44 AMP said:
print a million copies of the standard edition. Then stop printing all editions of that book. Now, that book is "out of print" but does that make those million copies "limited editions"? It does not.
I think there's different meanings...
First, traditionally speaking, it means that some (relatively) small number was made and typically there is some distinguishing feature that identifies the "special" limited production version.
Second, while a million copies of something would not traditionally be consider "limited edition", unless there were an infinite number produced, it could be said that every version of every item which has ceased production is "limited", i.e. it is an "edition" and there is a "limit" to how many were made. Is that the common understanding or even the implied meaning? Hell no, but it's used that way in all sort of commercials.
I also have to ask myself, who exactly gets to define a "limited edition"? Does it actually
require manufacturer intent and designation, or is it sufficient that some "small" number was made?
If it
does require manufacturer designation, is there then some number where the phrase becomes deceptive and an "edition" is no longer genuinely considered "limited"? If so, is that 5,000? 10,000? 500, 50,000 and why? Whatever that "magic" number is... what if they made 10 more? Is it no longer "limited", and why?
Some cars are called LE... Toyota says it means Luxury Edition but others makers have called it Limited Edition... and then they made as many as they could sell... so what about it was "limited" and how is that any different than if they HADN'T labeled it LE and made the exact same number of some other designation? Would not that other designation... that other "edition"... be exactly as "limited" as the "limited edition"? Why would it be different?
In other words... if they made 10,000 GTXs and 10,000 LE "Limited Editions"... why is one of them a "Limited Edition" and the other not? Just because they said so? What if then there was an unpopular version that sold 1/2 as many as the LE... is it "Limited Edition", or not?