Revised multi volume publication

I am trying to prepare a template that will cover the situation of revised editions and/or multi volumes.

The basic format for a published book is:

Author, role, Book Title (Pub Location: Publisher, Year), page.

and for multiple volumes, EEv3, 12.69, p. 705 guides us to include the total number of volumes immediately after the Title:

Author, role, Book Title, X volumes (Pub Location: Publisher, Year), page.

and for a revised edition, EEv3, QCM, p. 651, shows the edition data should be placed immediately after the Title:

Author, role, Book Title, 3rd ed. (Pub Location: Publisher, Year), page.

So if I am citing a revised edition of a multi volume book, I am trying to determine which comes first.  Placing the revision before the volume reads better to me, but I would like to confirm if is should it be

Book Title, 3rd. ed., X volumes or Book Title, X Volumes, 3rd. ed.

And then of course there is the possibility of a situation where only one volume of the multi-volume set is revised.:)

Submitted byEEon Sun, 01/15/2023 - 11:31

cwhermann28, you asked:

So if I am citing a revised edition of a multi volume book, I am trying to determine which comes first.  Placing the revision before the volume reads better to me.

Good question!  If we say:

Book Title, rev ed., 8 vols. (Pub Location: Publisher, Year), page

then we are saying that the entire set was revised, with the result being 8 vols, but then we also need to put the specific volume number before the page number or else readers (or we, ourselves, at a later date) won't know which of the eight volumes has the relevant info:

Book Title, rev ed., 8 vols. (Pub Location: Publisher, Year), vol: page

If only one volume was revised, then EE would say:

Book Title, vol. 8, rev ed. (Pub Location: Publisher, Year), page.