Several volumes in biblatex

Question

I'm wondering on how to get the plural version of "volume" with biblatex when mentioning several numbered volumes? Something like:

@BOOK{ref,
author =       "author",
title =        "title",
year =         "year",
publisher =    "publisher",
location =     "location",
volume =       "1-2-4"
}

Using key "volumes" is not the solution.

Answer 1

According to section 2.2.2 of the biblatex documentation, the volume field is intended for
"[t]he volume of a multi-volume book or a periodical" (note the missing plural form!), while the volumes field should be used for "[t]he total number of volumes of a multi-volume work". If you want to cite some, but not all volumes of a multi-volume work, the correct way seems to be to use multiple bibliography entries (one for each volume, and possibly one for the work as a whole).

EDIT: Inspired by Willie Wong's comment: You could only include the multi-volume work as a whole in the bibliography and cite single volumes in the text using the \volcite command; its syntax is \volcite[prenote]{volume}[page]{key}. See section 3.6.6 of the documentation for details.

EDIT2: I've managed to create a somewhat hacky solution. For every bibliography entry that actually represents several volumes of a multi-volume work, you have to add the execute field - and within this field, some tailor-made TeX code. Here's a working example:

EDIT3: pluton: Now that you mention it ... surely. I've replaced the execute stuff with a simple test using \iffieldnum (see p. Section 4.6.2 of the biblatex documentation for details). No need anymore to manually add fields to the bib-file.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{biblatex}

\DeclareFieldFormat{volume}{%
  \iffieldnum{volume}{%
    \bibstring{volume}~#1%
  }{%
    \bibstring{volumes}~#1%
  }%
}

\usepackage{filecontents}

\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@BOOK{ref1,
author = "author",
title = "title",
year = "year",
publisher = "publisher",
location = "location",
volume = "1-2-4",
}
@BOOK{ref2,
author = "author",
title = "title",
year = "year",
publisher = "publisher",
location = "location",
volume = "3",
}
\end{filecontents}

\addbibresource{\jobname.bib}

\nocite{*}

\begin{document}

\printbibliography

\end{document}

Answer 2

I think the best solution would be to have the total number of volumes in the volumes field and to use the \volcite command. However, this command is intended for a citation of a single volume only. You could define a command \volscite based on \volcite (see attached example). But be aware that this definition makes heavily use of internal commands and thus might change in future versions of biblatex. So, the even better solution would be to submit a feature request. Here is a MWE:

\documentclass[english]{scrartcl}
\listfiles
\usepackage{filecontents}
\begin{filecontents}{\jobname.bib}
@BOOK{book,
  author = {Buchautor, Hans-Wilhelm},
  title = {Irgendein Buch},
  address = {Buch am Wald},
  year = {2000}
}
\end{filecontents}
\usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
\usepackage[latin1]{inputenc}
\usepackage{babel,csquotes}

\usepackage{biblatex}
\bibliography{\jobname}

\makeatletter
\newrobustcmd*{\volscite}{\volscitecmd\cite}

\newrobustcmd*{\volscitecmd}[1]{%
  \begingroup
  \def\blx@tempa{\endgroup#1}%
  \@ifstar
    {\appto\blx@tempa{*}%
     \blx@volscitecmd@i}
    {\blx@volscitecmd@i}}

\def\blx@volscitecmd@i{%
  \@ifnextchar[%]
    {\blx@volscitecmd@ii}
    {\blx@volscitecmd@ii[]}}

\def\blx@volscitecmd@ii[#1]#2{%
  \appto\blx@tempa{[#1]}%
  \@ifnextchar[%]
    {\blx@volscitecmd@iii{#2}}
    {\blx@tempa[\blx@volscite@vol{#2}]}}

\def\blx@volscitecmd@iii#1[#2]{%
  \blx@tempa[\blx@volscite@vol{#1}\blx@volcite@page{#2}]}

\protected\def\blx@volscite@vol#1{%
  \bibstring{volumes}\ppspace#1}
\makeatother

\begin{document}
\volscite{1--2}{book}

\volscite[see also]{1--2}{book}

\volscite{1--2}[45]{book}

\volscite[cf.]{1--2}[120]{book}
\end{document}