Kant find a book in full view?

Wednesday, April 09, 2008 at 10:49 AM

Posted by Katharine Lu, Book Search Support Team

Having trouble finding a full view version of Hamlet or Pamela? Do you suspect that an old book listed as limited preview may actually be in the public domain? Nicola, a reader from Chicago, had the same feeling when searching for a full view copy of Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment in Google Book Search:

I am at it again, trying to find “Critique of Judgment." Now, some 200 years later, it must be well in the public domain, however, I find that someone republished it, and therefore there is no public copy on Google Book Search. I have found this with a lot of old titles; that someone reprints it, and then the full view copy disappears... Help!

Books can go through many editions, but we still strive to make books as accessible as we can for readers. In cases like these, it’s easy to search for other, full view editions of a book in Google Book Search.

One simple way is to check out the ‘More Editions’ link, which is located under book listings on the search results page.


After clicking on this link, you'll be directed to another results page that lists more editions of the same book in our index. Like all Google Book Search results pages, you can restrict the results to only display books in full view. Sure enough, there's a version of the third Critique that's fully browsable.

You can also search for full view books using the Advanced Book Search option, which you'll find to the right of the Google Book Search query box. Make sure to select “Full view only” under the ‘Search’ section.

So next time you need to compare or locate other editions of an older book like the Critique of Judgment, simply click on the ‘More editions’ link and explore its various incarnations.