How to Cite a Book in Chicago/Turabian
Book citations in Chicago style contain the author name, book title, publication city, publisher, and publication year. This guide will show you how to create a citation for a book in notes-bibliography style using the 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style.
Guide Overview
- Citing a book in print
- Citing an edited book
- Citing a translated book
- Citing an edition other than the first edition
- Citing a multivolume book
- Citing an audiobook
- Citing a book with multiple authors
- Citing a book with no author
- What you need
For more information on citing books in Chicago style, see these guides on how to cite a chapter, how to cite an e-book, how to cite the Bible, how to cite an encyclopedia, and how to cite a dictionary.
Citing a Book in Print
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. First name Last name, Book Title (City: Publisher, Year Published), page number.
Bibliography:
Last name, First name. Book Title. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Henry James, The Ambassadors (Rockville, MD: Serenity Publishers, 2009), 18.
Bibliography:
James, Henry. The Ambassadors. Rockville, MD: Serenity Publishers, 2009.
Citing an Edited Book
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. First name Last name, ed., Book Title (City: Publisher, Year Published), page number.
Bibliography:
Last name, First name, ed. Book Title. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Hideaki Suzuki, ed., Abolitions as a Global Experience (Singapore: NUS Press, 2016), 46.
Bibliography:
Suzuki, Hideaki, ed. Abolitions as a Global Experience. Singapore: NUS Press, 2016.
Citing a Translated Book
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. Author First name Last name, Book Title, trans. Translator First name Last name (City: Publisher, Year Published), page number.
Bibliography:
Author Last name, First name. Book Title. Translated by Translator First name Last name. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina, trans. Rosamund Bartlett (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 122.
Bibliography:
Tolstoy, Leo. Anna Karenina. Translated by Rosamund Bartlett. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017.
Citing an Edition Other than the First Edition
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. First name Last name, Book Title, # ed. (City: Publisher, Year Published), page number.
Bibliography:
Last name, First name. Book Title. # ed. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Emma Howard, ed., Coins of England and the United Kingdom 2020: Decimal Issues, 6th ed. (London: Spink Books, 2019), 67.
Bibliography:
Howard, Emma, ed. Coins of England and the United Kingdom 2020: Decimal Issues. 6th ed. London: Spink Books, 2019.
Citing a Multivolume Book
One common way to cite a multivolume work in Chicago style is to cite the specific volume within the note, and the multivolume book as a whole in the bibliography. However, if you only use one specific volume of a multivolume book, you can specify the volume in the bibliography entry as well (instead of “2 vols.” you would format this as “Vol. 2”).
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. First name Last name, Book Title (City: Publisher, Year Published), volume number:page number.
Bibliography:
Last name, First name. Book Title. # vols. City: Publisher, Year Published.
OR
Last name, First name. Book Title. Vol. #. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Edwin Curley, ed., The Collected Works of Spinoza (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016) 2:37.
Bibliography:
Curley, Edwin, ed. The Collected Works of Spinoza. 2 vols. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
OR
Curley, Edwin, ed. The Collected Works of Spinoza. Vol. 2. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2016.
Citing an Audiobook
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. First name Last name, Book Title, read by First name Last name (City: Publisher, Year Published), format, # hr., # min.
Bibliography:
Last name, First name. Book Title. Read by First name Last name. City: Publisher, Year Published. Format, # hr., # min.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Greene, Robert. 48 Laws of Power. Read by Richard Poe. Prince Frederick, MD: HighBridge Audio, 2015. Audible audio ed., 23 hr., 6 min.
Bibliography:
Greene, Robert. 48 Laws of Power. Read by Richard Poe. Prince Frederick, MD: HighBridge Audio, 2015. Audible audio ed., 23 hr., 6 min.
Citing a Book with Multiple Authors
When citing a book with multiple authors in Chicago Style, the first name in the bibliography entry should be formatted as “last name, first name” and every subsequent name should be formatted as “first name last name”. In the note, all names should follow the format “first name last name”. If there are up to three author or editor names, include all names in the note and the bibliography entry. If the book you are citing has four or more authors or editors, list up to ten names in the bibliography and only the first name followed by “et al.” in the note. If there are more than ten authors or editors (which will rarely be the case for most books), only the first seven should be included in the bibliography entry followed by the phrase “et al.” and the note should still contain just the first name followed by “et al.”.
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. First Author First name Last name et al., Book Title (City: Publisher, Year Published), page number.
Bibliography:
First Author Last name, First name, Second Author First name Last name (continue as needed). Book Title. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. David H. Snyder et al., Amphibians and Reptiles of Land Between the Lakes (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016), 12.
Bibliography:
Snyder, David H., A. Floyd Scott, Edmund J. Zimmerer, and David F. Frymire. Amphibians and Reptiles of Land Between the Lakes. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2016.
Citing a Book with No Author
If you need to cite a book that has no author/an unknown author, first double check that the book doesn’t instead have an editor and/or translator. If it does, follow the appropriate format listed above. If no author/editor/translator can be identified, begin the citation with the title of the book.
Citation Structure:
Note:
1. Book Title (City: Publisher, Year Published), page number.
Bibliography:
Book Title. City: Publisher, Year Published.
Citation Example:
Note:
1. Diary of an Oxygen Thief (self-pub., 2006), 13.
Bibliography:
Diary of an Oxygen Thief. Self-published, 2006.
What You Need
A citation for an book usually includes the following:
- Author name
- Title
- Volume or edition information
- City of publication
- Publisher name
- Publication year
- Page number (in note only)
