Best examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format

Start with real examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format

Let’s start the way your brain actually learns: by looking at real citations.

Here’s a simple, classic example of how to cite a book in Bluebook format for a single author:

Bryan A. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style 45 (4th ed. 2018).

If you stare at that long enough, a pattern appears:

• Author’s full name
• Title in italics (headline-style capitalization)
• Pincite (the specific page you’re citing)
• Edition (if not the first)
• Year of publication

Keep that pattern in mind as we move through more examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format for different situations.

Core pattern: the basic book citation

The Bluebook’s basic format for a book (Rule 15 in the 21st edition) looks like this:

Author, Title page (edition year).

If there’s no pincite, you just drop the page number:

Author, Title (edition year).

Here’s a clean example with no pincite, first edition:

Erwin Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law (6th ed. 2019).

And here’s the same book with a pincite:

Erwin Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law 327 (6th ed. 2019).

These are some of the best examples to memorize because they show the backbone of how to cite a book in Bluebook format. Everything else is just a twist on this template.

More examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format (common scenarios)

Let’s walk through several everyday situations you’ll actually face in law school or practice. These examples include one author, two authors, many authors, and institutional authors.

Single author, print book

You’ll see this constantly in legal writing. Here’s another straightforward example of a single-author citation:

Cass R. Sunstein, On Liberty: A Reimagining 112 (2024).

Notice what’s there—and what’s not:

• No publisher is required under current Bluebook rules for most books.
• The year is in parentheses at the end.
• The author’s name appears as it does on the title page (but without degrees like J.D. or Ph.D.).

Two authors

For two authors, connect the names with an ampersand (&):

Randy E. Barnett & Josh Blackman, An Introduction to Constitutional Law 59 (2d ed. 2022).

If your professor wants examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format with multiple authors, this is the one to show them. It captures the pattern cleanly: both authors, italicized title, pincite, edition, year.

Three or more authors

For three or more authors, list the first author followed by “et al.”:

Richard A. Posner et al., The Economic Structure of the Law 201 (2025).

“Et al.” is not italicized and is followed by a comma.

Institutional author

Sometimes the “author” is an organization, such as a government agency or nonprofit. Here’s a realistic example of that format:

Nat’l Research Council, Strengthening Forensic Science in the United States: A Path Forward 73 (2009).

Abbreviate institutional names according to Bluebook tables (especially Table 6 and Table 10), but don’t overdo it—clarity still matters.

Examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format with editors and chapters

Life gets interesting when you’re not citing the whole book, but a chapter or essay inside an edited volume. These examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format will save you a lot of time.

Edited book as a whole

If you’re citing the entire edited volume, treat the editor like the author and add “ed.” after the name:

Martha Minow, Michael Ryan & Austin Sarat eds., Institutional Responses to Legal Change (2024).

If there is only one editor, use “ed.”; if more than one, use “eds.”

Chapter in an edited book

Here’s the pattern:

Author of chapter, Title of Chapter, in Title of Book page where chapter starts, pincite (Editor ed., edition year).

Now a concrete example of a chapter citation:

Kimberlé Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, in Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement 357, 360–61 (Kimberlé Crenshaw et al. eds., 1995).

This one example packs in almost every moving part you’ll see in Bluebook book citations:

• Chapter author and title
• Book title in italics
• First page of the chapter (357)
• Pincite (360–61)
• Editors
• Year

Once you’re comfortable with this, you’ll be able to handle most edited volumes without panic.

Bluebook examples for ebooks, online books, and databases

Law students in 2024–2025 rarely use only print. You’re probably pulling books from Westlaw, Lexis, HeinOnline, or an open-access site. The Bluebook cares about what you’re citing more than where you found it, but format can matter.

Ebooks that mirror print

If the ebook is the same as the print version (same pagination, same content), you generally cite it like the print book. For instance, if you access Chemerinsky’s Constitutional Law via an online platform that replicates the print pages, you can still write:

Erwin Chemerinsky, Constitutional Law 327 (6th ed. 2019).

No need to mention Kindle, EPUB, or the database, unless your instructor or journal requires it.

Online-only books without stable pages

If there are no stable page numbers, you might:

• Omit the pincite, or
• Use a section, chapter, or paragraph number if provided.

A realistic example of how to cite a book in Bluebook format for an online-only resource might look like this:

Legal Servs. Corp., Digital Justice: Expanding Access to Legal Help Through Technology ch. 2 (2024), https://www.lsc.gov/.

