Below you will find a list of the most common types of book citations in the Chicago Manual of Style according to the Author-Date System and the Notes-Bibliography (NB) System. The common elements of all book citations are the author name(s), the book’s title, the publisher, the year of publication, and the page numbers. Variations are built on the basic model to include other contributors (such as translators or editors), collections of works, and unknown authorship.

General Model for Citing Books in the Chicago Notes and Bibliography System

FOOTNOTE OR ENDNOTE:

CORRESPONDING BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Book by one Author  

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Book by Multiple Authors

Two or more authors should be listed in the order they appear as authors, and not necessarily alphabetically. 

In notes, up to two authors may be listed. If there are more than two authors, list only the first, followed by “et al.” In bibliographies, list up to six authors. If there are more than six, list only the first three followed by “et al.”

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Translated Work With One Author

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Book With Author and Editor

In notes, CMOS prefers the abbreviation of “editor(s)” as “ed.” or “eds.,” and translator(s) as “trans.” In bibliographic entries, these abbreviations are not used. Instead, titles are spelled out in full. This information appears in The Chicago Manual of Style, section 14.103.

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Chapter From a Single-Authored Book

CMOS supplies two correct forms for bibliographic entries. Both are noted here.

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Or, in some cases, you may want to emphasize the entire collection in the bibliographic entry.

Contributions From an Edited Collection With Various Authored Chapters

When citing work by a single author that appears in a book with multiple authors, the contributing author’s name is cited first, followed by the title of their contribution, the word 'in' and the title of the book, along with the name(s) of the editors, and other standard information.

The page range for a cited chapter in an edited book is no longer required in a bibliography or reference list entry (though a page range is still required for most journal articles). 

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Introduction, Preface, or Afterword in a Book

Unlike other citations for books, bibliographic entries of this kind include the page number range for the part cited. 

NOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY:

Anonymous Works-Unknown Authorship

Books published by the author should be cited according to information available on the title page or copyright page. In place of publisher, include language such as “published by the author” (abbreviated as “pub. by author” in notes, but not a bibliography) or “printed by the author” is usually appropriate. For self-published e-books, add the name of the application or device required to read the book or the name of the file format, or both.

Citing Indirect Sources

Because authors are generally expected to be intimately familiar with the sources they are citing, Chicago discourages the use of a source that was cited within another (secondary) source. In the case that an original source is utterly unavailable, however, Chicago requires the use of "quoted in" for the note:

NOTE:

Self-Published or Privately Published Books 

Books published by the author should be cited according to information available on the title page or copyright page. In place of publisher, include language such as “self-published” (abbreviated as “self-pub” in notes, but not a bibliography) or “printed by the author” is usually appropriate. For self-published e-books, add the name of the application or device required to read the book or the name of the file format, or both.

FOOTNOTE OR ENDNOTE:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL ENTRY: