The thirteen-digit barcode printed on the back cover, built from the ISBN. It is what bookshop tills and distributors’ systems read.
An EAN barcode: the bars, the background, the clear space and the thirteen digits. Diagram: IN TEMPO, licence CC BY 4.0. Reuse this diagram
In practice
A badly printed barcode stops a book at the till. It must stay black, or a very dark colour, on a white or very light background, neither shrunk too far nor trimmed, with clear space on each side. Generate it from this edition’s exact ISBN and check it on the proof: a one-digit error cannot be seen by eye.
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