Here, you:

• Cite the institutional author
• Give the title in italics
• Use a chapter number instead of a page
• Provide the year
• Add a URL because the source is web-based

For more guidance on citing online legal materials, you can cross-check with law school libraries like Harvard Law School’s Bluebook guides or Cornell’s Legal Information Institute.

Advanced examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format

Once you have the basics, you’ll occasionally hit trickier cases: translations, multiple editions, or books that are part of a series.

Translated works

Pattern:

Author, Title page (Translator, trans., edition year).

Here’s a solid example of a translated legal theory book:

Hans Kelsen, Pure Theory of Law 102 (Max Knight trans., 2d ed. 1967).

You credit the translator in parentheses, add “trans.,” and keep the rest of the structure.

Multiple editions and reprints

If you’re using a specific edition, you must include it. That’s not just nitpicky—different editions can have different page numbers and even different content.

Compare these two examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format for different editions of the same work:

John H. Langbein, Renée Lettow Lerner & Bruce P. Smith, History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions 215 (2009).

John H. Langbein, Renée Lettow Lerner & Bruce P. Smith, History of the Common Law: The Development of Anglo-American Legal Institutions 219 (2d ed. 2024).

If you change editions, you must change both the year and the pincite.

Series and volume numbers

For multivolume works, include the volume number before the title:

2 William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England 45 (1766).

This tells your reader you’re citing volume 2, page 45. If you’re working with historical or archival materials, this pattern comes up a lot.

Short-form citations: turning long examples into quick references

Once you’ve given a full citation, you can use a short form later. This is where many students get tripped up, so let’s turn one of our earlier examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format into a short form.

Full citation:

Cass R. Sunstein, On Liberty: A Reimagining 112 (2024).

Short form later in the paper:

Sunstein, On Liberty, supra note 5, at 145.

Or, if it’s very clear what you’re referring to and your journal allows it:

Sunstein, supra note 5, at 145.

Another short-form example from an edited volume:

Full citation:

Kimberlé Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color, in Critical Race Theory: The Key Writings That Formed the Movement 357, 360–61 (Kimberlé Crenshaw et al. eds., 1995).

Short form:

Crenshaw, Mapping the Margins, supra note 12, at 365.

If you want more practice with short forms, many law school writing centers (for example, Georgetown Law’s writing guides and Harvard’s Bluebook overview) provide worksheets and additional examples of book citations.

Putting it all together: spotting the pattern in all these examples

By now, you’ve seen multiple examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format:

• Single-author print books
• Multi-author books
• Institutional authors
• Edited volumes and chapters
• Translations
• Multivolume works
• Online and database-accessed books

If you compare them, you’ll notice that almost every citation answers the same quiet questions:

• Who created this? (Author or editor)
• What is it called? (Title in italics)
• Where in the book are you pointing? (Page, chapter, or volume)
• When was this version published? (Year, and edition if needed)

Once you start thinking in those terms, the Bluebook becomes less of a mysterious rulebook and more of a structured way to answer those four questions consistently.

If you need to double-check a specific corner case (like a looseleaf service or a very old reprint), you can always:

• Look up Rule 15 in the latest Bluebook
• Compare your draft citation to the best examples in your law school’s citation guide
• Search law review articles on HeinOnline or Westlaw and copy their structure (not their ideas!)

FAQ: quick questions and examples of Bluebook book citations

How do I cite a book in Bluebook format with no author listed?
Use the institutional author if there is one. If not, start with the title. For example:

Understanding Cybersecurity Law 88 (2023).

Can you give examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format without a pincite?
Yes. If you’re referring to the book generally, you can omit the page number:

Bryan A. Garner, The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style (4th ed. 2018).

What’s an example of a Bluebook citation for a government report that looks like a book?
Treat it like a book with an institutional author:

U.S. Dep’t of Justice, Civil Rights Division Activity Report 34 (2024).

For more on government documents, check your library’s Bluebook guide or resources like the U.S. Government Publishing Office.

Do I need to include the publisher in my book citation?
Under the current Bluebook rules, you usually omit the publisher for most modern books. You still include the edition and year.

Where can I find more examples of Bluebook book citations?
Look at:

• Your law school’s citation manual or writing center materials
• Online guides from major law libraries, such as Harvard Law School or Cornell LII
• Recent law review articles; they’re full of real, vetted examples of how to cite a book in Bluebook format

Use those as models, compare them with the rules, and you’ll quickly move from guessing to recognizing patterns.