I think it's less than 15) have NOT been given a Legends banner. So, you can probably err on the side of "this will have the Legends" banner when ordering from an online retailer. I would guess that by the end of 2017, all of them will (maybe not, I'm just guessing. But, likely)***

 

To my knowledge, there are 5 paperback novels that were never released WITHOUT the Legends banner: Crucible, Kenobi, Empire and Rebellion: Razor's Edge, Maul: Lockdown, and Honor Among Thieves.

Which ones?! Is this just because there hasn't been a re-printing of these books since the continuity change?

 

From my experience, the one I constantly see at B&N without a legends banner is Knight Errant. I assume the books that sell fewer copies and don't get reprinted often are the ones you'll find most commonly without the banner.

 

Not sure as to all 15ish, but at least a month ago, you'd get a bannerless Darth Plagueis, on the shelves as well as ordered online.


Update: Try and look for the UK versions, e.g. published by Cornerstone. They didn't get as many printings as the Del Rey editions, so many till do not have the banner.
Examples: Dawn of the Jedi: Into the void US and UK.

 

For those in the London (UK) area, you could try Forbidden Planet to see if they have any older editions in stock without the Legends label.