The title of a book is different in the catalogue and on the cover. How do I cite it?

Question

I would like to cite a chapter from a book which is listed in the catalogue as Attosecond and XUV Spectroscopy: Ultrafast Dynamics and Spectroscopy (Wiley, 2014, edited by Thomas Schultz and Marc Vrakking), found here at the Wiley site and here on Amazon. I'm somewhat confused about how exactly to cite this book, since if you look at the cover...

... the title is different. To add to the confusion,

• the book is listed under the catalogue title (Spectroscopy) in multiple library catalogues and most google search results,
• but not everywhere, including WorldCat and several Wiley pages;
• the citing articles on Google Scholar are split about 50/50 on both (with Google Scholar correctly recognizing both forms as citations to the same resource!),
• some of them even switching sides;
• the title page has the same title as the cover; and
• each book chapter has a footer with the cover title (Physics).

My question is: how do I cite this book? Given that pretty much every rule of libraryness seems to have melted down, do I just choose whatever I find sexier and forget about it all?

Answer 1

List both. The official title is whatever is on the book, no matter what (so even including any typos and stuff). Still, it makes sense to mention the problem:

Thomas Schultz and Marc Vrakking (eds). Attosecond and XUV Physics: Ultrafast Dynamics and Spectroscopy [also known as "Attosecond and XUV Spectroscopy: Ultrafast Dynamics and Spectroscopy"]. Wiley, 2014, 624pp. ISBN: 978-3-527-41124-5.

Bear in mind that the title is the one listed inside (on the first sheet of paper), not on the cover (thanks Andrew for pointing this). Also, I would include the ISBN in this case, even if you don't include it for other book references. Either in a standard way as shown above, or in a note like the following; remember that rules for providing auxiliary information are quite loose and you can twist them to your needs:

Thomas Schultz and Marc Vrakking (eds). Attosecond and XUV Physics: Ultrafast Dynamics and Spectroscopy. Wiley, 2014, 624pp. [also known as: "Attosecond and XUV Spectroscopy: Ultrafast Dynamics and Spectroscopy". ISBN: 978-3-527-41124-5.]

Answer 2

Any one will do.

The main aspect behind citations is to make the reference reachable to the readers. If both citations indicate the same content then you may use any one you feel content with (and stick to it for uniformity).

Answer 3

Pick one, preferably the one that is listed on publishers own lists. The important thing is that the ISBN number is right and anyone who might be interesting in getting to the referred material can adequate do so with the given information.