Quick-Search: Our quick-search facility, located on AbeBooks.co.uk, allows you to search for books by simply entering either the author, title, keyword and/or the ISBN.
Advanced Search: AbeBooks offers an advanced search feature to help you find the book you are looking for by allowing you to enter more detailed information. Please note that entering too much search information at one time may return fewer or no results. It is therefore recommended that you build your search slowly, adding or changing the criteria as you go.
To use the Advanced Search:
1. Click [Advanced Search] in the red banner at the top of the page
2. Enter the search criteria you want to use and click [Find Book]
3. To do a second search with different criteria, click [More Search Options]
If the list of books in a category is large, you can narrow the search results by using search attributes or you can view our searching tips by clicking [More Search Options].
Search Criteria: The information you enter in the various search fields will help you narrow your search.
Search Preferences: You are able to adjust your search preferences for your Advanced Search page when you are signed on to your AbeBooks account. You can adjust the following:
· Turn on/off Boolean Searches
· Select which country you wish to purchase your books from
· Choose how to sort the results
· Adjust how many results are displayed on each page
Boolean Searching: Boolean searches use operators to perform more specific queries. Using “and”, “or”, and “not” allows you to refine the search by adding or removing specific terms. To turn on the Boolean search select [On] next to Boolean Search in the advanced search box.
Examples of Boolean Searching:
1. Query: I am looking for books about war.
Boolean logic: OR
Keyword search: war or military
2. Query: I am looking for a book about cats and painting.
Boolean logic: AND
Keyword search: cats and painting
3. Query: I'm looking for books by the author King, but not Stephen King.
Boolean logic: NOT
Author search: King not Stephen
Searching the Books of a Specific Bookseller Occasionally, you may wish to purchase books from a specific bookseller or from booksellers in a specific location. There are several ways you can search for a bookseller: - Click [Booksellers] in the red banner at the top of the page a. If you know the bookshop’s name, simply click the letter that their name begins with. Or b. In the Name field type a portion of or the full bookshop’s name and click [Search]. Or c. Select a Country from the drop-down menu and, if desired, further refine your search by selecting a Location from the drop-down list and click [Search]. Once you have found a bookseller whose inventory you would like to search, click [Search their Books] or [Browse their Books]. Potential Search Terms Errors: The Bookstore Search will accept hyphens, -, or a pipe delimiters, |, between search terms. However, if either is used with no following term, you will receive an error message. For example: Bob Smith - Books is an acceptable search query. Bob Smith - will return an error message. Bob Smith | Books is an acceptable search query. Bob Smith | will return an error message.
AbeBooks Search Tip:
When searching on AbeBooks you may find International Editions. These books are printed outside of the USA and are referred to as "International Editions" or "Low price editions". The content is the same as the normal editions; however, the quality of the book may be lower. If you would like more information about a book, you can contact the bookseller from the search results by clicking [Ask Bookseller a Question].
View the AbeBooks Glossary for other terms used to describe books.
