print run

English

Noun

print run (plural print runs)

1. The total number of copies (of a book edition) printed as one batch on the printing press (that is, from one setup on the press).

   Synonym: printing

   If the first print run sells out, a second print run will be ordered. Some books even have dozens of print runs.

   • 2022 February 23, Barry Doe, “Liverpool & Manchester Atlas is excellent value”, in RAIL, number 951, page 60:

     In the meantime, I have an opportunity of extolling the virtues of his Liverpool & Manchester Railway Atlas, which appeared last year and has already had its second print-run.

2. The total number of copies (of a book edition or a newspaper edition) ever printed.
   • 2018, James Lambert, “Setting the Record Straight: An In-depth Examination of Hobson-Jobson”, in International Journal of Lexicography, volume 31, number 4, →DOI, page 488:

     The first edition had a print run of 1000 copies and sold for 36 shillings.

Usage notes

The advent of print on demand technology has in some cases replaced the earlier paradigm of (size and count of) print runs in book publishing; a book that might have had four runs of 5,000 copies each might now have hundreds of instances of smaller-batch printing on demand.

Translations

Translations

• Finnish: painosmäärä (fi)
• French: please add this translation if you can
• Polish: nakład (pl) m

References

• “print run”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.